Brown to become chairman in New Year
Nicolas Petrovic, Eurostar's chief operating officer, is to take over as the high speed train operator's ceo in early 2010.
He succeeds Richard Brown, ceo since 2002, who will become non-executive chairman in the New Year.
The changes come as London and Continental Railways (LCR), which owns and runs the British section of the train service from London St Pancras to Paris and Brussels, is breaking up.
The UK Government, which controls LCR, is expected eventually to sell off its various rail, property and infrastructure components separately but it has said that it has no immediate plans to do so.
Under the structural changes, Eurostar, in which the French rail network SNCF has a major stake, will move from being a joint venture to one single corporate entity.
The joint venture was between SNCF, SNCB, the Belgian train operator, and Eurostar Ltd which is owned by LCR.
The proportional ownership of the new entity has yet to be finalised but it is expected to be a complicated process.
The new company will be called Eurostar International Limited but the train service will continue to operate under the Eurostar name.
A spokesperson for Eurostar stressed that the changes would not affect the running of the train service but were a necessary move before the liberalisation of rail passenger services in the EU from next January.
Mr Brown will replace Guillaume Pepy as chairman with the latter concentrating on his role as President Directeur General of SNCF.
Mr Pepy said: "Richard Brown and Nicolas Petrovic have done a great job of leading Eurostar over the last few years, establishing it as the world's premier international train operator.
"Eurostar's punctuality since the re-opening of the Channel Tunnel in February has been more than 95%.
"Since the launch of services in 1994, a ‘Eurostar Generation' of cross-Channel travellers working and living between London, Paris and Brussels has been created.
"I look forward to the new company exploiting its unique expertise and experience in the forthcoming world of on-rail competition."
Mr Brown said: "It has been seven years since I joined Eurostar, and from next year I look forward to a continuing role in overseeing the business in a new and exciting world."
www.eurostar.com www.lcrhq.co.uk www.sncf.com www.sncb.be