Thalys is an international high-speed train operator built around the high-speed lines between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. System is operated by company Thalys International. Its capital is divided up between SNCF (62%), NMBS/SNCB (28%) and Deutsche Bahn (10%).
Contents
1 History
2 Routes
3 Rolling stock
4 Accidents
History
The decision to build a high-speed railway between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam was made in 1987. On 28 January 1993,[1] SNCF, NMBS/SNCB, NS and DB signed an agreement to jointly operate the axis through the brand Thalys, and in 1995 Westrail International was created by the French and Belgium national railways to operate the services. On 4 June 1996 the first train left Paris, taking 2:07 hours to Brussels and 4:47 hours to Amsterdam.[2]
On 14 December 1997 the LGV Nord and HSL 1 lines opened, allowing the travel time from Paris to Brussels to be reduced to 1:25 hours. At the same time service commenced to Cologne and Aachen in Germany, and Bruges, Charleroi, Ghent, Namur and Ostend in Belgium. On 19 December 1998 the Thalys Neige service started to the ski resorts of Tarentaise Valley and Bourg St. Maurice. In May 1999, the new high-speed line serving Charles de Gaulle Airport opened, and Thalys started direct services from the Airport to Brussels, including code sharing agreements with Air France, American Airlines and Northwest Airlines. On 28 November 1999, the company changed its name to Thalys International. In 2000, the Thalys Soleil started services to the summer resort Valence—this service was extended in 2002 to Marseille and Avignon. In 2003, services started to Brussels International Airport and the Thalys Nuits d’Eté service to Marne-la-Vallée. Deutsche Bahn purchased 10% of the company in 2007.[2] From 14 June 2009 nineteen minutes will be shaved off the journey time between Brussels and Cologne when a new high speed line between Liège and Aachen is opened. The new high-speed line will initially only be used by Deutsche Bahn's thrice-daily ICE trains running between Brussels and Frankfurt. Thalys trains will not use the new link until an unspecified date towards the end of 2009.
Routes
Beyond Brussels, the main cities Thalys trains reach are Antwerp, The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Liège, Aachen and Cologne. Trains to these destinations run partly on dedicated high-speed tracks, and partly on older tracks shared with normal-speed trains; further high-speed track is planned to allow a full high-speed service (see, e.g. HSL Zuid). Plans to continue the line past Cologne to Frankfurt had to be abandoned because the power Germany's 15 kV electric system provides is insufficient for the Thalys trainsets to operate on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.
Travel time from Brussels (Brussels-South) to Paris (Gare du Nord) is normally 1 hour, 22 minutes, for a distance of approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi). Peak speed is 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph) on a dedicated high-speed railway track.
The LGV (ligne à grande vitesse) link with Charles de Gaulle Airport allowed Air France to withdraw its air service between Paris and Brussels; instead, Air France books seats on Thalys trains. Thalys has been given the IATA designator 2H. This is used in conjunction with American Airlines and Northwest Airlines. American Airlines has a code sharing agreement with Thalys for rail service from Charles de Gaulle airport to Brussels-South. The airline alliance SkyTeam also has a code sharing agreement with Thalys for rail service from Schiphol Airport Amsterdam to Antwerp's Central Station and Brussels-South.
Rolling stock
Thalys PBA and Thalys PBKA in ParisThalys uses two models of trains, both of which are part of the TGV (train à grande vitesse) family of high-speed trains built by Alstom in France. The first type, the PBA (Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam) is a tri-current electric multiple unit descended from the TGV Réseau. This type can operate only between the cities given in its name. The PBKA (Paris-Brussels-Koln-Amsterdam) is a type derived from the TGV Duplex double-deck sets, which, in turn, is derived from the TGV POS, although the Thalys trains are only single deck. These units are quadri-current, and can operate to four destinations (Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne and Paris).
Accidents
On 11 October 2008 [3]a Thalys PBA set bound for Amsterdam collided with a local ICM train set at Gouda station in The Netherlands. The Thalys train set had been diverted via Gouda due to engineering work on its usual route. None of the passengers was seriously injured. Both trains incurred serious damage. An investigation is in progress to determine the cause.
