Eurostar unveils Google Pay paperless ticketing

Rail operator aims to reduce paper usage by 50%

Eurostar is claiming a world first for any international rail company by making paperless tickets available on mobile devices via Google Pay.

Travellers using Google Pay on Android L or higher devices can now save their mobile ticket to Google Pay from the Eurostar app, and go direct to ticket gates at Eurostar stations.

The high speed Channel Tunnel passenger service plans to reduce paper usage by 50% by 2020 with increased use of mobile tickets.

The amount of paper tickets printed in stations has been reduced by one third since last year, and now accounts for just 10% of all Eurostar tickets.

Head of digital Perrine Allain said: “We are working to provide an effortless travel experience for all our customers, and by enabling paperless tickets to be stored on Google Pay, we hope that more travellers will be encouraged to switch from printing paper.

“High-speed rail is already an environmentally friendly option for short-haul international travel and encouraging more of our customers to use paperless tickets helps further reduce our impact on the environment.”

Travellers can now find the lowest available fare using Eurostar’s Fare Finder available on Google Home and Google Assistant.