NS Hispeed
Encyclopedia
NS Hispeed is the rail operator in the Netherlands
that operates international intercity
and high-speed train
connections as well as national high-speed trains over the HSL-Zuid
high speed line, which are branded as Fyra
.
NS Hispeed is part of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen
. It currently operates both high-speed and non-high-speed services. Further domestic and international semi-high-speed and high-speed services are to be introduced in the near future.
alliance, with a 10% share in the group.
(and on to France
). These are:
Other cross-border services (from Enschede
, Maastricht
, Nieuweschans
, Venlo
, Heerlen
and Roosendaal
) are not part of NS Hispeed, nor is the EuroNight
from Amsterdam to Copenhagen / Prague
/ Warsaw / Minsk / Moscow or the CityNightLine.
and ICE International. Although the rolling stock for these services is pooled, each partner has purchased and owns a number of units in each fleet. NS owns four ICE 3M
EMUs used for the ICE services, and two PBKA
EMUs operated by Thalys, all of which are quadricurrent.
NS Hispeed has ordered sixteen V250
trains from Ansaldobreda, with NMBS ordering a further three sets, which will be used for a third high-speed international service Fyra
. Fyra will operate high-speed connections between Amsterdam, Schiphol and Rotterdam and ongoing to Breda and Brussels. These sets will be eight carriages long and have a top speed of 250 km/h. Currently, Fyra only runs between Amsterdam, Schiphol and Rotterdam (since the 4th of April also further on to Breda), using hired Bombardier
Traxx F140 MS
electric locomotives and upgraded ICRm carriages, awaiting the arrival of the new V250 stock.
At the moment, NS Hispeed has hired twelve Bombardier
Traxx F140 MS
electric locomotives from Angel Trains
, numbered E186 111 to E186 122, to use on the 'Benelux' intercities to Belgium Belgian SNCB Class 11
locomotives that were previously used on this service have now been set aside due to their unreliability, with only one spare locomotive still on standby at the Watergraafsmeer
emplacement.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
that operates international intercity
Intercity
Intercity or Inter-city means "between cities". It can refer to inter-city transportation by rail, bus, truck or airline. There are many transport companies with Intercity or Inter-city as their brand.* Inter-city rail services...
and high-speed train
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
connections as well as national high-speed trains over the HSL-Zuid
HSL-Zuid
HSL-Zuid , is a 125 km-long high-speed railway line in the Netherlands to the Belgian border, with a branch to Breda. Together with the Belgian HSL 4 it forms the Schiphol–Antwerp high-speed railway...
high speed line, which are branded as Fyra
Fyra
Fyra is a high-speed train service operating on the Dutch HSL-Zuid and planned for the Belgian HSL 4, between Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam, Breda, Antwerp, and Brussels. Fyra shares the high-speed tracks with operator Thalys. The service is offered by NS Hispeed and the NMBS/SNCB...
.
NS Hispeed is part of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...
. It currently operates both high-speed and non-high-speed services. Further domestic and 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 RailteamRailteam
Railteam is an alliance of seven European high-speed rail operators. The aim of the group is to offer integrated high-speed rail travel between major European cities and to compete with airlines on punctuality, environment, pricing and speed. Coordinated departures are intended to give consistent...
alliance, with a 10% share in the group.
Services
As of December 2007, NS Hispeed trains operate over a number of routes both within the Netherlands and across the borders into Germany and BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(and on to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). These are:
- High speed train ThalysThalysThalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. Thalys reaches...
from Amsterdam via Schiphol, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels to ParisGare du NordParis Nord is one of the six large terminus railway stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, including Paris Métro and RER...
. - High speed train FyraFyraFyra is a high-speed train service operating on the Dutch HSL-Zuid and planned for the Belgian HSL 4, between Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam, Breda, Antwerp, and Brussels. Fyra shares the high-speed tracks with operator Thalys. The service is offered by NS Hispeed and the NMBS/SNCB...
from Amsterdam via Schiphol Airport to RotterdamRotterdam Centraal railway stationRotterdam Centraal is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in the Netherlands.-History:The station opened June 3, 1847 as the Delftsche Poort railway station. The station building designed by Sybold van Ravesteyn opened in 1957 and closed on September 2, 2007...
. The Fyra service is operated by High Speed Alliance, which is a cooperative of NSNederlandse SpoorwegenNederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...
