EUROSTAR had a record year in 2008 — marred only by the effects of the fire in the Channel Tunnel which has restricted services since last autumn.

But passenger numbers have been boosted by the decline in the value of the pound against the euro, attracting many people from the Continent to travel to London on shopping trips, Eurostar’s chief executive Richard Brown told BBC News.

Eurostar Group Ltd said ticket revenue rose 11 per cent to £664 million in 2008. Passenger numbers jumped 10 per cent from a year earlier to 9.1 million, the company said.

Eurostar, which runs passenger trains between London and Paris and Brussells, said passenger numbers were “significantly affected” by a fire aboard a shuttle train in the Channel Tunnel last September and would have been higher without the incident.

Richard Brown said Eurostar growth had also been boosted by the move of its London terminal to St Pancras International, which was close to Euston, King’s Cross and St Pancras domestic stations, and had encouraged many more passengers from the Midlands and North of England to use the international service.

Eurostar expects to restore a full timetable in early spring 2009 when repairs to the undersea rail link are completed.

•  Passengers using Spain’s domestic air services fell by 20 per cent last year, as the number travelling on high-speed trains rose by 28 per cent.  The increase in passengers using the 350 km/h (220 mph) AVE trains was boosted by a new line between Madrid and Barcelona and by other high-speed lines from Madrid to Valladolid, Segovia and Malaga.

The Spanish government has promised to build 10,000 km (6,200 miles) of high-speed track by 2020 to ensure that nine out of ten of Spaniards live within 30 miles of a station. Spain’s prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, says it will be Europe's most extensive high-speed network.