Eurostar Group, incorporating Thalys and Eurostar revealed the new brand to take the business forward, with a bold ambition to carry 30 million passengers a year by 2030 and become the backbone of sustainable travel in Europe. From the end of 2023, all customer touchpoints including the business’ 51 trains will carry a sleek new look under the Eurostar brand name. Eurostar was selected due to high consumer awareness at both a European and global level, including overseas which continues to be a growing market for high-speed rail services.
The new business has chosen an iconic star as its symbol and new logo inspired by l’Etoile du Nord, the original train service linking Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam and as a tribute to the first Eurostar logo. An animated spark graphic acts as a compass symbolising the brand purpose to spark new opportunities, connecting people, places, businesses, and cultures across borders.
Under a single brand, Eurostar Group aims to spark a new golden age for high-speed rail connectivity in Europe, continuing to convert road and air travellers to rail at a time when passengers are keen to have greener travel options. A passenger’s carbon footprint from one flight between London and Amsterdam is the equivalent of seven Eurostar journeys,* and as the largest international high-speed rail network in Western Europe, crossing five countries and connecting 245 million people, there is huge potential to drive the modal shift to sustainable travel.
Eurostar Group passengers will have Europe at their fingertips, benefiting from a single loyalty programme covering all destinations across the current Eurostar and Thalys networks, as well as a single website and booking system from October 2023. For continental travellers, this will improve ease of booking direct and connecting journeys to London and for UK passengers it will offer simple, seamless connections between London and German destinations including Cologne.
With the alliance legally completed on 1st May 2022, today marks a milestone in the bringing together of the two businesses. Eurostar Group’s CEO Gwendoline Cazenave, who joined the business in October, has 20 years of experience in rail transport and is passionate about driving forward the business’s sustainable future. “We are excited to unveil our new brand today which will raise our visibility, help us become the backbone of sustainable high-speed rail in Europe, and support us in our ambition to double the number of passengers over the next decade. Our customers will be able to experience the same quality of service they know and love across our unified network, linking iconic business and leisure destinations across five European countries. As Eurostar Group we are in a unique position to spark the next chapter for rail travel, to truly drive the modal shift from road and air to rail.”
Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs said: “We are proud to be engaged in Eurostar Group, the world’s leading high-speed rail company. This new Eurostar brand, with its unified network, is at the heart of our ambition to enable international rail development and to double its modal share by 2030. We have everything we need to succeed in this wonderful challenge!”
Alain Krakovitch, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Eurostar Group said: “We set out a bold ambition: increase the number of passengers from 19 million in 2019 to 30 million in 2030. And accelerate the shift from air and road travel to high-speed rail travel on the combined Eurostar and Thalys network. We knew that the challenge of climate change and Europe’s growing demand for eco-responsible and sustainable travel presents a great opportunity for both companies in terms of development in the long term.”
Emmanuel Jaclot, Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure, CDPQ, added: “The unified brand and commitment to carry 30 million passengers a year by 2030 mark an inspiring new chapter for Eurostar Group, and more broadly, for sustainable mobility in Europe. At a time when every action counts, CDPQ is proud to accelerate the decarbonization of transport in Europe with its portfolio companies, such as Eurostar, which we have been supporting since 2015.”
Sophie Dutordoir, CEO SNCB, said: “The unveiling of the new brand marks not only a firm determination to enter a new phase of high-speed rail beneficial to existing and new clients, but at the same time strengthens the central role of Brussels, the headquarters of Eurostar Group, as linchpin of rail connectivity and sustainable travel in Europe. This exciting new phase of rail travel is timely as it constitutes an indispensable building block for Europe’s sustainability goals”.
The new brand identity was created by DesignStudio based on the heritage of Eurostar and Thalys, fit for the digital age and designed to help the business grow. It is deployed in a palette of ten colours, bringing in warmer shades representative of the Thalys brand and will be rolled out from October 2023.
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