High speed rail service Eurostar enjoyed a record year in 2006 with sales and passenger numbers up respectively by 11% and 5%
But the train operator which runs services from the UK to France and Belgium said the biggest leap was in the number of business travellers it carried.
These, about 40% of its total passengers, rose by 17% to about 3,150,000 compared to 2005.
The increase generated an 18% rise in revenue from business travellers.
Eurostar said it sales for 2006 were £518m, compared to £463.8m in 2005, and it carried a total of 7,850,000 during the year. Punctuality improved from 86.3% in 2005 to 91.5% last year.
The train operator said it has seen a growth of 28% in passenger numbers since the opening in 2003 of the first section of the high speed route in the UK.
Eurostar is due to move from its London terminus at Waterloo International to St. Pancras International when the second and last high speed section is complete.
This will further cut journeys times form London to Paris, Brussels and Lille to respectively 2h 15min, 1h 51min and 1h 20min.
Eurostar said it had also benefited from the chaos at Heathrow last year caused by the terrorist alert in August and fog in December.
It said these disruptions had persuaded up to1,000 business travellers a week to switch to rail from air.
Richard Brown, Eurostar's ceo, said: "These are record results on sales, traveller numbers and punctuality.
"I am delighted at the strong growth in the number of business travellers, who are discovering the punctuality and productivity advantages that Eurostar offers compared with the experience of flying."
He said that Eurostar was also "attracting more travellers from across Western Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and Germany, where travellers are discovering that international connections are easier than they imagined."