About Thalys

Key figures

turnover by route:

  • Paris-Brussels : 55.6%
  • Paris-Belgium (except Brussels) : 8.9 %
  • Paris Belgium-Netherlands : 21.3 %
  • Paris Belgium-Germany : 11.8 %
  • Other (charters, national rail service,CDG/MLV*, …) : 2.4 %
    * This line was transferred to TGV (high speed rail) on 1st April 2007

Customer profile:

  • 52 % "Leisure" travellers 48 % "Business" travellers
  • 44 % women, 56 % men
  • 39 % 35 years old or younger
  • 79 % able passengers

Passenger distribution:

  • Comfort 1 : 28 %
  • Comfort 2 : 72 %

Satisfaction rate:

  • Overall customer satisfaction: 87% (survey conducted in May 2007).

On-time performance:

  • Trains running on schedule (within 15 minutes of schedule) :
    • last 12 months: 93.65%
    • August 2008: 94.75%

Rolling stock:

  • 17 PBKA four-voltage train (Paris-Brussels-Cologne-Amsterdam) operate on the whole Thalys network. 6 belong to SNCF, 7 to SNCB, 2 to NS, 2 to DB.
  • 9 PBA tri-voltage train (Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam) owned by SNCF and operated between Paris and Amsterdam.

Thalys PBKA

  • PBKA train:
    • supply voltages ( 25kV 50Hz AC, 1.5kV DC, 3kV DC and 15kV 16.7Hz AC)
    • 7 signalling systems (TVM, KVB, ATB, TBL, TBL2, INDUSI, LZB)

THALYS PBA

  • PBA train:
    • 3 supply voltages ( 25kV 50Hz AC, 1.5kV DC, 3kV DC)
    • 4 signalling systems (TVM, KVB, ATB, TBL)
  • Every train has 8 synchronous AC traction engines, producing 8.800 kW. Has a weight 385 tons. Is 200 meters long. Has a capacity of 377 seats (120 in Confort 1 and 257 in Confort 2)
  • All train can be coupled.

Published on 2007-12-08.