Network Rail offers passengers a ticket to the Streetcar club

Network Rail, the company that operates Britain's railway infrastructure, will today announce it has signed a deal with a leading car club operator to provide vehicles at four of its largest stations.

Streetcar, which has 15,000 members around the UK, will provide 11 cars in fixed parking spots at Victoria, Euston, Paddington and Waterloo. While the initiative is originally limited to the capital, both companies hope to expand the project throughout the rail network.

Car clubs have become increasingly popular in the UK over the past three years because they reduce the extent to which people need their own vehicles. Club members pay an annual fee to join - £49.50 in the case of Streetcar - and are then charged hourly each time they use a car.

The largest clubs have hundreds of cars parked in locations throughout the UK's biggest cities, which members can borrow for as short a time as they need before returning them to the same spot.

Andrew Valentine, managing director of Streetcar, said: "We think combining car clubs with the public transport network is the key to getting more cars off the roads at peak travel times."

The firm will compete head-on with car hire firms at stations - unlike at its other locations which tend to be in residential areas - but Mr Valentine said Streetcar's hire terms were more flexible.