00:00to most international high speed railway company in the world.
00:03Tooirepracujemy więcej passengers,
00:04we need to have more trains.
00:05It'll be quite a revolution.
00:13Welcome to The Big Question,
00:17the series from Euronews
00:18where we sit down with some of the biggest names in business.
00:22I'm Elana Butler
00:23and today I'm joined by Mathieu Chiorle,
00:26Przewodniczący, Przewodniczący i Transformation Officer na Eurostar.
00:31Dziękuję bardzo za przyjaciół nas na dziewczynę.
00:34W poprzednicy, możesz zadać nam oczekiwanie o co Eurostar jest?
00:39W tym momencie operujemy w 5 różnych krajów.
00:43Francia, Belgia, Niedzylna, Ukraina, a Zemiania.
00:46Za pierwszy raz w tym roku,
00:49więcej niż 20 milionów z pasagających z nas w 2025 roku.
00:53Znaczymy, że około 400 milionów z usłyszałem z usłyszałem z usłyszałemu z Eurostar.
01:01W sumie z finansami, jak zdrowie jest Eurostar?
01:05Zobaczmy, co się w przyszłym roku?
01:07W tym roku, jakie są twoje predikacje na market?
01:10W tym roku są bardzo mocne finansowe, które jest bardzo ważne,
01:13ponieważ jest bardzo ważne, że jesteśmy investiły mocno.
01:15W tym roku, że w tym roku wyjaśnieniu, że wyjaśnieniu wyjaśnieniu w 50 newbie trendset.
01:22Znaczymy, że to jest 2 milionów euro, to najważniejsze investy w Eurostar historii.
01:28W tym roku, w roku wystarczają się 2 milionów euro,
01:34a już 19.5 milionów, czyli 5% i 20 milionów.
01:44One reason, oczywiście, że ludzie chcą Eurostar jest,
01:47ponieważ są zauważające się do swojego carbonu,
01:49ale uważasz, że ten desire to być greener
01:53jest prowadził wymiany asożdżające?
01:56To zdecydowanie prowadził wymiany.
01:58W tym czasie jest prowadził wymiany w leższej segmentu,
02:02ale nawet bardziej, w tym czasie, w biznesie.
02:04Myślę, że firmy mają nową politykę na prawo,
02:08i widzimy wzajemny wymiany wymiany na prawo w Europie.
02:12I you are expanding your routes to Cologne, Frankfurt and Geneva by the 2030s.
02:18How is progress coming along on that?
02:21So we are already connecting Cologne.
02:23So we operate the Paris Cologne route.
02:25The thing that we do not do yet today is London Cologne in a direct way.
02:29So we have a connection in Brussels.
02:30And our intention is to grow and to reach new destinations.
02:34And two clear destinations that we have on our radar are Geneva and Frankfurt.
02:39Which means that in the future Eurostar will connect six different countries.
02:44So probably the most international high-speed railway company in the world.
02:48First, Geneva and Frankfurt.
02:50It's already something very bold, very ambitious.
02:53But that's something that we have done in the past.
02:55And we have this pioneer spirit at Eurostar.
02:58So we'll continue to build on that.
03:00Virgin Trains, Richard Branson's company, was given approval last year from the UK's rail regulator
03:12to begin planning services between the UK and mainland Europe.
03:17This is a line that Eurostar has had a monopoly over for a long time.
03:22Is this something that worries you? Is this bad news for Eurostar?
03:26No, it doesn't worry us. I mean, the market is open to competition for the past 15 years.
03:33So any railway operator can compete with Eurostar.
03:37I think the only issue for Eurostar is development, is how we can grow in the future.
03:43And our main concern is to make sure that tomorrow there is enough space in the station,
03:49there is enough space on track, because competition or no competition,
03:54if we want to have more passengers, we need to have more trains,
03:58but also we need all those bottlenecks to be removed.
04:01We are working with Simponcrest station on that right now.
04:05We want to expand the station. We want to offer a seamless experience.
04:10Since Brexit, all the British passport needs to be stamped, so it's more complicated in a way,
04:16but we want to make sure that it goes easier in the future
04:20and that we can offer the best customer experience that we can.
04:23And you mentioned bottlenecks there, but only about half of the channeled tunnel's passenger capacity
04:30is actually being used by Eurostar at the moment, I believe. Don't you see that as a waste?
04:35So, the thing which is very important to have in mind is you don't go only through the tunnel channel.
04:40First, you start from one station, let's say Gare du Nord or Brussels Midi, and you go to Simponcrest.
04:47So you need to make sure you have enough space in the station.
04:49Then you need to make sure you have enough space in each of those networks,
04:53and some of those networks are used by other operators than Eurostar for domestic purpose, for instance.
04:59So it's not just about Eurostar, but clearly our intention is to grow, to run more trains,
05:05and that's the reason why we are purchasing new trains, up to 50 new trains,
05:10which means that we would grow by 30% the number of trains that we are operating today.
05:16And supporters of the approval that was given to Virgin say that this competition could bring prices down for consumers
05:24and improve the service. What do you think of that?
05:29I mean, all focus at Eurostar is offer the best customer experience to our clients.
05:35Regarding price, the first thing which is good to know is that over the seven past year,
05:42Eurostar, despite growing demand, despite inflation, has not increased the leading fare.
05:48So it's still €44 on Paris London, €29 on Paris Brussels.
05:53The issue that we have is that we don't have enough capacity.
05:56Those low fares, they are sold out quite quickly.
06:00But if you are booking at the last minute, then it becomes an issue.
06:04So we are launching on a regular basis promotion right now.
06:07It's €25 to travel between Paris and Brussels.
06:10Also, we have this new product called Snap.
06:14It enables you to purchase a ticket 50% cheaper than the regular price.
06:19You know the date of your travel and we give you 48 hours in advance, the exact departure time.
06:26This is a product that is working really well.
06:28But at the end of the day, the thing that will really change everything is to have more capacity.
06:33Because if we have more capacity, we'll be capable to offer more low fares.
06:37And that's exactly our intention with those new trains that we are buying.
06:42With more than 20% extra capacity in those trains.
06:46And to focus on Eurostar's future projects, what else can we expect from Eurostar in the coming years?
06:52The first thing is probably the new train, because it will be quite a revolution.
06:58If you think about it, the first time a double-decker train will run through the tunnel channel in the UK.
07:05It has never happened in the past.
07:07The second element is that this train will be fully designed in a very specific way.
07:12So it will be a complete new customer experience that we will provide to the customer.
07:17We'll continue to invest in lounges.
07:19We have new flexible conditions for our tickets.
07:22You can exchange for free up to one hour before departure.
07:25So we wanted to make that as easy as taking your car.
07:28So we are working on many things right now.
07:31We will continue to work on that.
07:33And yeah, that's everything we do.
07:36Lots to look forward to then.
07:38I think it's a good place to leave it there.
07:40So thank you so much for coming on The Big Question and sharing your insights.
07:44Thank you for your question.
07:45Thanks so much.
07:46Thank you.
07:52Thank you.
07:53Thank you.
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