17 April 2024

Eurostar: On track for the Paris 2024 Olympics with 100 days to go

London, UK - 17 April 2024:  Eurostar, the European high-speed rail service, is gearing up to transport athletes and fans to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympics, with over 415,000 tickets sold so far to travel to the Games across its network. The company is set to welcome over 2,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes on board from four teams: Team GB, Team Belgium, Team Netherlands and Team Germany. Two million customers will travel to the games between July and September. 

To prepare to give customers a medal-worthy experience, Eurostar is increasing services and adding additional staff in stations to support customers, including inviting volunteers from within the business to have a ‘Games Maker’ style role as travellers head to Paris. Up to eight more services will run between London and Paris on peak Olympic days compared to the current timetable.

To celebrate the countdown, Eurostar invited two Team GB athletes to St Pancras International to talk about their ambitions: qualified Olympian and Great Britain’s first-ever canoe slalom U23 World Champion, Adam Burgess who also came fourth at Tokyo 2020 and Team GB Breaker B-Boy Kid Karam, the first to represent Team GB along with his teammate B-Boy Sunni. 

This is the first year that Breaking has entered the Olympics, it’s a fresh sport predominantly competed and trained alone. Team GB Breaker Kid Karam said “we’re breaking into the Olympics, quite literally. The sport is something the world hasn’t seen before, it’s a sport without equipment or coaches which means the onus is entirely on you as an athlete.” 

In addition to providing sustainable transport for athletes, Eurostar is committed to reducing the carbon footprint of the games which is aiming to be the greenest ever held. Eurostar trains have a 95% lower carbon footprint than flying, emitting only 5.5g of CO₂ per passenger kilometre. The company has also been recognised by the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s Food Made Good standard for its efforts to serve locally sourced, seasonal ingredients on menus. 

Gwendoline Cazenave, CEO of Eurostar, said: “As we mark the 100-day countdown to the Olympics, we prepare to welcome spectators to celebrate values and to create memorable experiences. We're providing the greenest games yet for over 2,000 athletes and their staff. Only Eurostar can deliver this with our extensive network of 5 countries. On the way back, I am sure our trains will be full of gold. Paris 2024 will start before the official opening ceremony on-board Eurostar: we are excited to be the official travel partner not only for one, but four Olympic and Paralympic teams: Team GB, Team Belgium, Team Germany, Team Netherlands. ” 

 

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About Eurostar Group     

  • Eurostar Group is owned by SNCF Voyages Développement (55.75%), a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs, CDPQ (19.31%), SNCB (18.50%) and funds managed by Federated Hermes Infrastructure (6.44%).     

  • The ambition is to offer an attractive alternative to road and air transport and to accelerate the modal shift from 19 million passengers carried in 2023 to 30 million in 2030.   

  • Eurostar Group offers the largest international high-speed network in Western Europe and has set itself the goal of deploying an ambitious environmental policy over the next few years.     

  • The carbon footprint of one flight is on average the same as 13 Eurostar journeys. 

  • Up to eight more services on peak Olympic days compared to winter 
     

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Fleet: 51 trains (25 Cross channel, 26 Continental)     

 

Fastest journey times:      

  • London - Brussels: 02h00 

  • London - Paris: 02h15   

  • London - Lille: 01h30 

  • London-Rotterdam is 03h13 

  • London - Amsterdam: 03h52 

  • Paris-Brussels: 01h22 

  • Paris-Amsterdam: 03h19 

  • Paris-Cologne: 03h20 

  • Brussels-Amsterdam: 01h51 

  • Brussels - Cologne: 01h47    

 

About The British Olympic Association: 

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  Its mission is to develop, promote and protect the Olympic Movement in our territory in accordance with the Olympic Charter. The BOA achieves this through: 

  

  • Working in partnership with our members and key stakeholders to deliver world-leading services and support to enable British athletes to reach their full potential at the Olympic Games, Olympic Winter Games and other IOC-sanctioned events                   

  • Working in partnership with our members and key stakeholders to provide athletes with relevant support on the journey to, during and following their Olympic careers                     

  • Engaging people throughout the United Kingdom to pursue their very own goals and dreams through the Olympic Values and the example of Team GB Olympians        

  • Being the independent voice of Olympic Sport and collaborating with our members and other sport stakeholders, both domestically and internationally, to support the continued growth and overall health of the Olympic Movement in the UK            

  

For further information, please visit TeamGB.com 

 

About ParalympicsGB: 

ParalympicsGB is the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Paralympic Team competing at the summer and winter Paralympic Games. We know that the outstanding performances of our athletes have a powerful impact on the British public and can shift perceptions of disability in society, helping to inspire a better world for disabled people.  

  

The BPA would like to thank the National Lottery, UK Sport and our Gold Partners adidas, Aldi, Allianz, bp, Bupa, CMR Surgical, Dreams, Hogan Lovells, John West, Nestlé Cereals UK, Ocean, Salesforce, Toyota, and our Partners Citi and Sir Robert McAlpine for their support.

Further details are available at https://paralympics.org.uk/