Jean-Marc Charoud, Director for Network Development at French infrastructure company RFF, told EuroRail 2008 delegates on February 26 that trains 'will completely kill air traffic between Paris and Bordeaux' once the LGV Sud-Atlantique project is completed. This prediction is undoubtedly correct, but it is worth recalling that timings of around 2 h for a journey of about 570 km are only in prospect because of the superb marriage of track and train technology which many west Europeans now take for granted.

What passengers find hard to understand is the mismatch between technology and the 'soft' aspects of rail travel. Several speakers at EuroRail trumpeted the virtues of e-ticketing on their national railway websites, but questions from the floor suggested that rail travellers are still not offered the ease of booking achieved by low-cost airlines some years ago. With traditional distance-based fares it was possible to issue a ticket for almost any rail trip across Europe, but for the moment purchasing tickets for anything other than simple point-to-point journeys is often time-consuming and difficult - especially where different operators are involved.

Progress is in prospect with the arrival of Railteam, but we are not there yet. Thierry Müller, who is responsible for the Swiss market at Lyria, a subsidiary of SNCF and Swiss Federal Railways, has a clear idea of what could be achieved. He revealed that Eurostar, in partnership with Lyria, plans to offer through fares between London and Basel via LGV Est. Due to be launched in June, the initiative will be one of the first practical benefits to emerge from Railteam.

Müller said that the route would be attractive because of the proximity of Nord and Est stations in Paris, meaning that passengers can walk between Eurostar's Paris terminal and the TGV Est platforms in 10 min or less. There are a significant number of flights between London and Basel, and while only a tiny share of traffic could be expected to switch to rail in the short term, Müller pointed out that 'even if it is only 10 to 20 tickets a month, they would be new customers for us'. He said that passengers would later be able to add Swiss travel passes to their trips at the time of purchase, although the ultimate objective would be provide some form of 'door-to-door' ticketing.

Research suggested that passengers arriving at a Paris station could spend 30 min finding their way around and buying tickets for their onward journey by metro or RER. As every minute gained on a high speed trip was worth around €1m in additional revenue, Mueller believed that operators could easily afford to invest in simplifying the transfer from high speed train to local transport. He thought it would take another five years before a strategy for door-to-door ticketing between France and Switzerland could be fully implemented.