THE NETHERLANDS | High Speed Rail

[Slagathor]

Pictures of the Dutch Highspeed Train FYRA:

[Picture by Richard Krol]



[Picture by Rob Quaedvlieg]

[3737]

The Fyra logo on the train


The rented Traxx locomotives with the Fyra train at Amsterdam Central

[hoosier]

Awesome news! Congrats Holland!!

[Slartibartfas]

Cool. Finally.
First of all, the travel times in in the hopefully soon future are great. Secondly they finally managed to implement ERTMS 2.

But to be honest, the nose of the new high speed train looks damn ugly. It looks like a toy car. But if it makes sense physically, its fine.

[Slagathor]

Originally Posted by Slartibartfas

But if it makes sense physically, its fine.

It doesn't, it's sentimental. It was modeled after one of the most cherished Dutch trains ever, the Mat'64:

[3737]

Originally Posted by Slagathor

It doesn't, it's sentimental. It was modeled after one of the most cherished Dutch trains ever, the Mat'64:

I didn't knew that.
Althought they did a worse job because the nose sucks
Btw it was designed by Pininfarina. (You know the italian car designer who also desinged the ferrari cars )

[thun]

That train is... ugly.

[Slartibartfas]

Originally Posted by Slagathor

It doesn't, it's sentimental. It was modeled after one of the most cherished Dutch trains ever, the Mat'64:

Are you sure thats the main reason? Because there are other trains with similar noses as the new train. It really seems to make sense, but the others don't look like toy cars, they often look weird as well however.

[Timon91]

This train is the railway equivalent of the Fiat Multipla

[sergiogiorgini]

As of today, Thalys operates on the HSL-Zuid from Amsterdam to the Belgian border and on the HSL-4 from the Belgian border to Antwerp, cutting almost an hour off the journey from Amsterdam to Paris.

Better late than never!

[andrelot]

Why there are no services Breda - Rotterdam running in the new line? If the line is being used by Thalys and old Intercity trains with those "rented" engines from Amsterdam - Rotterdam, why aren't they running them up to Breda?

[Coccodrillo]

I imagine because there are not enough Class 186 engines and AnsaldoBreda's trains are late.

[pietje01]

Originally Posted by Slartibartfas

Cool. Finally.
First of all, the travel times in in the hopefully soon future are great. Secondly they finally managed to implement ERTMS 2.

Only the part between Rotterdam and Antwerp is operational with ETCS level 2.
On the part between Amsterdam and Rotterdam it is only ETCS level 1 because the System on the Traxx loc is not 100% compatible with the HSL version.
Those traxx locs are only used on the part between Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Therefore this part of the line must operate on ETCS level 1 which is only implemented for 160 km/h on the HSL, because it was only intended for backup.

[flierfy]

Originally Posted by pietje01

Only the part between Rotterdam and Antwerp is operational with ERTMS 2.
On the part between Amsterdam and Rotterdam it is only ERTMS 1 because the System on the Traxx loc is not 100% compatible with the HSL version.
Those traxx locs are only used on the part between Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Therefore this part of the line must operate on ERTMS 1 which is only implemented for 160 km/h on the HSL, because it was only intended for backup.

There is no such thing as ERTMS 1 or 2. What you mean is ETCS level 1 and 2.

And what precisely are traxx locs?

[Slagathor]

Originally Posted by flierfy

There is no such thing as ERTMS 1 or 2. What you mean is ETCS level 1 and 2.

And what precisely are traxx locs?

He means these trains that are currently servicing the HSL between Amsterdam and Rotterdam while the good folk of AnsaldoBreda are searching for their screw drivers:



It runs at 160km/h.

[pietje01]

Originally Posted by flierfy

There is no such thing as ERTMS 1 or 2. What you mean is ETCS level 1 and 2.

And what precisely are traxx locs?

Thanks for letting me know.

like in the pic. above, the Traxx locs are leased for temporary use on the HSL until the new V250 trainsets come into service.

Those locs should be working with ETCS Level2, but for the moment they (NSHispeed and Prorail) seem to have given this up, and instead chose to "fall-back" on ETCS level1 and thus "degraded" part of the HSL to 160km/h.

[andrelot]

Do Thalys trains run only up to 160 km/h from Schiphol to Rotterdam, or are they able to speed up?

[Momo1435]

Only 160 km/h because they can't switch between ETCS level 1 and 2 in regular daily service.

[3dinge]

Well, it´s a good change...

[AlexNL]

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here and I just found this thread through Google.

The Fyra trains (V250) have been making test runs throughout The Netherlands and Belgium for quite a while now, but they haven't been certified yet for full usage.

Meanwhile, a regular service has been in place for a couple of months now, which is running awfully. The average number of taken seats between Amsterdam and Rotterdam is 3.5%. Yes, that's right: 3.5%. The average for Dutch trains is 29%.

This is, I guess, mostly due to the high price: for Fyra, you have to pay € 7,80 extra for a single trip Amsterdam - Rotterdam. This is a supplement added on top of the regular price via the classic route (over The Hague). No wonder nobody gets in... the 20 minutes of time gained isn't worth it, despite it being the fastest connection.

I have used Fyra in its introductory period last September, I bought a supplement card for a month, which was then priced at the price of 32 single supplements... but that period a single supplement costed € 2 so it was still affordable.

The train service was not reliable... I have experienced several delays which cost me all time gained, causing me to arrive late at work. There also were several outages in a week time, ending in complete closure of the HSL-Zuid the first week of October. In the end, NS Hispeed gave me my money back after I filed a complaint.

Recently the Dutch and Belgian governments have agreed on serving The Hague / Breda / Brussels: the NMBS will have to purchase the 20th Fyra train, which then will run a twice-hourly service from The Hague, to Rotterdam, Breda, Noorderkempen, Antwerp, Mechelen and Brussels. Journey time will be around 1 hour and 44 minutes.

Regarding the V250's: I have heard rumours that all trains currently in the country (3 in total) have to be brought back to Italy because of serious issues with them. AnsaldoBreda would be quite worried about this as well.

From what I have understood, so far in the Netherlands the only things approved about these trainsets is the pantograph and the Dutch safety system, ATB. In Belgium, nothing seems to have been admitted yet because the trains are 'out of profile' (wider than allowed in the specs) when the step unfolds, for example due to faulty software.

This probably means serious delays for the already seriously delayed trains...