28 June 2023

Eurostar welcomes nearly 50,000 travellers to London as they celebrate London Pride with The National Railway Museum to preserve LGBTQ+ history in rail

28^th June 2023, London, UK: Eurostar Group the backbone of sustainable travel in Europe, has installed a three-metre structure depicting the Progress Pride flag to welcome nearly 50,000 customers from the Continent to London this weekend (29 June – 1^st July 2023) during the London Pride celebrations. The flag made of 200 flowers also marks Eurostar’s partnership with The National Railway Museum to record and preserve LGBTQ+ history in rail.

Eurostar has diversity in its DNA. As an international train operator, Eurostar connects countries and cultures, helping its passengers' cross borders in one trip. To celebrate those who identify as LGBTQ+ and within the rail industry and educate all, The National Railway Museum has partnered with Eurostar to help record intergenerational interviews from the LGBTQ+ community. This is part of the museums recently funded People, Pride & Progress project to preserve LGBTQ+ rail stories for future generations.

Ashlynn Welburn, Archivist for The National Railway Museum says: “Our recently funded project made possible thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will create up to 70 oral history interviews with people from the rail industry, including from Eurostar. We plan to document the experiences of LGBTQ+ people, including Eurostar employees, and so fill a gap in our understanding of the rail industry before it is lost. We’re excited that so many people will be travelling to London Pride by rail this year, using a network that has enabled LGBTQ+ individuals’ access to a wider community.”

Gwendoline Cazenave, Eurostar Group CEO says: “Eurostar Group connects customers to Prides across Europe. Our business reflects our cities with its diverse cultures and communities. We are very proud to be supporting the National Railway Museum’s project in preserving the rail industry’s LGBTQ+ history for future generations.”

Customers can take pictures of themselves with the floral Pride flag that will be on Eurostar’s platform in St Pancras during London Pride weekend. To find out more about The National Rail Museum’s project, visit https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/about-us/press-office/people-pride-and-progress.
 

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.

About the National Railway Museum:

The National Railway Museum in York has the largest collection of railway objects in the world and prior to the pandemic, attracted more than 750,000 visitors per year.
The collection includes more than 1,000 oral histories from railway workers as well as more than 260 rail vehicles, and thousands of other items including coins, medals, railway uniform, artwork and photographs.
The National Railway Museum forms part of the Science Museum Group, along with the Science Museum in London, the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and Locomotion in Shildon.
One of the Science Museum Group’s core values is being open for all and telling inclusive stories by adding to the collection rather than subtracting from it. More detail on this approach can be found in this blog by Executive Lead for Collections Services and Science and Industry Museum Director, Sally MacDonald: www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/blog/our-commitment-to-inclusive-storytelling/

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund:

Using money raised by The National Lottery, we inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future.
www.heritagefund.org.uk
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
Since The National Lottery began in 1994, National Lottery players have raised over £43 billion for projects and more than 635,000 grants have been awarded across the UK. More than £30 million raised each week goes to good causes across the UK.