Thalys

Thalys
Thalys TGV in Hoofddorp, Netherlands
Overview
Owner	Eurostar Group
Stations	26
Website	www.thalys.com
Service
Type	High-speed rail
Rolling stock	9 Thalys PBA 17 Thalys PBKA
History
Commenced	4 June 1996; 28 years ago (1996-06-04)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	300 km/h (190 mph)
Route map Legend Amsterdam Centraal Schiphol Airport Rotterdam Centraal Dortmund Hbf Essen Hbf Duisburg Hbf Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf Hbf Köln Hbf Aachen Hbf Netherlands Belgium Germany Belgium Antwerpen-Centraal Liège-Guillemins Brussels-South Belgium France Paris-Nord Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy Thalys Neige (winter) Chambéry–Challes-les-Eaux Albertville Moûtiers–Salins–Brides-les-Bains Aime–La Plagne Landry Bourg-Saint-Maurice Thalys Soleil (summer) Valence TGV Avignon TGV Aix-en-Provence TGV Marseille-Saint-Charles

Thalys (French: [talis]) was a brand name used for high-speed train services between Paris Gare du Nord via Brussels-South to either Amsterdam Centraal or to German cities in the Rhein-Ruhr, including Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen and Dortmund.

Thalys was created out of a political ambition formalised in October 1987 to establish a network of international high-speed railway services between the cities of Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam. The Thalys name was created in January 1995. The company procured a fleet of Alstom-built TGV trains to operate its services as they were viewed as the only existing rolling stock suitable to the task.

On 4 June 1996, the first Thalys-branded train departed from Paris. Early services were more reliant on slower conventional lines as many of the intended new high-speed lines were still under construction. Service speeds would improve with the opening of Belgium's HSL 1 line in December 1997 and the Dutch HSL-Zuid in December 2009, alongside other infrastructure works. Thalys's busiest route was the Paris–Belgium corridor; various airlines, such as Air France and KLM, opted to discontinue flights directly competing with Thalys's high speed services.

From 1996 to April 2022, the service was managed by Thalys International, which was 70% owned by the French national railway company SNCF and 30% owned by the Belgian national railway company NMBS/SNCB.^[1] It was operated by THI Factory, which was 60% owned by SNCF and 40% owned by NMBS/SNCB.^[2] Between 2007 and 2013, the German national railway company Deutsche Bahn had also held a 10% stake in the company.

On 30 March 2015, Thalys was restructured as a conventional train operating company, becoming less reliant on SNCF and NMBS/SNCB. During September 2019, a plan was announced to merge Thalys and the cross-Channel high-speed train operator Eurostar. Approval of the merger was issued by the European Commission on 28 March 2022. In February 2022, Thalys International was integrated into THI Factory,^[3] which in turn was acquired by the holding company Eurostar Group during the following month. From April 2022 to September 2023, Thalys services were operated by the Eurostar Group. Since 29 September 2023, the services operate under the Eurostar name; sometimes referred to as Eurostar Red, based on the colour of the trains.