MORE people than ever before have switched from aircraft to let the high-speed train take the strain of European travel.

Passenger numbers using Eurostar services between Ashford, London, Paris and Brussels rose to a record 7.85 million last year, up five per cent on 2005.

Airport chaos, caused by heightened security, fog and baggage handling problems, prompted thousands of travellers to avoid the hassle by using the train.

Eurostar said many passengers were using the service for the first time and estimated that 1,000 business customers a week had permanently transferred from flying to high-speed rail.

Eurostar also said that greater awareness of the environmental benefits of rail travel, extra journeys linked to The Da Vinci Code movie, and improved punctuality - 91.5 per cent as against 86.3 per cent - were also behind the higher numbers.

The operator claimed that airline punctuality on the Paris and Brussels routes out of London’s airports was around 70 per cent, and that a Eurostar journey between London and Paris / Brussels generates 10 times less carbon dioxide than flying.

For the first time, sales of £518million topped half a billion pounds, up more than 11 per cent. Eurostar is now carrying 28 per cent more travellers than in the 12 months before the opening in September 2003 of the first section of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, now named High Speed 1. However, this is well below initial estimates made before the explosion in low cost air travel.

Chief executive Richard Brown said: "These are record results on sales, traveller numbers and punctuality. I am delighted at the strong growth in the number of business travellers, who are discovering the punctuality and productivity advantages that Eurostar offers compared with the experience of flying.

"Many more travellers are being attracted by the environmental benefits of using high-speed rail instead of short-haul air."

He added: "We expect 2007 to be another good year, with events such as the Tour de France in July and the Rugby World Cup [in France] in the autumn already generating strong demand in the groups market."