12 April 2023

Eurostar celebrates five years of sustainable travel between London and Amsterdam

• Over 1.6 million high-speed rail journeys achieved between London and Amsterdam[i]
• More than 84k tonnes of CO2 saved as people switch from plane to train[ii]

London, UK, 12th April 2023: Eurostar, the high-speed passenger rail service linking the UK with mainland Europe, is celebrating five years of direct high-speed sustainable rail services from London to Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

Over 1.6 million passengers have enjoyed Eurostar travel between London and the Netherlands since the inaugural journey left St. Pancras International in April 2018 - the equivalent of over 10,000 plane loads.[iii] With a passenger’s carbon footprint from one flight between London and Amsterdam being the equivalent to seven Eurostar journeys[iv], over 83,000 tonnes of CO2 has been saved thanks to millions of passengers making the switch from plane to trainii. Eurostar is committed to growing connections and capacity on the popular high-speed route and recently added a fourth daily service in September 2022.

Gwendoline Cazenave, CEO at Eurostar Group, said: “As we celebrate five years of high-speed rail connections between London and the Netherlands, we are proud to be the greener way to go. There are now up to 18 daily services between Amsterdam, London and Paris, which is testament to the ever-growing demand for seamless high-speed rail connections as a sustainable and convenient alternative to air travel. As Eurostar Group, we want to carry 30 million passengers a year on all of our routes by 2030, and the continued growth of our Dutch routes will play a huge role in helping us deliver on these ambitions." 

The number of travellers connecting at Brussels for journeys between the Netherlands and the UK has increased by +106% since 2018[v]. The direct return service from Amsterdam and Rotterdam to London started operating in October 2020.

Wilbert Lek, Managing Director at Rotterdam Partners, says: “The launch of the route to the Netherlands and the addition of a fourth direct train service last year supports us in our mission to promote sustainable travel to both business and leisure customers. We look forward to further strengthening our relationship with Eurostar and to keep welcoming British visitors and businesses to our city.”

Eurostar Group, incorporating Eurostar and Thalys, recently revealed the new brand to take the business forward which will be rolled out across all customer touchpoints including the business’ 51 trains from Q4 this year. For more information visit www.eurostar.com
 

For more information:
Eurostar Press Office 
020 7843 5500
press.office@eurostar.co.uk
 
About Eurostar Group

• Initiated in September 2019, the proposed alliance between Eurostar and Thalys, received approval from the European Commission at the end of March 2022 giving rise to holding company Eurostar Group on May 1, 2022.
• Eurostar Group is owned by SNCF Voyages Développement (55.75%), CDPQ (19.31%), the SNCB (18.50%) and funds managed by Federated Hermes Infrastructure (6.44%).
• The holding company is based in Brussels and holds 100% of the shares of Eurostar International Limited (Eurostar) and THI Factory SA (Thalys), which remain full-fledged railway companies and are headquartered in London and Brussels respectively.
• The ambition is to provide an attractive alternative to road and air transport and to accelerate the modal shift from 19 million passengers carried in 2019 to 30 million within 10 years.
• The new entity will offer the largest international high-speed network in Western Europe and has set itself the objective of deploying an ambitious environmental policy over the next few years.