Eurostar blames terrorism for fall in passenger numbers

Channel tunnel passenger operator Eurostar reported a fall in passengers on Friday, citing caution among travellers in the wake of the Brussels terror attacks as behind the performance.

Passenger numbers on the high-speed rail service between London, Paris and Brussels fell to 2.2 million in the three months to 31 March, from 2.3 million a year earlier.

Revenues fell 6% from the prior year as well, to £201m.

Eurostar is a limited company, jointly owned by French state railway SNCF, Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hermes Investment Management, and the Belgian state railway SNCB.

It said demand has “dampened”, pointing to a particular slowdown in demand from travellers from the US and Asia.

"People coming from North America and Southeast Asia, particularly Japan, are fearful of coming to Europe at all,” said Eurostar chief executive Nicolas Petrovic on BBC’s Today programme.

“They don't really understand what's going on and would rather go elsewhere altogether.”

He said that based on previous experience, it would take around 12 months for the numbers to get back to more normal levels after the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

“Hopefully next year international visitors will come back,” he said.

Eurostar did point to a recent surge in ticket sales, however, ahead of the Euro 2016 football tournament.

The opening day of the competition is slated to be the busiest day on the railway, with France and Romania playing in Paris on 10 June.

Around half a million passengers were expected to make the trip under the channel to the host cities in France throughout the month of June.

The company’s new route between St Pancras and Amsterdam was also progressing towards commercial service, Petrovic said.

Its new e320 high speed trainsets were tested on the Dutch railway network for the first time last month, with services expected to begin at the end of 2017.