KEITH FENDER took a trip to Paris with Eurostar MD MIKE COOPER to mark the milestone
Eurostar celebrated its 25th anniversary on 14 November 2019 with media and invited guests joining senior management on a train Paris. The trip, on one of the newest of the Velaro e320 fleet (No 374033/034), gave the assembled railway journos the opportunity to talk to Eurostar MD Mike Cooper and members of his team.
In his short anniversary speech Mr Cooper said that in its 25 years Eurostar ‘has transformed travel between London and continental Europe’ and is doing so in a way that is ‘90% more environmentally friendly than going by plane’ – and he should know as one of his jobs prior to joining Eurostar in March 2018 was Chief Commercial Officer of EasyJet, from 2000 until 2005.
Eurostar has made much of its low carbon credentials for over a decade, long before the topic was as omnipresent as it is today. Eurostar says its ‘tread lightly’ programme instituted 12 years ago has reduced its carbon footprint by 40% in that time. From 1 January Eurostar is sponsoring a tree planting programme to reduce further its carbon impact; a tree will be planted in one of the four countries in which the service operates for each train run (around 20,000 a year).
PLASTIC-FREE FUTURE<…
