Eurostar numbers up 16 percent
 |  Eurostar train, Waterloo station, London |
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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Eurostar says passenger numbers rose more than 16 percent in the first 10 months of the year as it took business away from airlines.
Eurostar, run by the state railways of France, Belgium and privately-held London Continental Railways, said on Monday passenger numbers in the period rose 16.2 percent to 6.05 million.
Expected sales in the first 10 months of 2004 were up 16 percent to 364 million pounds, it said on Monday.
Eurostar says its trains are taking market share from airlines such as Ryanair and British Airways on both its London-Paris and London-Brussels routes.
Its market share of the total air-rail travel market on the London-Paris route was 68 percent in the year to date and 63 percent on the London-Brussels route.
Eurostar released the figures to mark 10 years of operations.
"Eurostar alone has carried nearly 60 million passengers in that time and, as high-speed rail expands in the UK after 2007, we are confident that this number will go on growing substantially," Eurostar Director of Communications Paul Charles said in a statement.
Reuters contributed to this report.
