From: stephen@sprunk.org   
      
   On 13-Apr-15 14:10, Stephen Sprunk wrote:   
   > On 13-Apr-15 13:23, Marc Van Dyck wrote:   
   >> jimmygeldburg@gmail.com used his keyboard to write :   
   >>> Stephen Sprunk wrote:   
   >>>> I traveled overnight from Paris to Amsterdam in a couchette,   
   >>>> and I really liked that concept.  There was absolutely no   
   >>>> privacy (5 other strangers in the same room), but it was a   
   >>>> _lot_ cheaper than having a room to myself and more comfortable   
   >>>> than a coach seat; I probably wouldn't have made the trip at   
   >>>> all if that option weren't available   
   >>>   
   >>> The Thalys makes that trip in 3:18.  Why do you need an   
   >>> overnight train?   
      
   It wasn't 3:18 then.  When Thalys first started in 1996, that trip took   
   4:47--about 50% longer than today, not much faster than conventional   
   trains.  That went down ~40mins with HSL-1 (1997) and another ~50mins   
   with HSL-4 and HSL-Zuid (2009).   
      
   (Compare to US intercity rail, which gets _slower_ every year.)   
      
   >> As far as I remember, the Thalys and the overnight train never   
   >> coexisted. As usual with SNCF, when TGVs came in, all other trains   
   >> on the same journey disappeared. So Stephen did not have the   
   >> choice. There were daytime trains that took approximately 6 hours   
   >> for that journey.   
   >   
   > At the time, there were both CoRail night trains and Thalys day   
   > trains on that route; perhaps the former hadn't been discontinued yet   
   > because SNCF itself didn't (and AFAICT still doesn't) operate TGVs   
   > there.   
      
   FWIW, that should have been in late 1999; I remember the millennium   
   countdown clock on the Eiffel Tower.  None of my (film) pictures from   
   Amsterdam have dates, and my passport doesn't have any Belgian or Dutch   
   stamps--I assume due to Schengen, so I can't be more exact.   
      
   S   
      
   --   
   Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein   
   CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the   
   K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking   
      
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