Germany's Deutsche Bahn (DB) rail company signed an agreement in Strasbourg, Germany Monday with France's government-owned railroad company Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) to create two high-speed routes linking Paris with two German cities, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.

Under the agreement, high-speed trains between the two countries would not need to change locomotives at the French- German border, reducing the travel time between Paris and Frankfurt from six and half hours to four, the SNCF said.

The parties are expecting 1.5 million travelers to use each year the two lines, which are scheduled for completion in June 2007, doubling the current rate. Some 100 million euros (126 million US dollars) of revenues will be produced.

DB Chief Executive Hartmut Mehdorn and SNCF President louis Gallois also signed an agreement to develop RailEuroConcept, a joint venture which will manage the planning and procedures in international freight handling starting in 2006.

Source: Xinhua