Eurostar passenger numbers rise by more than a fifth in 2023

24 January 2024 , 14:59

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Eurostar said it carried 18.6 million passengers in 2023 (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Eurostar has seen a 22% surge in passenger numbers last year, returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The rail operator carried 18.6 million passengers in 2023. The company's three main routes serving London St Pancras saw significant increases: Amsterdam (up 38%), Brussels (up 33%) and Paris (up 25%). Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave said: "Eurostar is growing and in 2023 we welcomed many more customers on board across our five countries."

She explained that the aim for Euorstar is to get more people to use the service and by doing so that will have benefits for the environment, She added: "Our goal is to encourage more people to take the train so it's a win for customers and a win for the planet."

She also shared their ambitious vision: "We have a bold vision to reach 30 million passengers by 2030, and growth in 2023 of 22% versus 2022 shows we are strongly on our way. We carried almost eight million passengers between London and France, 1.1 million between the Netherlands and the UK, and 2.2 million to Belgium."

It's expected that nearly two million passengers will be carried to Paris during this summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Lawrence Matheson