Thalys faces competition on the Brussels-Amsterdam line

Thalys faces competition on the Brussels-Amsterdam line
© Belga

Despite the technical and financial disaster of the "Fyra" trains, which sparked tensions between the Belgian and Dutch railway companies, SNCB and NS, plan to launch a high-speed train service between Amsterdam and Brussels, L’Echo reported on Tuesday.

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) has just bought 18 new trains from the French group Alstom for 200 million euros. Another 79 trains NS ordered three years ago from Alstom should be up and running from 2021, when a high-speed link will replace the line “provisionally” operated for years between Brussels and Amsterdam since the fiasco of the Fyra trains.

Repeated technical accidents and systematic delays led to the withdrawal of the Fyra trains in Belgium just months after their first deployment. This led to a parliamentary investigation in the Netherlands and resulted in losses to the sum of 67 million euros for NS, L’Echo recalled.

While the new project means competition for Thalys on the Brussels – Amsterdam line, Thalys will keep its monopoly on the Paris-Brussels route, where it will remain the only railway group to run a high-speed line.

The Brussels Times


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