ALL ABOARD FOR THE HIGH-SPEED RIDE ACROSS EUROPE

The opening of the Channel Tunnel and the launch of Eurostar services between London, Brussels and Paris in 1994, marked the first step to an international high-speed rail system. Next will come Paris to Brussels and Paris to Strasbourg, with extensions towards southwestern Germany. For the 12 countries in the European Union in 1994 plus austria and Switzerland, the investment needed to pay for the infrastructure amounts to 200 billion ECU.