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Brussels-Amsterdam train opens
Source: Agencies |
December 14, 2009, Monday
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A NEW high-speed rail line linking Brussels to Amsterdam opened yesterday, a showcase project in European plans to promote fast trains as an environmentally friendly alternative to air travel.
With trains reaching speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, travel time between the Belgian and Dutch capital has been cut by 49 minutes to 1 hour and 53 minutes. Travel time between Brussels and Cologne in Germany will be cut by half an hour to 1 hour and 47 minutes.
The new line will cut the travel time by rail between Amsterdam and Paris to 3 hours and 18 minutes, two hours more than by air, albeit at a cheaper price and without the delays and congestion of airport security.
Thalys, the train operator owned by France's railway SNCF, its Belgian counterpart SNCB and Deutsche Bahn, says it expects a 65-percent rise in traffic between Paris and Amsterdam by 2013.
Much of this will be due to passengers abandoning cars and airplanes in favour of the fast, environmentally friendly trains, Thalys says. It hopes the allure of high-speed rail will result in an extra 500,000 passengers in 2010.
Onboard the inaugural morning run, musicians with guitars and accordions sang French tunes to passengers as the driver proclaimed on speakers the train had hit a speed of 300km/h.
With trains reaching speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, travel time between the Belgian and Dutch capital has been cut by 49 minutes to 1 hour and 53 minutes. Travel time between Brussels and Cologne in Germany will be cut by half an hour to 1 hour and 47 minutes.
The new line will cut the travel time by rail between Amsterdam and Paris to 3 hours and 18 minutes, two hours more than by air, albeit at a cheaper price and without the delays and congestion of airport security.
Thalys, the train operator owned by France's railway SNCF, its Belgian counterpart SNCB and Deutsche Bahn, says it expects a 65-percent rise in traffic between Paris and Amsterdam by 2013.
Much of this will be due to passengers abandoning cars and airplanes in favour of the fast, environmentally friendly trains, Thalys says. It hopes the allure of high-speed rail will result in an extra 500,000 passengers in 2010.
Onboard the inaugural morning run, musicians with guitars and accordions sang French tunes to passengers as the driver proclaimed on speakers the train had hit a speed of 300km/h.
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