Eurostar (Thalys)

The crimson Thalys, folded into Eurostar in 2023, chains French, Belgian and Dutch high-speed lines into one dash.

From Gare du Nord the train shares the racing line toward the north before curving into Brussels-Midi, then pauses at Antwerp Central, a gilded iron cathedral of a station often called Europe’s most beautiful. The HSL-Zuid carries it over Dutch polders, past Rotterdam’s towers and Schiphol’s runways, to finish beside the IJ at Amsterdam Centraal. Few tickets pack three capitals’ worth of Europe and two great ports into a single afternoon.

Stations

1. 0 kmParis Gare du Nord
2. 313 kmBruxelles-Midi - Brussel-Zuid
3. 362 kmAntwerpen-Centraal
4. 457 kmRotterdam Centraal
5. 509 kmSchiphol Airport
6. 526 kmAmsterdam Centraal

The stations OpenStreetMap lists for this service, in order, with the distance along the line as drawn here. A train may skip some of them.

Along the way

• Picardy plains out of Paris
• Brussels-Midi pause
• Antwerp Central’s gilded trainshed
• Rotterdam skyline from the HSL-Zuid
• Amsterdam Centraal on the IJ

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 5189988 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: 99.5% of this line lies within 250 m of real track (median 8 m); the longest stretch away from it is 2.5 km
• The operator publishes this line's timetable: Eurostar — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the Eurostar (Thalys)?

The Eurostar (Thalys) runs 524 km from Paris to Amsterdam. It runs through France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

How long does the Eurostar (Thalys) take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 3 h 25 min for the 524 km. That is an average of 153 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 300 km/h.

Who runs the Eurostar (Thalys)?

Eurostar, with TGV PBKA.

How old is the Eurostar (Thalys)?

The line has been in service since 1996. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How often does the Eurostar (Thalys) run?

Every 1–2 h (≈11 direct daily each way).

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Read more on Wikipedia ↗