NS International
NS International, formerly NS Hispeed, is a rail operator in the Netherlands that operates international intercity and high-speed connections to several European cities. The operator is a subsidiary of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
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![]() NS International's ICE 3 | |
Main region(s) | Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom |
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Parent company | Nederlandse Spoorwegen |
Technical | |
Length | 426 km (265 mi)[1] |
Track length | Doesn't own any railway tracks. |
Other | |
Website | www |
History
NS Hispeed was formed in 2007 when the former international subdivision of NS, NS Internationaal, was rebranded as NS Hispeed. It is a founding member of the Railteam alliance, with a 10% share in the group.[2] In June 2014, they changed their name to NS International. This change was done due to the change in the operations of the high speed line from NS Hispeed to NS Reizigers.[3]

Services
The company operates, together with its partners, direct services to Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Regional cross-border services (from Arnhem, Enschede, Hengelo, Maastricht, Nieuweschans, Venlo, Heerlen and Roosendaal) are not part of NS International, nor was the CityNightLine from Amsterdam to Munich and Zurich.
Rolling stock
NS International is the Dutch partner in three high-speed international services, Eurostar, Thalys and ICE International. Although the rolling stock for these services are pooled, each partner has purchased and owns a number of units in each fleet. NS owns three ICE 3M EMUs used for the ICE services, and two PBKA EMUs operated by Thalys, all of which are quadricurrent.
NS International ordered 16 V250 trains from AnsaldoBreda, with NMBS/SNCB ordering a further 3 sets. They were used on Dutch domestic services and NS International services to Brussels.[5] These sets are eight carriages long and have a top speed of 250 km/h. They entered service in December 2012 - five years later than originally planned.[6] They were taken out of service the following month due to numerous technical issues. Four months later only two of the 9 already delivered trains were still capable of performing test runs.[7]
Class | Illustration | Type | Top speed | Number | Built | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mph | km/h | ||||||
Current rolling stock | |||||||
Series 43000 | ![]() |
Electric multiple unit | 186 | 300 | 2 | 1997 | Used for Thalys service |
DBAG Class 406 | ![]() |
Electric multiple unit | 199 | 320 | 3 | 1999 | Used for ICE International service |
Siemens Vectron | ![]() |
Locomotive | 99 | 160 | 4 | 2019- | Used for the Nightjet Amsterdam - Innsbruck / Vienna, Nightjet Amsterdam - Zürich and incidental for the intercity Amsterdam - Berlin. |
Future rolling stock | |||||||
ICNG | ![]() |
Electric multiple unit | 124 | 200 | 20 | 2019- | Intercity Nieuwe Generatie (New Generation Intercity)
A further 79 trainsets have been ordered, by the NS. Those will be used for service within the Netherlands and to Belgium via Antwerp and Brussels. |
Former rolling stock | |||||||
V250 | ![]() |
Electric multiple unit | 155 | 250 | 16 ordered | 2008-2010 | Trains were to be used for Fyra, but the order was cancelled in 2013 and the whole Fyra project abandoned.[8] |
References
- Amsterdam-Emmerich border, 115 km; high-speed line Schiphol-Antwerp (Antwerpen), 147 km; Amsterdam-Leiden-Rotterdam-Roosendaal, ? km; Amsterdam-Apeldoorn-Deventer-Almelo-Bad Bentheim border, 88+15+38+33 km.
- "Railteam moet treinreis binnen Europa veel eenvoudiger maken". Trouw (in Dutch). 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
- Eilander, Elsbeth (2014-05-26). "NS Hispeed verandert naam in NS International". Adformatie (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
- "Thalys wil in voorjaar 2022 weer rijden naar Disneyland". OVPro.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
- "Fyra brand for Amsterdam – Brussels high speed". Railway Gazette International. 2009-07-07. Archived from the original on 2012-04-14.
- "Fyra launch delayed again". Railway Gazette International. 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
- "Bestemming beter Beslissing NMBS/SNCB over V250 - stellen" (PDF). NMBS. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- "Kabinet stopt definitief met Fyra". NU (in Dutch). 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2022-01-13.