The first totally high-speed train trip between Amsterdam and Paris took place this weekend, but arrived 30 minutes late because of problems before the Belgian border.

The Thalys service should take just over three hours and 15 minutes now the completion of the high-speed track in the Netherlands has knocked 51 minutes off the standard journey time.
Dutch Rail director Michiel van Roozendaal described the first trip as an ‘historic moment’. The delay ‘is not good and we will learn from that,’ he told reporters.
The journey time will be cut again next year when safety systems are adapted and trains can reach speeds of up to 300 kph in the Netherlands. Prices will also go up by as much as 25% at the same time, the NRC reports.
Meanwhile, the Fyra high-speed service between Amsterdam and Rotterdam is just 19%, full compared with 29% on the normal service, NS said. ‘It is a completely new product and people have to find their way to it,’ an NS spokesman told the NRC.
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