NS Hispeed starts without high speed trains 03/12/2007 00:00

3 December 2007

AMSTERDAM – The trains will not be running much faster in the Netherlands, but the NS is nonetheless launching its new business division NS Hispeed on 7 December.
 
The successor to NS International will book train journeys on high speed trains operated by Thalys, ICE International, Eurostar and TGV. On Monday morning the new website nshispeed.nl was introduced at Amsterdam Central and a luxury waiting area was opened at Rotterdam CS. 

All of this has been organised in anticipation of the introduction of high speed rail travel on HSL Zuid, the new rail connection on which trains will in future be able to reach speeds of 300 km per hour. The new high speed service was due to start on 9 December but problems with the train safety system ERTMS and delays in the delivery of the high speed trains have pushed this date back.

Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings and the Dutch Railways (NS) now expect that trains will be operating on the HSL Zuid in autumn 2008 at the earliest.

The HSL stations Amsterdam CS, Rotterdam CS and Schiphol will be fitted with designated departure platforms for the fast trains. These stations will have special lounges where passengers can relax or meet in comfort while waiting for the train.

The NS Hispeed website provides all sorts of information, on parking and other facilities at the stations for instance. Customers will also be able to book tickets online and print them at home.

"We expect these new services and later on the high speed trains in the Netherlands will help us transport 24 million passengers in 2011, 40 percent of whom travel by car at present," says commercial director of NS Hispeed Jan-Willem Siebers.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]

Subject: Dutch news