Eurostar is stepping up its campaign to persuade air travellers to take the train
The company which operates high speed trains between London and Paris and Brussels is in talks with UK train companies about offering travellers through tickets from British cities to the continent.
Eurostar aims to offer such tickets when it moves into its new terminal at St. Pancras in November.
It will enable travellers to buy a single ticket for journeys from, say, Sheffield or Leeds to Paris or Brussels.
As a second part of the project, Eurostar is aiming to introduce through tickets from French and Belgian cities to the UK from 2008 followed by tickets for onward journeys from Paris or Brussels to cities like Strasbourg or Amsterdam.
A spokesman for Eurostar said the new ticket availability was being introduced in stages because it was a "fairly complex IT challenge."
The first phase involved talks with UK train operators like Virgin Trains, GNER, Midland Mainline and First Capital Connect which run trains from the three major north London stations, Euston, King's Cross and St Pancras.
This would be followed by other operators, like first Great Western which used other London terminals, and then by continental operators bike SNCF and SNCB, the French and Belgian train companies.
The spokesman said there were no pricing guidelines yet but through tickets could start at the combined cost of the lead in prices for the journey to London and for Eurostar.
"We are hoping to persuade those who fly from East Midlands or Leeds/Bradford Airports that we are both competitive as well as on time," the spokesman said.
Eurostar also announced that its is opening its new station in Kent, Ebbsfleet International on November 19 - five days after it switches its operations from Waterloo International to St. Pancras.
It said it will offer passengers on Southeastern trains free travel to both Ashford International and to stations near Ebbsfleet.
Business class travellers will also be offered free parking Ebbsfleet.
It said the new station would enable it to compete "head to head" with the UK's airports in South East England, including Stansted and Gatwick, for the first time.
It would be the fastest route to the continent for 10,000,000 people living in the catchment area.
Journey times from Ebbsfleet to Paris and Brussels will be, respectively, 2hours 5mins and 1hour 41mins.