(90%) and airline KLM (10%). - ICEIceIce is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
from Amsterdam via UtrechtUtrecht Centraal railway stationUtrecht Centraal is the central railway station for the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is the largest railway station in the Netherlands in terms of size, with fourteen platforms With Utrecht being located centrally in the Netherlands, Utrecht Centraal is also the largest station in terms...
and ArnhemArnhem railway stationArnhem is a railway station located in Arnhem, the Netherlands. The station was opened on 14 May 1845 and is located on the Rhijnspoorweg , the Arnhem–Leeuwarden railway and the Arnhem–Nijmegen railway...
to Frankfurt, continuing once a day to Basel. - InterCity from Amsterdam via Schiphol, The Hague, RoosendaalRoosendaal railway stationRoosendaal is a railway station in the city of Roosendaal, the Netherlands. The station opened on 3 July 1854 on the Antwerp–Lage Zwaluwe railway and is the beginning of the Roosendaal–Vlissingen railway. Roosendaal was the first station in North Brabant to be built...
and Antwerp to Brussels. - InterCity from Schiphol via AmersfoortAmersfoort railway stationAmersfoort railway station is the main railway station in Amersfoort, Utrecht, the Netherlands. The station is an important link between the central part of the Netherlands and the north and east of the country.-History:...
, DeventerDeventer railway stationDeventer is a railway station in Deventer, the Netherlands. The station was opened on 5 August 1865 and is on the Apeldoorn–Deventer railway, Deventer–Almelo railway and the Arnhem–Leeuwarden railway.-Destinations:...
, HengeloHengelo railway stationHengelo is a railway station in Hengelo, the Netherlands. The station was opened on 18 October 1865 and is on the Almelo–Salzbergen railway and the Zutphen–Glanerbeek railway...
, Bad BentheimBad Bentheim railway stationBad Bentheim is a railway station located in Bad Bentheim, Germany. The station was opened on 18 October 1865 and is located on the Almelo - Salzbergen railway. The train services are operated by Deutsche Bahn with NS Hispeed, Syntus and the Westfalenbahn....
, OsnabrückOsnabrück HauptbahnhofOsnabrück Hauptbahnhof or Osnabrück Hbf is a railway station located in Osnabrück, Germany. The station was opened in 1895 and is located on the Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg, Löhne–Rheine, Osnabrück–Bielefeld and the Oldenburg–Osnabrück lines. The train services are operated by Deutsche Bahn, NordWestBahn...
and HannoverHannover Hauptbahnhofis the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Hanover in Lower Saxony, Germany.-History:The first station on the current site, a temporary building serving the line to Lehrte, was erected in 1843...
to BerlinBerlin OstbahnhofBerlin Ostbahnhof is a mainline railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is in Friedrichshain, now part of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, and has undergone several name changes in its history. It was known as Berlin Hauptbahnhof from 1987 to 1998, a name now applied to Berlin's new central station...
, continuing once a day to Szczecin.
Other cross-border services (from Enschede
Enschede railway station
Enschede is the main railway station in Enschede, the Netherlands. The station opened on 1 July 1866 and is on the Zutphen–Glanerbeek railway. Between the late 1970s and 2001, the passenger service to Germany stopped. The connection to Gronau and Dortmund was re-opened in 2001...
, Maastricht
Maastricht railway station
-History:The station was opened on 23 October 1853 and is located on the Maastricht–Venlo railway, the Maastricht–Aachen railway and the Liège–Maastricht railway...
, Nieuweschans
Nieuweschans railway station
Nieuweschans is a railway station in Bad Nieuweschans, the Netherlands.It is the easternmost station in the Netherlands. The station opened on 1 November 1868. It is located on the Harlingen–Nieuweschans railway and the Ihrhove–Nieuweschans railway, which leads towards Leer in Germany. The...
, Venlo
Venlo railway station
Venlo is the railway station for the city of Venlo in the province of Limburg, The Netherlands. It is situated on the Maastricht–Venlo railway, the Viersen–Venlo railway, the Venlo–Eindhoven railway and the Nijmegen–Venlo railway....
, Heerlen
Heerlen railway station
-History:The station was opened on 1 May 1896 and is located on the Sittard–Herzogenrath railway and the Heerlen–Schin op Geul railway. The station was an important mining station, until the mines closed down. From Heerlen, you can travel to Aachen and some other destinations in Germany, nearer to...
and Roosendaal
Roosendaal railway station
Roosendaal is a railway station in the city of Roosendaal, the Netherlands. The station opened on 3 July 1854 on the Antwerp–Lage Zwaluwe railway and is the beginning of the Roosendaal–Vlissingen railway. Roosendaal was the first station in North Brabant to be built...
) are not part of NS Hispeed, nor is the EuroNight
EuroNight
EuroNight, abbreviated EN, denotes all main-line national and international night train services within the European inter-city rail network. Unlike the equivalent day-running counterparts EuroCity and InterCity trains, the EuroNight trains tend to run during the nighttime and are equipped with...
from Amsterdam to Copenhagen / Prague
Praha hlavní nádraží
Praha hlavní nádraží is the largest and most important railway station in Prague in the Czech Republic. It was originally opened in 1871 and named Franz Joseph I after Franz Joseph I of Austria. During the First Republic and from 1945 to 1953 the station was called Wilson station after former...
