Eurostar, which operates the high-speed train service between the UK and mainland Europe, achieved sales revenue of £178m in the first three months of 2010. This was an increase of more than five per cent over the same period last year.

Passenger numbers were also up over the period, two million in Q1 this year, against 1.9 million for the first quarter of 2009. The number of travellers from overseas markets outside Europe increased by 22 per cent.

Other figures released by the company show that the number of leisure passengers travelling between the UK and the continent went up by six percent, with 1.76 million people travelling in Q1 this year compared to 1.65 million in the same period in 2009.

Elsewhere at Eurostar, the move to restructure the group from being a partnership between three railway companies to a single unified corporate entity is well advanced. Eurostar's shareholders (London & Continental Railways, SNCF and SNCB) have now signed a Framework Agreement enabling the final stages of the restructuring of the business to take place.

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