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News 2008

>>> Info: Thalys ETCS-test runs

During the month of October test runs were done with a TGV-PBKA train on the high-speed line LGV-belge 3 (Aachen - Liège), this time for the trial of the installed train control system ETCS level 2. This also means that there will be a significant change in the TGV-PBKAs' cabs soon - because the present (nice...) analogue instruments sadly will have to be replaced by displays like the ones the TGV-POS already has.

>>> News: problems with the ICE-T (25th October)

Now the German Railways DB have also problems with the axles of another ICE train type: all tilting trains of the series ICE-T were taken out of service after having found a draft among the wheels during routine-checks.
This has now finally lead the DB into capacity problems among its long-distance train services, especially the East-West connections are affected by cancelled services and the operating replacement trains (mainly locomotives class BR 101, 110, 120 and IC-carriages, even extra hired ones!) cannot always hold the travelling times because of their lower maximum speed.

>>> News: Thalys as a rolling art (15th October)

Till the 31th December a Thalys train, TGV-PBKA nr. 4331, will carry 168 small portrait photographies with 300 km/h across the Thalys-network.
On the photos one can see the faces of several people, taken in the stations Paris Nord and Rotterdam Centraal by the Dutch artists Ari Versluis und Ellie Uyttenbroek for a project with the motto 'united in variety - european points of view '.

>>> News: TGV accident in France (7th October)

Near Arras, a TGV has hit a car on a level crossing. The involved train was the TGV-PSE unit nr. 23 which was on its way from Lille to Nantes. All 230 passengers and the train machinist remained unharmed, the car driver died.

>>> Info: new Thalys head

On the first September, Olivier Poitrenaud became the new manager of Thalys International.

>>> News: broken ICE-axle (9th July)

In the evening of July the 9th, one driven axle of an ICE 3 train broke shortly after departing Cologne Main-Station heading towards Deutz. The train (ICE 518 Munich - Dortmund) has run over the high-speed line Frankfurt-Cologne before. After this, the German Railways DB has withdrawn all ICE-3 trains from circulation and checked them, in addition shorter maintenance intervals were ordered by the German Railway Directory (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt/'EBA').

>>> News: ICE derailment near Fulda (26th April)

On the high-speed line Hannover-Würzburg, an ICE 1 crashed into a sheep flock and thus derailed. The sheep were inside the Landrücken-Tunnel, Germany's longest railway tunnel which is over 10 km long. 19 persons got slightly hurt, the train and the tunnel were heavily damaged, the line had to be closed for several weeks.

>>> News: Record year for Eurostar (17th January)

Since Mid-November, the travelling time between Paris and London is only 2 hours and 15 minutes, from Brussels it lasts one hour and 15 minutes. Thus many more travellers decided to use the Eurostar trains (TGV-TMST), in 2008 this were 8.26 million people instead of 7.8 million the year before. The whole turnover increased by 15.4 % and the share of market of Eurostar on the route London - Paris/Brussels now reaches 70 %!

>>> News: Thalys gains (15th January)

Thalys International could again increase its turnover by 6.6 % to altogether 364 millionen Euro. As well, 6.2 passengers used the Thalys trains in the year 2007.
The relation Cologne/Aix-laChapelle - Paris was also well frequented, the turnover rose by 4.4 % to 30.5 million Euro.
Although there was much railway maintenance work among the Thalys-network, the rate of ponctuality could be held at a constant rate of 90 %. From the middle of 2009 it is planned to shorten up travelling time from Cologne to Paris to 3 hours and 14 minutes, till Brussels to 1 h 15 min.

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