Eurostar and six other European high-speed train operators today launched Railteam to allow passengers to book one ticket covering several companies.

The system covers Eurostar, Deutsche Bahn, and SNCF and the network in France, Germany, Holland, and Belgium.

Railteam has launched its own website, www.railteam.eu, that will allow customers to state their departure and destination city, and then book in one transaction, irrespective of the number of operators involved.

The operators claim city to city fares will be low enough to compete with budget airlines, and are likely to start at about £69.

Railteam will not set fares, but will act as a ‘broker’ to allow customers to access the tickets easily.

Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar, said conventional lines in the UK would be incorporated so passengers could travel, for example from Peterborough to Lille, on one ticket.

Railteam will offer a “Hop On” service to passengers who book with it, which will allow them get on the next available service if a train is late, meaning they miss a connection.

The website will be backed up by staff in call centres who will handled enquiries in the caller’s native language.

SNCF chief executive Guillaume Pepy said staff on all the Railteam members had been trained in the “Hop on” service, and would now make announcements about the transfer options as a train came into a station.