Higher speed, more problems for bullet train

The Thalys, the bullet train connecting Amsterdam and Paris, ran at full speed within Dutch borders for the first time last Sunday. But the operating company's dire financial situation could spark new problems for the high-speed rail line.

At 8.22 on Sunday morning the, slightly delayed, high-speed Thalys to Paris departed from Amsterdam Central station. The red and silver coloured train filled up with mostly French tourists on their way home. None of them seemed to realise they were part of a "historic moment" as they sat aboard the first train to reach 300 kilometres per hour on Dutch railways.

There was some "teething trouble," conductor Els Blankestijn said on the trip to Paris. South of Rotterdam the train was stalled and lights in the carriages went out. "Due to safety concerns we have been forced to slow down," she told passengers over the intercom to explain the further delay.

As of Sunday the train journey from Amsterdam to Brussels takes 49 minutes less. A passenger travelling from Amsterdam Central to Paris Nord is 51 quicker. The trip is now 3 hours and 18 minutes.

The decision to construct a high speed train line in Belgium and the Netherlands was made in 1989, but several delays, including the late order of the right trains and errors with the ERTMS safety system, now make the Netherlands one of the last last countries in north-western and southern Europe where trains do not run at speeds above 200 km/h. The Thalys' speed is still limited to 160 km/h between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, but the bullet train now finally reaches speeds up to 300 km/h between Rotterdam and the Dutch border.

The Thalys should run the entire route at full speed halfway through next year, further reducing travel time to Paris to three hours. The The Hague stop has been scrapped from the train’s itinerary. At the same time the line's frequency will go up from seven to ten trains a day.

In Dutch part of the railway is operated by HSA, a joint venture between airline KLM and the national rail company NS. The company expects the number of passengers carried annually to grow by 40 percent next year to 1.7 million. By 2020, it hopes the number will have grown to 2.2 million.

But the first thing to go up is the price of a ticket. On Sunday, different types of tickets to Paris became 10 to 18 percent more expensive. Tickets to Brussels saw an 18 to 25 percent increase. The price hikes are necessary because the improved train service means higher operating costs for HSA, a company spokesperson said.

The company needs both higher rates and more passengers to survive. It is in bad financial shape because it has had to pay the Dutch state an annual 148 million for the exclusive rights to operate the bullet train tracks, while the completion of those tracks took years longer than anticipated.

Dutch transport minister Camile Eurlings last year allowed HSA to defer payments on its contract for four years to prevent a possible bankruptcy.

Eurlings’ bailout has met with resistance from both left- and right-wing opposition parties in parliament. A motion demanding the minister rescind the HSA-deal is to be introduced on Tuesday, but stands little chance of being accepted. If HSA were to go bankrupt, the minister would have to call for tenders on the lease while the tracks go unused.

Not only will this cause passengers a great deal of inconvenience, it will also have dire financial consequences. European regulations concerning public tenders have changed substantially since the government called for bids on the high-speed lease in 2001. It is no longer allowed to grant a national operator exclusive rights on a route, making leases less attractive financially. “In this light, finding a new operator with suitable rolling stock, who is willing to offer similar service at similar prices, is nigh on impossible,” minister Eurlings wrote in a letter to parliament earlier this year.

Still, the question whether HSA itself will ever make a profit remains an open one. HSA is having a hard time generating enough revenue on its domestic routes. A new high-speed service connecting Amsterdam and Rotterdam, dubbed Fyra, commenced on September 7 of this year but is very unpopular. The rail company declined a request for data, but minister Eurlings has stated in parliament that the occupancy rate of the train was 19 percent in the first three weeks of its existence, in spite of special rates advertising the new service.

Domestic lines are considered more lucrative than international ones, and these routes are expected to should eventually generate 60 percent of all revenue, Eurlings wrote to parliament.

The first full speed Thalys on Sunday was halted again at the Belgian border and arrived in Antwerp 30 minutes late.