Short-haul travellers who choose high-speed rail over the plane are already making huge and immediate reductions in their carbon dioxide emissions – simply by switching how they get from A to B.

Eurostar, the high-speed provider of carbon neutral journeys between the UK and the continent, will be carrying over 140,000 travellers this August Bank Holiday weekend.  One of the passengers will be the lucky 100 millionth Eurostar traveller who will journey on the 09h00 service from St Pancras International to Paris (via Lille) on Friday 28 August.

Passengers travelling on Virgin Atlantic, one of the world’s leading long-haul airlines, can now book Eurostar tickets for onward high-speed journeys between London, Paris and Brussels.

Eurostar, the high-speed provider of carbon neutral rail journeys between the UK and continental Europe, today confirmed its plans for senior management changes that will take place in early 2010 at the same time as the launch of a new, single corporate entity that will replace the current joint venture structure.

Eurostar is undergoing a boardroom reshuffle, thought to be connected with its new ownership restructure. The promotion of Frenchman Nicolas Petrovic to chief executive, replacing Briton Richard Brown, is seen to appease a new proposal that will see the French reduce their stake in the high-speed train operator from 62% to 55%.

Five years after the collapse of Project Jupiter, another attempt has begun to transform Eurostar from an unincorporated tri-national partnership into a single coherent entity. The operator confirmed last month that negotiations were underway to position the business ready for the introduction of competition in the international passenger sector from January 1 2010.