Eurostar is adding the ability to buy and save mobile tickets on Google Pay in a world first for any international rail company.

Travellers using Google Pay on Android L or higher devices can now simply save their mobile ticket to Google Pay from the Eurostar app, and proceed directly to ticket gates at Eurostar stations for a more seamless start to their journey.

The new option for travellers aims to further increase the use of mobile tickets, as part of Eurostar’s plans to reduce paper usage by 50 per cent by 2020.

Since 2018, the amount of paper tickets printed in stations has been reduced by one third, and now accounts for just ten per cent of all Eurostar tickets.

Perrine Allain, head of digital, Eurostar, said: “We are working to provide an effortless travel experience for all our customers, and by enabling paperless tickets to be stored on Google Pay, we hope that more travellers will be encouraged to switch from printing paper.

“High-speed rail is already an environmentally friendly option for short-haul international travel and encouraging more of our customers to use paperless tickets helps further reduce our impact on the environment.”

Enabling mobile tickets to be saved via Google Pay is the latest in a range of digital improvements from Eurostar.

Earlier this year, Eurostar also made updates to the Eurostar app to help provide users with a new ‘arrival’ state.

The update added features including public transport maps for the destination city and the ability to book tickets to attractions.

Travellers can now find the lowest available fare using Eurostar’s Fare Finder available on Google Home and Google Assistant.

The Eurostar app can be downloaded through Google Play.