HO MEHANO TGV POS HIGH SPEED TRAIN SET LOCO & 2 PASS CARS #58571 & T103

Description

MEHANO TGV POS
HIGH SPEED TRAIN SET
1 LOCO - 2 PASSENGER CARS AND NON-POWER LOCO
AND TRACK plus 120V power pack
The decision to build a high-speed railway between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam was made in 1987. On 28 January 1993,
[
3
]
SNCF, NMBS/SNCB,
[
4
]
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 Belgium national railways to operate the services. On 4 June 1996 the first train left Paris using the
LGV Nord
until Belgium, taking 2:07 hours to Brussels and 4:47 hours to Amsterdam.
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5
]
In 1997, the Belgian
HSL 1
line, allowing 300 km/h and running from the French border to the outskirts of Brussels, was ready for service. On 14 December 1997 the first Thalys train from Paris to Brussels ran on the HSL 1, reduced 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’Eté service to
Marne-la-Vallée
. Deutsche Bahn purchased 10% of the company in 2007.
[
5
]
Beginning 14 June 2009 the journey between Brussels and Cologne was shortened by 19 minutes when the new high speed line
HSL 3
between Liège 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
.,
[
6
]
and since 30 October 2011, one return journey to Brussels had been extended to
Brussels National Airport
.
[
7
]
Düsseldorf Airport station
is served since winter 2013 service.
[
8
]
On 12 April 2014, Thalys started a regular service between Lille Europe and Amsterdam Centraal.
Before Thalys, there was already a privileged connection since 1924 between Paris and Brussels, with train service l'
Etoile du Nord
. It connected the two cities in around 2h30 in the 1970s.
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