Eurostar said it would bring about a “new golden age of international sustainable travel” as it vowed to run direct trains from the UK to Germany and Switzerland.
The cross-Channel rail operator currently runs services in five countries: the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany. Its most popular route is London to Paris, used by more than 280,000 passengers in 2024. Across all routes, Eurostar saw passenger numbers increase by 5% from 2023 to 2024, reaching 19.5 million.
As part of its growth plans to carry 30 million passengers annually, it will expand its network with new direct routes from London to Frankfurt, London to Geneva, and Amsterdam and Brussels to Geneva.
To serve these new routes, the operator will invest €2bn into a fleet of 50 trains, which will come into operation in the early 2030s. These will run alongside its current cross-Channel fleet of 17 e320 Siemens high-speed trains.
Gwendoline Cazenave, Eurostar CEO, said: “Despite the challenging economic climate...