The official unveiling last week of TGV Est Europeen, the new high-speed train line which from June 10 will link Paris to French cities such as Reims, Metz and Nancy and onwards to international destinations such as Zurich, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Basel in super-quick time shows just how far ahead of us that Europe is in high speed rail.

It’s not that people aren’t trying over here. When the Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens in November this year with its brand spanking new stations at St Pancras, Stratford and Ebbsfleet, it will be known – by its builders London & Continental Railways anyway – as High Speed 1. The 1 at the end of the name is a rather optimistic tilt at future high speed services this side of the channel. When Eurostar first appeared, there was much optimism about future services from places north of Waterloo (and I don’t count St Pancras in this) but these plans have come to naught thus far.

In fact, the decision to route HS1 around the north east of London into St Pancras has probably meant there is still the option to do something. Indeed, Eurostar has, as recently as last year, pointed out to the Office of the Rail Regulator that it still has access rights to run over both the West Coast and East Coast main lines.

Perhaps travelling by train from Manchester to Metz or Birmingham to Basel on business is not pie in the sky after all.