%20news.jpg)
High-speed passenger rail operator Eurostar has increased its overall sales figures by 21% for the third quarter of this year. Between July and September the operator carried 2.15m passengers, up 9.9% against the same period last year.
The operator cited the ”swell of thousands of extra passengers” switching from plane to train following the security disruption at UK airports from the foiled terrorism plot on August 10.
Total third quarter sales reached ”130.4m ($243.5m), with business ticket sales increasing by 27%. Director of communications Simon Montague said: ”The surge in traveller numbers has been driven by the delays at UK airports. Business travellers in particular are continuing to switch from airlines to Eurostar.”
The company claimed that its train performance has increased on average by 91.4%, thanks to a week in September when Eurostar recorded its best ever weekly punctuality of 98%, ”outperforming rival airlines”.
Eurostar has been quick to inform passengers that those choosing to fly between London and Paris or Brussels generate ten times more carbon dioxide emissions than one who goes by Eurostar. ”A passenger making a return flight generates enough CO2 to fill a double-decker bus, compares with only enough CO2 to fill a Mini if going by train,” Eurostar ceo Richard Brown said.
The findings come from the YouGov poll, carried out earlier this month. The poll discovered that 41% of travellers are much more likely to take the train with 39% of people changing their travel habits due to worries about climate change. Three percent of people have stopped flying with 6% reducing the amount they fly. About 54% of people said they are more concerned about the environmental impact of flying than they were five years ago.
Brown said: "The completion of the UK's first high-speed line in Autumn 2007, with 186mph trains cutting journey times between London, Paris and Brussels by 20 minutes, will make the environmental advantages of Eurostar even more attractive to passengers."