NS International

NS International
Overview
Main region(s): Netherlands
Route km operated: 426 km[1]
Parent company: NS
Website: www.nsinternational.nl/en
Technical
Track length: no own tracks

NS International (formerly NS Hispeed) is the rail operator in the Netherlands that operates international intercity and high-speed train connections to Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris and several other destinations.

NS International is part of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen. It currently operates both high-speed and non-high-speed services. Further international semi-high-speed and high-speed services are to be introduced in the near future.

History

NS Hispeed was formed in 2007 when the former international subdivision of NS, NS Internationaal, was rebranded as NS Hispeed. It is a founding member of the Railteam alliance, with a 10% share in the group. In June 2014, they changed their name to NS International.

Services

Planned services on the HSL-Zuid, including Thalys (bright red) and Fyra (other colours).
NS Hispeed Traxx F140 MS locomotive E186 120 arrives at Brussels-South railway station.

NS International trains operate over a number of routes across the borders into Germany and Belgium (and on to France). These are:

Series: Train Type: Route: Frequency: Notes:
100 ICE Amsterdam Centraal - Utrecht Centraal - Arnhem - Oberhausen Hbf - Duisburg Hbf - Düsseldorf Hbf - Köln Hbf - Siegburg/Bonn - Frankfurt/Main Flughafen - Mannheim Hbf - Karlsruhe Hbf - Offenburg - Freiburg Hbf - Basel Bad Bf - Basel SBB 1x per day =ICE 43, reservation required
120 ICE Amsterdam Centraal - Utrecht Centraal - Arnhem - Oberhausen Hbf - Duisburg Hbf - Düsseldorf Hbf - Köln Hbf - Frankfurt/Main Flughafen - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf 5x per day =ICE 78, reservation required
140 Intercity Amsterdam Centraal - HilversumAmersfoort - ApeldoornDeventer - Almelo - Hengelo - Bad Bentheim - Rheine - Osnabrück Hbf - Bad Oeynhausen/Bünde - Minden - Hannover Hbf - Wolfsburg Hbf - Stendal - Berlin-Spandau - Berlin Hbf - Berlin Ostbahnhof 5x per day to Berlin, 1x per day to Hannover, 1x per day to Bad Bentheim =IC 77, reservation recommended
9200 Intercity Amsterdam Centraal - Schiphol - Den Haag Hollands Spoor - Rotterdam Centraal - Dordrecht - Roosendaal - Antwerpen-Centraal - Antwerpen-Berchem - Mechelen - Brussels National Airport - Brussels-North - Brussel-Centraal - Brussel-Zuid/Midi 1x per hour
9300 Thalys Amsterdam Centraal - Schiphol - Rotterdam Centraal - Antwerpen-Centraal - Brussel-Zuid/Midi - Paris Nord 10x per day Reservation required
9900 Thalys Amsterdam Centraal - Schiphol - Rotterdam Centraal - Antwerpen-Centraal - Brussel-Zuid/Midi - Lille Europe 1-2x per day Reservation required
Amsterdam - Bourg-Saint-Maurice Thalys Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam - Antwerpen-Centraal - Brussels-South - Chambéry-Challes-les-Eaux - Albertville - Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-les-Bains - Aime-La Plagne - Landry - Bourg-Saint-Maurice 1x per week in winter
Amsterdam - Marseille Thalys Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam - Antwerpen-Centraal - Brussels-South - Valence TGV - Avignon TGV - Aix-en-Provence TGV - Marseille 1x per week in summer

Other cross-border services (from Enschede, Maastricht, Nieuweschans, Venlo, Heerlen and Roosendaal) are not part of NS International, nor is the CityNightLine from Amsterdam to Munich and Zurich.

Rolling stock

NS International is the Dutch partner in two high-speed international services, Thalys and ICE International. Although the rolling stock for these services are pooled, each partner has purchased and owns a number of units in each fleet. NS owns three ICE 3M EMUs used for the ICE services, and two PBKA EMUs operated by Thalys, all of which are quadricurrent.

NS International ordered 16 V250 trains from AnsaldoBreda, with NMBS/SNCB ordering a further 3 sets. They were used on Dutch domestic services and NS International services to Brussels.[2] These sets are eight carriages long and have a top speed of 250 km/h. They entered service in December 2012 - five years later than originally planned.[3] They were taken out of service the following month due to numerous technical issues. Four months later only two of the 9 already delivered trains were still capable of performing test runs.[4]

 Class  Image  Type   Top speed   Number   Built   Notes 
 mph   km/h 
Series 43000 Electric multiple unit 186 300 2 1997 Used for Thalys service
DBAG Class 406 Electric multiple unit 199 320 3 1999 Used for ICE International service
V250 Electric multiple unit 155 250 16 ordered 2008-2010 Trains were to be used for Fyra, but the order was cancelled in 2013

See also

References

  1. Amsterdam-Emmerich border, 115 km; high-speed line Schiphol-Antwerpen, 147 km; Amsterdam-Leiden-Rotterdam-Roosendaal, ? km; Amsterdam-Apeldoorn-Deventer-Almelo-Bad Bentheim border, 88+15+38+33 km.
  2. "Fyra brand for Amsterdam – Brussels high speed". Railway Gazette International. 2009-07-07.
  3. "Fyra launch delayed again". Railway Gazette International. 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  4. "Bestemming beter Beslissing NMBS/SNCB over V250 - stellen" (PDF). NMBS. Retrieved 1 June 2013.

External links

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