Eurostar added one more reason to celebrate this holiday season as the international high-speed rail operator passed two significant and record breaking passenger milestones.

Coinciding with the start of its twentieth year of operation, 2013 has seen Eurostar carry, for the first time, ten million passengers in a single year.

This landmark achievement brings the total number of passengers who have travelled with Eurostar since operations began in 1994 to an impressive 140 million.

The first commercial Eurostar services departed London, Paris and Brussels on the November 14th 1994 and by the end of the year, more than 150,000 passengers had travelled between the capital cities. 

Since then, annual passenger numbers have grown steadily as more and more people experience the excitement of a journey on Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel.

The record breaking passenger milestones were achieved today as 2013 draws to a close.

Recent signs of a recovery in the UK economy along with a busy summer for leisure travel across its routes have helped Eurostar attract ten million passengers on board its services in a single year.

Travellers from across Europe have joined an increasing number of international passengers from countries as far afield as the USA, Australia, China and Brazil.

Passenger numbers also received a boost in 2013 following the introduction of new routes and new destinations to an expanding Eurostar timetable.

As well as a new winter ski service to the Swiss Alps, this summer saw the successful trial of Eurostar’s Route du Soleil service direct to Provence in the south of France and has led to the introduction of the route on a permanent basis from 2015.