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Just a couple of weeks after DHL and UPS announced their blockbuster U.S. domestic airlift deal - with a hint of a possible expansion elsewhere around the globe - FedEx is planning for its own expansion in Europe.

At a Paris press conference, the express carrier said it is enlarging its operations at its main European hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and bulking up the site"s connections to the rest of Europe, including the potential for FedEx"s first large-scale use of rail transport.

FedEx has eschewed any use of railroads for linehaul in the United States but the carrier is developing a freight train station at Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport, providing links to a high-speed train network focused on London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and other locations in Northern Europe.

The start date of the CAREX intermodal network to load air cargo containers directly onto trains is scheduled for 2012. Some CAREX backers include the French government, the European Commission, Air France and rival TNT.

Another link in the intermodal network is Cologne, Germany, where FedEx has a sub-hub and where UPS maintains its main European air hub.

Driving the need for the larger facility is growth in Central and Eastern European markets, said Michael Muhlberger, FedEx"s vice president of operations, Central and Eastern Europe. The economies in the region are growing rapidly since the European Union enlargement a couple of years ago brought Hungary, Poland and other countries into the EU fold and investments in factories and distribution centers is accelerating this year.

Recently FedEx bought Flying Cargo KFT in Hungary, following another recent acquisition, UK parcel delivery operator ANC.

At the CDG airport in Paris, FedEx is expanding sort area from 527,436 square feet from 775,008 square feet and its freight area to 139,931 square feet by 2009.

The expansion is part of a larger move by FedEx toward international express markets as domestic U.S. express business remains stagnant thanks to an economic downturn and a broader move of expedited business toward trucking.

"Europe and Asia continue to grow so we foresee the future for international to be positive in growing across the world," David J. Bronczek, president and CEO of FedEx Express, said recently.