began 1996 main stations s paris nord bruxelles midi brussel zuid k ln hauptbahnhof amsterdam centraal other stations s antwerpen centraal li ge guillemins aachen hauptbahnhof albertville bourg st maurice lille europe mo tiers chamb ry challes les eaux schiphol rotterdam centraal fleet size 9 1 thalys pba sets 17 thalys pbka sets stations called at 26 parent company sncf sncb nmbs website www.thalys.com v t e thalys route map legend amsterdam centraal amsterdam schiphol rotterdam centraal rotterdam netherlands belgium border antwerpen centraal antwerp dortmund hbf dortmund essen hbf essen duisburg hbf duisburg d sseldorf airport d sseldorf hbf d sseldorf k ln hbf cologne aachen hbf aachen germany belgium border li ge guillemins li ge bruxelles midi brussel zuid belgium france border lille europe lille paris nord paris thalys neige winter chamb ry challes les eaux albertville albertville mo tiers salins brides les bains aime la plagne landry landry bourg saint maurice thalys soleil summer valence tgv avignon tgv aix en provence tgv marseille saint charles thalys is an international high speed train operator originally built around the lgv nord high speed line between paris and brussels . 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 . thalys serves amsterdam and cologne as well . its system is managed by thalys international sncf 62 % sncb nmbs 28 % and deutsche bahn 10 % and operated by thi factory sncf 60 % sncb 40 % . 2 contents 1 history 2 routes 3 market 3.1 accessibility 4 rolling stock 5 accidents and incidents 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading history edit before thalys there had been an express rail service between paris and brussels since 1924 on the train service l toile du nord . in the 1970s it connected the two cities in around 2 hours 30 minutes . the decision to build a high speed railway between paris brussels cologne and amsterdam was made in 1987 . on 28 january 1993 3 sncf sncb nmbs 2 nederlandse spoorwegen and deutsche bahn then still deutsche bundesbahn signed an agreement to jointly operate the axis through the brand thalys and in 1995 westrail international was created by the french and belgian national railways to operate the services . on 4 june 1996 the first train left paris using the lgv nord until it reached belgium taking 2 07 hours to brussels and 4 47 hours to amsterdam . 4 in 1997 the belgian hsl 1 line allowing 300 km h and running from the french border to the outskirts of brussels was completed for service . on 14 december 1997 the first thalys train from paris to brussels ran on the hsl 1 reducing travel time to 1 25 hours . at the same time service commenced to cologne and aachen in germany and bruges charleroi ghent mons 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 thalys soleil started offering direct connections to the provence ; initially to valence and extended to avignon and marseille in 2002 . service between brussels and cologne was improved in december 2002 when trains began running on the new hsl 2 in belgium . in 2003 services started to brussels international airport and the thalys nuits d t service to marne la vall e. deutsche bahn purchased 10 % of the company in 2007 . 4 beginning 14 june 2009 the journey between brussels and cologne was shortened by 19 minutes when the new high speed line hsl 3 between li ge and aachen opened using deutsche bahn s thrice daily ice trains running between brussels and frankfurt . hsl 3 was completed in 2007 but thalys trains had not yet been equipped with the etcs signalling equipment necessary to use the new line . after installation and testing thalys began operating on hsl 3 on 13 december 2009 . for the same reasons thalys started operating on the hsl 4 hsl zuid high speed line between antwerp and amsterdam 13 december 2009 two years after the line s construction . since 29 august 2011 one return journey to cologne has been extended to essen hauptbahnhof 5 and since 30 october 2011 one return journey to brussels had been extended to brussels national airport . 6 in june 2013 deutsche bahn stopped selling thalys tickets and began a plan to exit from thalys capital . thalys has served d sseldorf airport station since the winter 2013 schedule went into effect . 7 on 12 april 2014 thalys started a regular service between lille europe and amsterdam centraal . at the end of march 2015 thalys dropped the paris oostende and the paris brussels mons charleroi namur li ge routes due to the lack of funding from the belgian government . on 30 march 2015 thalys became a train company named thi factory and operates since under its own train operator certificate . 