Rail passengers in London had a preview today of what life could be like in a few years time.

A German high-speed train sat in St Pancras station with its destination shown as Frankfurt.

But the German ICE train, which already operates between many cities in seven European countries, will probably not be returning to London until 2013.

When it does, it will be able to reach Rotterdam in three hours, Amsterdam or Cologne in four hours and Frankfurt in five hours. Trains would leave London, travel to Brussels and then split. One half of the train would go on to Amsterdam via Rotterdam, with the other half travelling to Frankfurt via Cologne.

“This historic train journey will bring Germany and the UK closer together in the future,” said Rudiger Grube of Deutsche Bahn.

Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said: “It is great news that passengers can look forward to reaching new European destinations in an easier, greener way from 2013."

At the weekend evacuation exercises were carried out on the ICE in the Channel Tunnel in cooperation with Eurotunnel. DB needs approval from the Channel Tunnel Intergovernmental Commission.

At the moment the only passenger train services through the Channel Tunnel are run by Eurostar.

DB has ordered 15 ICE 3s (class 407) with a top speed of 200 mph from Siemens for a total of £430 million to operate the service.

More info: BBC film