Railteam, which comprises Eurostar UK, SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, SNCB, OBB, NS Hispeed and SBB, has unveiled plans to roll out an improved service for business customers and tourists, promising "easy, faster, seamless journeys" between Europe's major cities.
The group has invested €30m (£20m) in creating a new distribution service that will be unveiled in 2009, allowing international travellers to find better combinations of travel deals. A 'trainmiles' frequent traveller option will also be launched, which will be available to customers who have signed up to Railteam's business travel plan.
The changes are part of a major overhaul of international rail travel across Europe, which is being backed by better coordination of departure and arrival times at major hub destinations, travel news by text message and improved journey information.
Railteam, which includes subsidiary train operators Thalys, Lyria and Alleo, said any customer now missing a connection because of a late running service would be able to travel on the next available train irrespective of their ticket type.
According to Railteam, there will be around 25m international travellers on its European train network by 2010, with research indicating that business travellers were prepared to take four hour journeys by rail instead of flying, and tourists are willing to travel up to six hours in preference to taking a flight.
Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar, said: "For the first time ever we can now promote and sell Europe's high speed rail network as an integrated whole. One key advantage for UK travellers is that English will be one of the languages spoken on board trains and used at interconnecting hubs."
The western European high-speed network will extend over 7,600km of track by 2010 and will increase to 15,400km by 2020, covering journeys between hub destinations in Brussels, Cologne, Lille, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, London, Paris, Amsterdam and Strasbourg.
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