Air France-KLM said on Monday it plans to move into high-speed passenger rail transport in a venture with French transport, waste and water firm Veolia.

The Air France unit of the airline group said that it and Veolia were studying such a venture for when European rail passenger traffic is liberalized on January 1, 2010.

However the company said in a statement it could not confirm a newspaper report that the deal could be signed on September 15.

Air France-KLM said at the beginning of July that it was in discussions with Veolia about a partnership to create a new high speed rail player in Europe.

High speed rail travel is currently mainly in the hands of state-owned rail companies such as SNCF or Deutsche Bahn, or joint ventures between these operators such as Eurostar and Thalys. Private group NTV plans high-speed travel in Italy.