The Board of Eurostar International has announced the appointment of Clare Hollingsworth to the position of chairman. 

Hollingsworth will succeed Richard Brown who has decided to step down from the Board when his three year term as chairman comes to an end on June 30th. 

Brown has chaired the organisation for three years, overseeing the transformation of Eurostar from an unincorporated partnership to a unified corporate entity, Eurostar International, in 2010. 

He joined Eurostar as chief executive in 2002 and over seven years led the business through the successful launch of high-speed passenger rail services in the UK and the seamless transfer of Eurostar services from Waterloo to St Pancras station.

He became Chairman of Eurostar in 2010 and went on to oversee the merger of the interests of the three partners, SNCF, LCR and SNCB, into a standalone company on September 1st 2010. 

In turn, Hollingsworth has extensive experience of the transport sector and of customer facing businesses.

She joined the Board of Eurostar as an independent non-executive director in 2010. 

Hollingsworth said: “I am delighted to be taking on the Chairmanship of Eurostar at this time.

“Over the last three years the business has been transformed into a successful private entity delivering strong growth in passenger numbers and profitability. 

“With the arrival of a new fleet of trains and the launch of additional services over the next couple of years, we are entering a new phase and I look forward to supporting the Eurostar team in driving the future growth of the business.”