PARIS, January 16, 2008  - Eurotunnel, the operator of the cross-channelrail tunnel linking France and Britain, on Tuesday reported a gain in sales in2007 against comparable figures for the previous year.   It said sales came to 775 million euros (1.2 billion dollars) in 2007,compared to 729 million in 2006.   The figures reflect the end of a contract in November 2006 that establisheda guaranteed payment system for rail companies and which had been worth 95million euros.   Excluding the contract's cancellation, Eurotunnel sales were 830 millioneuros in 2006. Using that figure, sales would show a 6.6 percent decline in2007.   The company attributed what it termed "an unprecedented development ofactivity" last year to its car and truck shuttles, with vehicles carried onrail cars. Sales in that unit rose 8.0 percent, to break through the500-million-euro threshold.   The Eurostar train that uses the tunnel carried about 8.3 millionpassengers between London, Paris and Brussels last year -- up 5.0 percent from2006, according to Eurotunnel.   The only unit to register a decline in 2007 was rail freight. Tonnagecarried fell 23 percent to 1.21 million.   Eurotunnel's chairman Jacques Gounon, assessing the overall performance,said: "We are now substantially ahead of the business plan for the financialrestructuring."   Eurotunnel in late June announced a major restructuring that enabled it toreduce its debt by half to 4.16 billion euros.