Latest Rail News

09.01.18

Eurostar unveils former Yodel boss as new CEO

Eurostar has appointed Mike Cooper as its new chief executive following the departure of former CEO Nicolas Petrovic.

Cooper leaves his role as chief executive of delivery company Yodel to join the Britain-France service operator, having previously held the role of chief commercial officer at EasyJet and then managing director for mainland Europe at Arriva.

Petrovic is leaving Eurostar to join Siemens, France, as CEO in February, with Cooper subsequently joining the firm in March.

Clare Hollingsworth, chairman of Eurostar, commented: “We are delighted that Mike will be joining Eurostar as CEO as he brings a wealth of expertise to our business.

“With his strong track record of leading a major European transport business across multiple countries and his extensive experience of key consumer travel brands he is perfectly placed to lead the company into its next phase of growth.”

Over the last year, Eurostar has begun the introduction of a new fleet of e320 trains as part of a £1bn programme of investment between London and Brussels.

The stock had previously run between London and Paris, boasting a 20% increase in capacity compared with the previous services.

Eurostar’s Rob Haycocks spent some time writing about the new developments for RTM’s June/July edition last year, detailing some of the changes and how they would begin to affect services.

Top image: Eurostar

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Comments

Mikeb   09/01/2018 at 23:03

Will he inaugurate a new through service to Switzerland?

Andrew Gwilt   10/01/2018 at 02:19

Great idea Mikeb. Eurostar could operate a London-Zurich direct service. By using their Class 373's or Class 374's.

Mike Guerra   10/01/2018 at 09:51

London-Zurich would require fitting 15kV AC traction and ETCS signalling to the old ladies, both of which are a bit tricky (and expensive), but not impossible. It would be easier (but still eye-wateringly expensive) to fit 15kV AC to the Siemens trains, but the signalling would be far easier as they already have ECTS cabs. London-Zurich would also be a bit far to run on only LGVs and a bit slow and noisy if run on classic. Nice idea though.

Icn   10/01/2018 at 12:09

The 374s should (I believe) be able to operate as fas as Geneva. Beyond that will require Swiss infrastructure compatabilty (15kV, signalling, radio etc.).

Adrian N   10/01/2018 at 15:28

Genuine question - can't any of the TGVs that run through from France to Switzerland and northern Italy also run to St Pancras? I assume that some of these are multi voltage and have onboard systems compatible with TVM430 and Swiss / Italian versions of ETCS?

Mikeb   10/01/2018 at 17:15

In view Mr Cooper's previous employer, my previous comment was meant as a bit of fun.

Frankh   11/01/2018 at 02:24

Mikeb, Your flogging a dead horse with that one on here. He might start doing package holidays though.

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