Railteam alliance, which includes England’s Eurostar, France’s SNCF, Germany’s Deutsche Bahn as well as Austrian, Belgian, Dutch and Swiss operators have partnered to offer one system to book international train fares. Railteam alliance will be in direct competition to Europe’s low-cost airlines and will be offering a frequent travel program.

To help rail travelers connect between center city destinations throughout Europe, there will be multi-lingual information available onboard trains and in the stations. The partners will also work on better coordination of departure and arrival times to help speed travel times and if passengers miss their connection because of the train being late, Railteam will ensure they are on the next available train even if it is run by a different operator from the ticket they hold.

Frequent business travelers who are top-tier members of rail programs can expect to see some of their benefits expanded to the entire network. By 2010, Railteam members expect 25 million international travelers to be using their European high-speed network.