Eurostar has been able to run virtually full trains from London to the Continent for the first time since the pandemic after overcoming border control issues and staff shortages, it can be revealed.
The firm has been able to sell almost all 890 seats on its 16-carriage trains to Paris since last month after lifting a self-imposed “cap” on numbers that at one stage left 250 seats per train vacant.
This was because French border police – who are based inside St Pancras – and UK Border Force officials, who carry out customs checks, were unable to process enough passengers quickly enough to prevent huge numbers missing their train.
Demand for Eurostar tickets to France has soared in recent weeks due to the Rugby World Cup – up 30 to 40 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.
More than 18,000 passengers a day are using Eurostar services at St Pancras.
It comes as the firm, which has merged with European rail firm Thalys to increase its network to five countries including Germany, launched a marketing campaign aiming to position the Eurostar brand as “younger and more vibrant” to capitalise on the boom in leisure travel.
François Le Doze, chief commercial officer at Eurostar, said “less than one per cent” of seats were capped.
He told the Standard: “The cap has almost gone. We have made massive progress on this. We have done a really good job with the authorities - the Border Force and the French border police.”
Eurostar offers direct trains to and from St Pancras to Paris, Lille, Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
Under the expanded network, passengers can change at Brussels onto rebranded Eurostar trains to Cologne, and on to Dusseldorf and Dortmund. A total of 28 stations can now be reached on Eurostar.
The company’s aim is to develop a European presence beyond its cross-channel operations. “We have an extended network,” Mr Le Doze said. “We now cross five counties. We have a bigger playground. We have got more destinations.
“We see ourselves as the backbone of sustainable travel in Europe. Our objective is to connect with as many high-speed operators as possible.”
Mr Le Doze said direct trains between London and Germany were under consideration but unlikely in the short term.
“We are looking at direct routes in the future,” he said. “They are expensive to launch. They [take a long time] to launch because there are a lot of technicalities to get right. For the moment, we think the most efficient thing is to make a success of the connections that are there.”
Eurostar also hopes to avoid having to close its London to Amsterdam route for up to a year from next June.
The connection is at risk due to the rebuilding of Amsterdam Centraal station. But the firm is in talks with Dutch railway chiefs and hopes that the station’s closure can be delayed – and the reopening of the new station be brought forward.
Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave has appointed Swiss experts to review the options to keep services running to Amsterdam, which has seen the biggest growth of all Eurostar routes – doubling since 2019.
“We are still working on a compromise, on a possible way we can keep this terminal open,” she said. Asked if there was likely to be a gap between the station closing and the new one opening, she said: “I hope not. The answer will be at the beginning of November.”
She said Eurostar had no immediate plans to have its trains call again at Ashford and Ebbsfleet stations in Kent, despite local demands, or at Calais.
“We will reopen this section once we can afford it,” she said. “We don’t want to put at stake the borders at St Pancras or Paris Nord, where the number of customers are much bigger.”