/ Warsaw / Minsk / Moscow or the CityNightLine.
Rolling stock
NS Hispeed is the Dutch partner in two high-speed international services, ThalysThalys
Thalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. Thalys reaches...
and ICE International. Although the rolling stock for these services is pooled, each partner has purchased and owns a number of units in each fleet. NS owns four ICE 3M
ICE 3
ICE 3 is a family of high-speed EMUs of Deutsche Bahn. It includes classes 403 and 406, which are known as ICE 3 and ICE 3M respectively...
EMUs used for the ICE services, and two PBKA
SNCF TGV Thalys PBKA
The Thalys PBKA is a high-speed train derived from the French TGV. It operates the Thalys service between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam, forming the abbreviation PBKA....
EMUs operated by Thalys, all of which are quadricurrent.
NS Hispeed has ordered sixteen V250
V250 (train)
The V250, also known as Albatross, is a high-speed train to be built by AnsaldoBreda and designed to operate on the newly-built HSL-Zuid in the Netherlands and its extension HSL 4 in Belgium...
trains from Ansaldobreda, with NMBS ordering a further three sets, which will be used for a third high-speed international service Fyra
Fyra
Fyra is a high-speed train service operating on the Dutch HSL-Zuid and planned for the Belgian HSL 4, between Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam, Breda, Antwerp, and Brussels. Fyra shares the high-speed tracks with operator Thalys. The service is offered by NS Hispeed and the NMBS/SNCB...
. Fyra will operate high-speed connections between Amsterdam, Schiphol and Rotterdam and ongoing to Breda and Brussels. These sets will be eight carriages long and have a top speed of 250 km/h. Currently, Fyra only runs between Amsterdam, Schiphol and Rotterdam (since the 4th of April also further on to Breda), using hired Bombardier
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
Traxx F140 MS
TRAXX
Bombardier TRAXX is a modular product platform of electric and Diesel-electric mainline locomotives built by Bombardier Transportation, built in both freight and passenger variants...
electric locomotives and upgraded ICRm carriages, awaiting the arrival of the new V250 stock.
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Built | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| Series 43000 SNCF TGV Thalys PBKA The Thalys PBKA is a high-speed train derived from the French TGV. It operates the Thalys service between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam, forming the abbreviation PBKA.... |
 |
Electric multiple unit Electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages... |
186 | 300 | 2 | 1997 | Used for Thalys Thalys Thalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. Thalys reaches... service |
| DBAG Class 406 ICE 3 ICE 3 is a family of high-speed EMUs of Deutsche Bahn. It includes classes 403 and 406, which are known as ICE 3 and ICE 3M respectively... |
Electric multiple unit Electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages... |
199 | 320 | 4 | 1999 | Used for ICE International service | |
| V250 V250 (train) The V250, also known as Albatross, is a high-speed train to be built by AnsaldoBreda and designed to operate on the newly-built HSL-Zuid in the Netherlands and its extension HSL 4 in Belgium... |
 |
Electric multiple unit Electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages... |
155 | 250 | 16 (planned) | 2008-2010 | Will be used for Fyra Fyra Fyra is a high-speed train service operating on the Dutch HSL-Zuid and planned for the Belgian HSL 4, between Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam, Breda, Antwerp, and Brussels. Fyra shares the high-speed tracks with operator Thalys. The service is offered by NS Hispeed and the NMBS/SNCB... service |
At the moment, NS Hispeed has hired twelve Bombardier
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
Traxx F140 MS
TRAXX
Bombardier TRAXX is a modular product platform of electric and Diesel-electric mainline locomotives built by Bombardier Transportation, built in both freight and passenger variants...
electric locomotives from Angel Trains
Angel Trains
Angel Trains is an English Rolling Stock Operating Company created in 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. It was one of three ROSCOs...
, numbered E186 111 to E186 122, to use on the 'Benelux' intercities to Belgium Belgian SNCB Class 11
SNCB Class 11
The SNCB class 11 locomotives were built in the 1980s for hauling the Benelux trains between Brussels, Belgium, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. They operated in push pull mode - remote controlled from a leading driving carriage when at the rear of the train. They are numbered 1181 and higher to...
locomotives that were previously used on this service have now been set aside due to their unreliability, with only one spare locomotive still on standby at the Watergraafsmeer
Watergraafsmeer
The Watergraafsmeer is a polder in The Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many buitenplaatsen in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains....
emplacement.
See also
- Dutch railway services - Showing NS Hispeed services