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The campaign, which is designed to encourage people to travel between Western European cities by train, will promote the benefits of the alliance.

Railteam's aim is to offer seamless travel across the Western European high-speed rail network, which links more than 100 major destinations, and it is keen to flag up the environmental benefits of train travel.

The push will also highlight the travel opportunities created by the launch of the Eurostar service from London St Pancras.

The consortium, which includes Deutsche Bahn and SNCF, is aiming to make inter-city rail travel across Europe simpler and cheaper.

Initiatives include allowing passengers who miss a connection because of late-running services to take the next train, irrespective of their ticket type, while frequent travellers will benefit from a 'train miles' scheme.

The coalition is also in-vesting e30m (£20m) in a distribution system that will offer lower combined-ticket prices and the facility to buy tickets from any member ticket office.

These improvements are intended to overcome some of the main difficulties rail travellers face when purchasing tickets via individual rail websites.