Eurostar, the high-speed passenger train operator between the UK and mainland Europe, achieved sales revenue of £178 million in the first three months of 2010 up more than 5% from £168 million for the same period in 2009.

Passenger numbers totalled 2 million in Q1 this year, up from 1.9 million in the first quarter of 2009. Interestingly, the number of travellers from overseas markets outside Europe increased by 22%.

The number of leisure passengers travelling between the UK and the continent went up by 6% with 1.76 million people travelling in Q1 this year compared to 1.65 million in the same period in 2009.

The ‘bottoming out’ of the business market that began in the latter part of the last year, continued in the first quarter, with sales broadly the same as in Q4 2009.

Eurostar corporate structure

The move to restructure Eurostar from being a partnership between three railway companies to a single unified corporate entity is well advanced. Eurostar’s shareholders (London & Continental Railways, SNCF and SNCB) have now signed a Framework Agreement enabling the final stages of the restructuring of the business to take place.

Nicolas Petrovic, who recently took over as CEO of Eurostar, said:
“I am very pleased that we are moving closer to the new corporate structure which will streamline decision-making, deliver consistency of service standards across the three countries and ensure that the business is well placed to compete in an open access world.”