The Eurostar Group has appointed Gwendoline Cazenave as its new chief executive, effective from October 1.
She will take over from Jacques Damas, who has been chief executive of Eurostar since October 2020 and chief executive of holding company Eurostar Group since its creation on May 1, 2022.
Cazenave has 20 years’ experience in rail transport. For the last two years she has been a partner of management consultancy Oliver Wyman, working on the French and European transport and services markets, with a focus on strategy and transformation in the rail sector.
Prior to that she worked at SNCF in various senior posts including director of TGV Atlantique, the high-speed route in southwest France and director of finance, strategy and legal affairs at SNCF Voyages.
Alain Krakovitch, chairman of the board of directors at Eurostar Group and director of TGV-Intercités, and Christophe Fanichet, chief executive of SNCF Voyageurs, said: “We have complete confidence in Gwendoline Cazenave to lead the business, continuing the positive journey of recovery put in place by Jacques Damas.
“We warmly thank Jacques for his determined approach with all of his teams.”
Damas is credited with successfully leading Eurostar out of the unprecedented situation during Covid in which 95% of activity was on hold for 15 months, and for putting in place a new business structure.
High-speed rail companies Eurostar and Thalys formalised their merger though the creation of Eurostar Group, a new holding company, in May.
Cazenave is tasked with continuing the merger of Eurostar and Thalys to promote rail transport in Europe.
The ambition is to transport 30 million passengers per year within 10 years under a single brand, Eurostar, to offer passengers the largest international high-speed network in western Europe to speed up the rail operators’ recovery from the pandemic.