Eurostar: climate change concerns drive double-digit rise high-speed rail travel

The head of Eurostar, the high-speed rail service linking London to Paris and Brussels, said Friday that climate change worries helped make 2007 a banner year and urged the EU to rein in the “unsustainable” growth of airline carbon emissions.

“We see a 30 percent growth in the number of business travelers on the Eurostar in the last two years,” Richard Brown, Eurostar’s chief executive, told a climate change conference of European business leaders.
“A significant part of that growth comes from companies wishing to switch to greener modes of transport,” added Brown.

He predicted Europe’s 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) of high-speed track will double in size by 2018 under pressure of climate change concerns.

In 2007, Eurostar carried a record 8.26 million travelers, up 5.1 percent with sales of business tickets surging because of concerns of companies about the carbon footprint of their traveling employees.

International Herald Tribune