Eurostar Looks to Expand in Europe

The operator of cross-Channel passenger train services is looking to expand its network out of London by adding up to 10 destinations in four European countries over the next five years, the Financial Times is reporting.

Eurostar is looking at running services from its base at St Pancras, London, into the Netherlands, Germany, southern France and Switzerland in what the paper calls "a direct challenge" to the airlines that dominate those markets.

The company has already established an 80 percent market share between the three cities, carrying 9.7 million passengers per year, the article continues. The high-speed rail line between the Channel tunnel and London, along with its St Pancras International terminus, helped boost business when it launched in 2007.

Eurostar is set to lose its monopoly on high-speed services through the Channel tunnel, with Deutsche Bahn planning to enter the market by the end of 2015. Nicolas Petrovic, chief executive of Eurostar, believes the German state rail operator will be joined by at least one other rival and sees the competition as an opportunity and more of a threat to airlines.