Thalys & TGV Hi-speed Rail

On 29 November 2013 I boarded the Thalys at Amsterdam Centraal for the first of two trains, an airliner and car ride to return home for a couple of weeks.

Waiting on my train

As an American my ideas on hi-speed travel are pretty much limited to the skies. Sure there is the Acela Express on the off chance I want to travel from Washington DC to New York or Boston.  A trip to Boston would take nearly seven hours. One can drive the distance in about the same time, or fly it in 1.5 hours (really about 4 with ground transport and security), so even with the added time to check in it’s still far faster to fly than take a train. Although the Acela is a hi-speed train it’s hampered by running on rails with regular passenger trains. And not just any rails but some of the most crowded in all of North America. The Acela only occasionally can achieve its top speeds, which are still well below the roughly 200mph or 300 km/h top speeds of the Belgian/Dutch Thalys or the French TGV.

The Thalys approaching the platform in Amsterdam Centraal

But in Europe hi-speed rail truly means fast and easy transport. A road journey from Amsterdam to Roissy would take you about four and a half hours, the Thalys and TGV took me there in only about three hours. Flying time would have been about an hour and twenty minutes but as I’ll explain below would have been almost as long a taking the trains.

As you can see in this chart once I added up all the non-flying times to the trip by air it really was comparable to going by rail. By booking directly with the rail operators as I described in my post Buying train tickets for travel in Europe my train tickets were about the same price as going by air. 

If you are an American reading this and have never experienced rail travel in Europe let me warn you that it is vastly different than US transport systems. Firstly there is little point in arriving at your station any more than 30 minutes out from your departure time, 15 minutes in fact is probably fine. It’s not until about 30 minutes from departure will the platform to meet your train will be posted. There is no check-in, no baggage drop, no Transportation Security Administration. Just find your train on the departure board and head for that platform. Your ticket will identify which coach you are seated in, long trains will have signs on the platform with a coach diagram, and the Thalys being a small train-set no sign was needed. I had a large duffel bag with my hand luggage backpack crammed on top. This made the walk to the station easier. Upon boarding the train there was ample room for this bag to fit in the overhead shelf directly above my seat. Had I been taking even more luggage than I could carry there also is ample storage near the doors, similar in manner to airport shuttle buses.

I had a 2^nd class seat on the Thalys for the ride to Brussels Zuid. Several years ago I had the opportunity to fly 1^st class in the U.S. The seat in 2^nd class on the Thalys was wider, more comfortable, had more leg room, had an enormous tray table with room for my breakfast and my ipad as well as a charging port and free wifi. There is a café car where I could have purchased breakfast but I had brought some snacks with me and the seat was so comfortable that I didn’t leave it for the entire trip! 

Conductor checking tickets on the Thalys

I nearly botched the change at Brussels.  The Thalys was several minutes late arriving in Brussels and I had trouble finding the platform for the TGV. I was very fortunate to catch a second TGV to Charles De Gaulle that was departing only a few minutes after the one I was supposed to be on. The train was not anywhere near full and I was able to actually get my same first class seat I had reserved. This caused a moment’s pause by the conductor upon inspecting my ticket but no questions were asked and he moved on. 

The Sprawling Audi factory in Brussels, Belgium

The TGV did not have wifi nor a charging port but otherwise was even more spacious and comfortable than the Thalys. Something I didn’t think was possible. Just as on the Thalys there is a huge amount of luggage space and unless you are on an Everest Expedition there is no reason you can’t have all your luggage near your seat. 

200 miles per hour, low clouds and patches of fog made photography challenging. Still I was able to grab a few good pictures of The Netherlands, Belgium and northern France. But if you want to take photos from a train I’d strongly suggest a slower one. 

Look a wind turbine!

 

Aggregate facility in northern France

The TGV has a dedicated station directly under one of the terminals at Charles De Gaulle Airport. This makes it one of the easiest airport transfers I’ve ever done. After de-training I simply went up the escalator and to the check in for my flight to the States. Roissy is not the only airport to have hi-speed rail in its cellar. Schiphol airport in Amsterdam hosts a Thalys stop as does the Brussels National Airport. The ICE stops at Düsseldorf, Leipzig-Halle, and Köln/Bonn airports. Besides Charles De Gaulle, the TGV also hails at the airport in Lyon.

TGV Station an escalator ride away Charles De Gaulle Airport

Any fan of passenger rail should make it a point to ride on a hi-speed train. The seats are comfortable, the ride is smooth, the speed that the scenery flashes by is just breathtaking. Even a trip nearly two hours long isn’t nearly long enough to satisfy those who take joy in rail travel. Quieter, smoother, more enjoyable experience, and no lines. Why would anybody fly if there is a hi-speed train?