London to Paris in under two hours on Air France's new high-speed train

Air France has already announced plans to run a rival service to Eurostar when rail laws are opened up in two years.

The airline believes it can slash the current two hours 15 minutes it takes to travel between the English and French capital.

On New Year's Day 2010, the European Union’s railway traffic laws will open up the railways to competition, ending the Eurostar monopoly.

Eurostar may be a thing of the past if plans by Air France for a high-speed London to Paris 'airplaine on wheels' goes ahead

Rising fuel costs combined with security and safety concerns are increasingly cutting profit margins for short-haul flights - meaning that airlines are keen to start using high speed trains.

Both Air France and Eurostar want to buy a new generation of AGV trains which will replace the TGVs currently being used, ensuring top speeds of well above 220mph.

Cut-throat competition on the London-Paris route will be guaranteed, meaning speeds could rise even higher. 

Over the past few years thousands of passengers have switched from short-haul British Airways and Air France flights to the Eurostar service, which is considered far greener and more convenient. 

A spokesman for Air France-KLM in Paris announced that it was going into business with Veolia, a French transportation company, to provide the new London-Paris service.

It hopes it will be up and running by October 2010, along with a new Paris-Amsterdam service. 

Like Eurostar, both Air France and Veolia are also liaising with Alstom, the maker of the TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) high-speed trains currently used across France and on the Eurostar service. 

All want to buy or lease the new generation of Alstom AGVs, which can carry up to 900 passengers at a routine speed of 224 mph - a full 38mph faster than the current 186mph speed which London-Paris Eurostars reach.

 At 224mph, passengers would be able to commute between Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport and Schiphol airport outside Amsterdam in approximately 1.5 hours.

The London-Paris speed would also drop below the two hour mark.  Air France-KLM boss Jean-Cyril Spinetta said he dreamed of seeing high-speed trains “in the colours of Air France”, referring to TGV trains as “airplanes on wheels.” 

In April 2007 a specially modified Eurostar reached a speed of 357mph on a high-speed track between Paris and Strasbourg.

In contrast, the fastest speed reached in Britain was 208mph by a Eurostar train on test runs between Ashford and Fawkham Junction in Kent in July 2003.