In 2023, the Eurostar Group, which now lumps together Eurostar and Thalys, carried 18.6 million passengers; a result driven by strong demand on routes to London, Brussels and Amsterdam. Now the new group has set its sights on carrying 30 million passengers each year by 2030.

The fastest-growing routes on the Eurostar network to and from Paris in 2023:

• Paris-London : +25%
• Paris-Amsterdam : +17%
• Paris-Brussels : +12%
• Paris-Germany : +19%

In order to be able to reach its target, i.e. 30 million passengers a year by 2030, Eurostar Group plans to invest in 50 new trains. This new acquisition will bring the fleet to a total of 67 trains, which means a 30% increase in relation to the 51 trains currently in operation. The Group thus aims to set new standards in terms of customer experience and comfort.

Eurostar Group has also committed to powering its trains with 100% renewable energy by 2030. The Group has indeed joined the RE1002 alliance of companies committed to sourcing 100% renewable energy in order to start working with partners and regulators towards this goal. In the Netherlands, Eurostar trains have been running on 100% wind power since 2017, and in the UK this figure has risen to 40% since 2023.

The new Eurostar Group can whisk passengers from London to Paris in 2h15, London to Amsterdam in 3h52 and Paris to Amsterdam in 3h19. Serving 5 countries and a catchment area of 245 million consumers, it has the largest high-speed network in Western Europe. Its purpose is to accelerate the modal shift to rail by offering an attractive alternative to road and air transport.

The Eurostar-Thalys merger effort was launched in September 2019 and approved by the European Commission in late March 2022. The Eurostar Group holding company was founded on 1 May 2022, with SNCF Voyages Développement (a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs) taking 55.75% of its shares. Other shareholders are CDPQ with 19.31%, SNCB with 18.50%, and funds managed by Federated Hermes Infrastructure with 6.44%. The holding company is based in Brussels and owns 100% of shares in Eurostar International Limited (Eurostar) and THI Factory SA (Thalys), which remain rail companies in their own right. Eurostar is headquartered in London and Thalys in Brussels.