Celebrating 15 years of Eurostar

Eurostar France head of marketing Lionel Benbassat talks to Connexion about Eurostar's 15 years and future plans

How has Eurostar grown over the past 15 years?
2008 was our biggest year for passenger numbers. We have gone from 2.9 million in 1995 – our first full year of service – to 9.1 million last year, so the number of people using Eurostar has more than trebled since its launch. London to Paris is the key route and the split between leisure travel and business is roughly 70% to 30% although business travellers use Eurostar much more frequently.

How are you dealing with competition from budget airlines such as Easyjet?
Airline competition is not really a problem for us. Easyjet knew how and where to develop its economic model and the low-cost airlines have done very well in Europe, but they have not succeeded in destabilising Eurostar. The market for cross-Channel travel is growing each year and Eurostar’s share of that market is also growing. The low-cost providers have not stopped that. We have the advantage in that we go from the centre of London to the centre of Paris. You do not have to wait a long time to check in or reclaim your baggage at the other end.

Why did Eurostar swap Waterloo for St Pancras?
St Pancras was chosen because it was the only terminal in London where it was possible to build a high-speed line heading down to the Kent coast. It was just not possible at Waterloo. There is now a real difference in the journey time.
When we launched in 1994 it took three hours to get to Paris. In 2003 it was cut to 2:35 and since November 2007 it has been 2:15, so we have managed to shave 45 minutes off the time. I think it has changed the perception of Eurostar and improved the experience for travellers. The fast line through Kent has also done something to improve the image of the English rail network, which is maybe not renowned for its high speed.

Do you think Eurostar has changed people’s working and living patterns?
We believe there is such a thing as a “Eurostar generation” – people whose way of life has changed significantly because of the service. We have helped change the geography of Europe and the the behaviour of travellers. For example there are a lot of people who live between two cities, staying in Paris at the weekend and then coming to work in London in the week. We like to think we have helped economic, cultural and social exchanges between France and the UK. London has become an extension of France, it is a French town. Britain is no longer an island. Take the example of our 100 millionth passenger, who passed through St Pancras at the end of August. He lived in North London, had a French wife and daughter, and was heading to Lyon for a family wedding. His family is what we mean by the “Eurostar generation” – multi-cultural people who hop from one country to the other.

What effect has last September’s tunnel fire had on the service?
The end of 2008 was very difficult for us. It had been a very good year until September but then we had to completely stop services for about 40 hours and then run on a reduced timetable. However we got 93% of the service back up and running in two days. The problem with Eurostar is that when something goes wrong the knock-on effects can be huge. Each train has a timetabled slot for entering and leaving the tunnel, so if there is a problem with the train or with the rail infrastructure, it could miss that slot and make the delay even worse. Sometimes there are spectacular delays because of this, but it is an exceptional occurrence and out of the sheer number of trains that we run it remains very marginal. We run 17 services a day to Paris and nine a day to Brussels and our reliability record for 2009 so far is 95.7%.

With the economic crisis and reduced household budgets, do you think you are doing enough to make travel affordable?
Like all other transport companies we use a complicated system of “yield management” based on the laws of supply and demand. That basically means that the earlier you book, the better the prices. Deciding on a journey two days beforehand will cost you money but generally speaking up to three weeks before the departure date there is a good chance of getting a good price. About 10% of the tickets we sell are at €79 return.

Are you ready to lose your monopoly on London-Paris rail travel sometime soon?
In January 2010 the market for international rail services will be deregulated, a bit like the airline market about 15 years ago. Anyone can come forward and offer to provide a service using the international line from Paris to London, so potentially from next year we could have a competitor. There were rumours that Air France was interested. We have started preparing for competitors by changing the legal status of the company, which will give us some more flexibility and make it easier to face competition and improve our services. We do not know yet who will come into the market, or when.

Will Eurostar one day serve other British cities such as Leeds or Manchester?
We are trying to sign a number of partnership agreements with British rail companies that serve other parts of the country. These agreements will allow us to offer some attractive through-ticketing options at reduced prices for those who want to go beyond London. It is a work in progress. You would still need to change trains at St Pancras – the Eurostar train itself will not travel elsewhere for the time being.

What about in France? Will you be launching any new routes to other towns?
The plans for French towns are a bit like the ones for the UK. We are trying to work with the SNCF to make links between the national rail network and Eurostar easier. The London-Paris line is a bit complicated in terms of connections because the UK did not fully sign the Schengen Agreement, which means passengers have to go through passport controls. It makes things a bit more complicated because there are more constraints.

Any other plans for the coming years?
We will be renovating the trains from 2012. We have signed a contract to improve the interior and exterior of all 28 of them. The first renovated train will come into service in 2012 and the project will be completed by 2016.