Eurostar carried more than 8m passengers in a year for the first time in 2007, as the cross-Channel high-speed train operator further increased its market share for travel between London and Paris and Brussels.

The operator - run jointly by railway companies in the UK, France and Belgium - carried 8.26m travellers during the year, a 5.1 per cent increase on the 7.85m carried in 2006. Its share of journeys between London and Paris is now 71 per cent - 2.3 per cent up on 2006 - while its share of the London to Brussels market edged up 1 per cent to 65.6 per cent.