8 starting from 13 december 2015 service in germany is extended to dortmund . routes edit high speed rail networks in europe . thalys line network shown in burgundy . see also list of tgv services beyond brussels the main cities thalys trains reach are antwerp rotterdam amsterdam li ge aachen and cologne . trains to these destinations run partly on dedicated high speed tracks and partly on conventional tracks shared with normal speed trains . the high speed lines used by thalys are hsl 1 between paris and brussels hsl 4 hsl zuid between antwerp and amsterdam and the hsl 2 and hsl 3 between brussels and aachen . for its seasonal operations within france other high speed lines are used . plans to continue the line past cologne to frankfurt had to be abandoned because the thalys train sets are very inefficient under germany s 15 kv electric system and thus unable to operate at full speed on the cologne frankfurt high speed rail line . 9 journeys from brussels brussels south to paris gare du nord are normally 1 hour 22 minutes for a distance of approximately 300 kilometres 190 mi . peak speed is 300 km h 186 mph on a dedicated high speed railway track which is electrified at 25 kv ac ohle . the ligne grande vitesse lgv 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 . 10 thalys has been given the iata designator 2h . this is used in conjunction with american airlines and delta air lines . 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 connecting its hub amsterdam schiphol airport with antwerp centraal and bruxelles midi brussel zuid . indian carrier jet airways has formed a codeshare agreement with the thalys rail service between brussels and paris . 11 market edit thalys targets a passenger market in france belgium the netherlands and germany . the percentage of income coming from different routes 12 demonstrates on which routes the company is most used paris brussels 55.6 % paris belgium outside brussels 8.9 % paris belgium netherlands 21.3 % paris belgium germany 11.8 % others 2.4 % 52 % of customers are from the leisure market ; 48 % from the business market . a large segment of thalys s total sales and income comes from the connection between paris and brussels . unlike many national train companies thalys does not allow children below 12 years old to travel alone . since 24 august 2010 there has been a supplement of 7 to thalys as well as other international high speed tickets tickets bought at sncb nmbs ticket offices at train stations . this is due to a reduction of a sales fee paid by thalys and eurostar to the belgian rail company . 13 thalys yearly passengers and revenue 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 passengers 4.72 14 4.98 15 5.5 16 5.8 17 6.0 18 5.8 19 5.95 20 6.15 21 6.5 22 6.2 23 6.5 24 6.07 25 6.45 25 6.65 26 6.60 27 6.69 28 revenue 60 29 115 30 190 220 266 294 310 301 318 335 363 364 392 382 432 470 479 487 31 all figures in millions . revenue in millions of euro . accessibility edit thalys trains are wheelchair accessible with assistance of the train staff . bicycles are not allowed on thalys unless disassembled or packed in special wrap . folding bikes are allowed . 32 rolling stock edit a thalys pba and pbka coupled in paris nord herg thalys thalys uses two models of trains both of which are part of the tgv train grande vitesse family of high speed trains built by alstom in france . class image type top speed number built notes mph km h pba electric multiple unit 186 300 33 9 1 1996 tri current ; operates only on the paris brussels amsterdam route . pbka electric multiple unit 186 300 17 1997 quadri current ; operates on paris brussels cologne amsterdam route . accidents and incidents edit thalys pbka at k ln messe deutz station with an essen bound train further information tgv accidents on 9 may 1998 a truck was struck by a thalys pbka on an unprotected level crossing ; it had attempted to cross the tracks at the crossing when the train arrived . the truck driver was killed in the impact and the train s power unit and first two passenger carriages derailed ; the trainset was left heavily damaged . six passengers were injured and tracks and catenary were broken in the incident . passenger carriages r1 and r2 had to be scrapped . the trainset was later repaired with the r1 and r2 carriages from a regular tgv trainset . on 11 october 2008 a thalys pba set bound for amsterdam collided with a local icm train set at gouda railway 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 but both trains incurred serious damage . an investigation concluded that staff of the local icm was to blame as they left the platform whilst still under a red signal . 34 35 on 21 august 2015 a gunman attacked passengers on an amsterdam paris train near arras . the incident was treated as a terrorist attack . three passengers plus the assailant received non fatal injuries . 36 37 see also edit cologne aachen high speed railway hsl 1 hsl 2 hsl 3 hsl 4 hsl zuid lgv nord train categories in europe izy thalys low cost service references edit a b thalys key figures . thalys . retrieved 2009 07 29 . a b thalys.com . corporate . thalys . retrieved 2014 06 02 . thalys . 1976 1995 the train economic development drive . retrieved 2008 10 04 . a b thalys . history . retrieved 2008 10 04 . hermsen stephan 22 december 2010 . thalys verbindet das ruhrgebiet mit paris thalys connects the ruhr area with paris . derwesten in german . essen . belga 14 september 2011 . brussels airport 1h47 de paris via thalys brussels airport 1h47 away from paris with