Eurostar, the high-speed passenger train service that links the UK and mainland Europe, announced last week its annual figures for the year ended 31 December 2009.

Ticket sales for 2009 totalled a record £675.5 million, an increase of 1.7% on 2008, as Eurostar welcomed 9.2 million travellers throughout the year. The volume of travellers year on year increased by 1.2%.

Eurostar’s Brussels route saw the highest growth in 2009. The number of passengers travelling between London and Brussels increased by 6% in 2009, in comparison to 2008, Eurostar’s Paris route experienced a 1% increase in the number of travellers.

An upturn in overall sales for 2009 meant that revenue for 2009 increased by 1.7%, this was boosted by a strong leisure sales performance with sales of these tickets up by 15.6% year-on-year. Whilst the economic environment remained challenging throughout the year, the second half of 2009 saw a ‘bottoming-out’ in the business market.