Eurostar posts record passenger figures for 2007

PARIS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Eurostar, the high-speed passenger train service linking Britain to mainland Europe, carried a record number of passengers in 2007 and saw its ticket sales surge.

The company said its passenger numbers broke the 8 million mark for the first time. Eurostar carried 8.26 million passengers last year, up 5.1 percent on the previous year.

Ticket sales rose 15.5 percent from 2006 to reach 599 million pounds ($1.18 billion).

The 2007 rugby World Cup in France boosted traffic and Eurostar added that the recent launch of new high-speed train services from London's renovated St Pancras station had also led to an increase in sales.

"We expect to see this growth continue throughout 2008," Eurostar Chief Executive Richard Brown said in a statement.

Eurostar began public services in November 1994.

Eurostar services are handled by France's SNCF railway and Belgium's SNCB on their respective territories.

On the British side, this is done by the ICRR consortium, which comprises National Express Plc (NEX.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), SNCF, SNCB and British Airways Plc (BAY.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Louise Ireland)