**Sales and passenger numbers rose at Eurostar in 2009, despite the breakdown of trains in December that left thousands of passengers stranded.**Turnover at Eurostar last year reached £675.5m - an increase of 1.7% on 2008.
The cross-Channel rail service carried 1.2% more passengers, with total traffic rising to 9.2 million people.
On Monday the company admitted it expects to pay up to £10m in compensation to passengers affected by the travel chaos before Christmas.