High Speed Eurostar Line Links France To Belgium

<B> High Speed Eurostar Line Links France To Belgium</B>

<I>Brussels</I> - Eurostar hopes the launch of its Belgian high-speed line will make it the preferred short-haul carrier for business travelers.

In what the company calls a significant milestone in the development of high-speed rail travel between the United Kingdom and continental Europe, the $1.5 billion line running between Brussels and the city of Lille in northern France has cut journey times by half an hour, to four hours and 40 minutes.

The new link also offers improved connections to the Netherlands and Germany as part of a greater project to link Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne and Paris with high-speed rail lines.

"The reduced journey time has to be the key to most business travelers," said Eurostar managing director Hamish Taylor. "There is room for us to become the dominant short-haul carrier in Europe. The new high-speed line in Belgium will bring dramatic improvements for our customers as northern Europe becomes much closer."

Customers have been telling Eurostar that they need earlier and later trains, and "that is what we have been able to deliver, giving customers a very full day in Brussels," Taylor said. "The latest development will bring the same high-speed experience currently enjoyed by our Paris passengers to travelers to Brussels."

There will be an increase in frequencies from eight to 10 trains a day, including an early morning departure from Waterloo at 6:14 a.m. and from Ashford at 7:15 a.m., arriving in Brussels at 10:01 local time--in time for business meetings.

There is also a later evening departure at 7:23 p.m. from Waterloo, arriving in Brussels at 11:10 p.m..

The new link has been designed so that Eurostar can capture a greater slice of the business travel market, which currently makes up 25 percent of its total business.

The rail company already maintains that it competes effectively with the major carriers on the Paris route, where it enjoys a 60 percent market share.

Eurostar also is developing a range of products for the business traveler, like e-ticketing and quiet carriages for those who do not want to be disturbed by mobile phones or the pounding keys on a laptop.

As for agency payments, Taylor said it is too early to say whether Eurostar--which pays 9 percent commission to travel agents--will win more business as the result of British Airways' commission cuts.