Thalys Extention

[STEVIEBOY1]

I may be going on Thalys later this year from Brussels to Koln and just saw that some of those services seem to go on to Essen which seems a bit of an odd route? I wonder what the reson for that would be? (Perhaps to make easier interchanges that Koln which is very busy)

 

[gordonthemoron]

Thalys trains used to terminate at Köln-Messe-Deutz, they appear not to anymore, terminating at either Köln Hbf or Essen. As you say Köln Hbf is rather congested

 

[duesselmartin]

Essen and Düsseldorf are also important passenger pick up points. With DB tickets not compatible with Thalys, a direct route is certainly a major benefit

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Yes that does make alot of sense.

 

[47513 Severn]

Dusseldorf maybe but I suspect the service to Essen is just a consequence of needing to get the set to a suitable location for servicing between runs. They certainly looked very empty north of Dusseldorf in both directions when I was last there. Admittedly that was in October so patronage may have increased since then.

47513

 

[duesselmartin]

They get serviced in Cologne and therefore run empty to Cologne Deutzerfeld in the evening. Essen is the heart of the Ruhr region and certainly has potential.
Sadly, too view realise that there are other operators than DB and Thalys fares and journey times for travelling within Germany are unattractive.
Martin

 

[gordonthemoron]

whatever happened to TGV-Lyria's plans to run TGVs on German Domestic routes?