The formal agreement to build the HSL, or high-speed railway link from Amsterdam to Paris, was reached in 1989. Twenty years later, the Dutch section is more or less complete – at a cost of over €7bn. After years of procrastinating, commercial transport using the HSL track was set to start in September 2009. Of the 125km from Amsterdam to the Belgian border, only 85kms can take trains travelling faster than 160kph.