Fastest connection between Amsterdam and Rotterdam

Name of the Amsterdam-Brussels high-speed train: the Fyra

On 7 July 2009, NMBS and NS Hispeed presented the new high-speed train and the name given to it for the Amsterdam-Brussels route:

The Fyra high-speed train will travel at a speed of up to 250 km/h and will be in service on the routes Amsterdam – Schiphol – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Brussels, and Amsterdam – Schiphol – Rotterdam – Breda. The high-speed train presented was a test train that will start making test runs on the HSL-Zuid in the Netherlands and the L4 high-speed in Belgium on 7 July. After the testing programme, the train will go back to AnsaldoBreda, the company in Italy that manufactured it, where any modifications will be made.

Nineteen high-speed trains are expected to be phased into service on the Amsterdam-Brussels route a year after the start of testing, the rate at which this is done depends on the test results.

> Press release Fyra PDF

Trains running on the HSL-Zuid

NS Hispeed will begin service on the HSL-Zuid even before the Fyra has completed its testing programme. Starting in the autumn of 2009, Traxx locomotives pulling Intercity carriages are expected to be running under the name of Fyra on the HSL-Zuid at a speed of 160 km/h. These Traxx trains will be replaced by Fyra high-speed trains that travel at 250 km/h as soon as the testing programme has been completed.

Facts & figures

• The new HSL-Zuid covers 125 kilometres, 85 of which are high-speed rails.
• The power supply is 25,000 volts.
• Construction required 170 civil engineering structures including four tunnels, dive-unders, an aqueduct, bridges and viaducts.