Thalys
High-speed trains in France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Germany

ABOVE: A Thalys train races past tulip fields
in the Netherlands. INSET BELOW: A Thalys train and car attendant await
passengers in Paris Gare du Nord.
Thalys
is a
high-speed train network that connects the cities of Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam,
and Cologne, with stops in cities such as Antwerp, Bruges, the Hague, Rotterdam,
and Aachen. Trains on the Paris-Amsterdam route also call at Amsterdam's
Schiphol Airport. (A southern branch of the network
connects Amsterdam, Brussels, and Northern France to the French Alps on weekends
during the ski season.)
Train speeds reach 300 km/h (186 mph) on some segments, and
travel times are short:
-
Less than 1½ hours from
Paris to Brussels
-
About 2 hours 45 minutes from Brussels to Amsterdam
-
2½ hours from Brussels to
Cologne
Thalys trains are operated by Thalys International, a
cooperative venture of the French, Belgian, Dutch, and German national railways.
The electric locomotives run on multiple voltages, making it possible for trains
to cross borders without switching engines.
In this article, we'll tell you how to buy tickets or use rail
passes on Thalys and where to find both travel information and railfan resources
on the Web. You'll also find a page of captioned photographs.
To plan your trip with Thalys, click on the link below:
Next page:
Classes of travel, tickets,
reservations, rail passes
Top photo copyright © Rail
Europe.
Inset photo copyright © Eurail Group.
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