Eurostar and Thalys
Greenspeed. Joint Eurostar - Thalys service as it will be merged in next few years. π
I first read about it last year. It was to originally merge this year 2021.
Due to the delays caused by the Covid pandemic, the plans to merge Eurostar and Thalys are back on the agenda.
It seems the Eurostar brand will be maintained while the name of Thalys will disappear.
Also relocating Eurostar HQ (headquarters) from London to Brussels & Eurostar routes to be extended to Germany.
Last time I talked about Eurostar was that it received a £250m refinancing package after months of delays due to the Covid & the refusal of the UK government to rescue Eurostar. π¬π§π«π·π§πͺπ³π±πͺπΊπ
That was no need for the British government (including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps) to not bother to bail out the Eurostar train service that was in awful financial situation and being affected severely by Covid just because it is not “British” & that it is French. Owned by SNCF (55%). Without the rescue package, Eurostar would had been out of the business (no train services across the Channel between Britain and mainland Europe: France, Netherlands and Belgium). No wonder the govt used Brexit as an excuse not to do anything to save Eurostar at the time. π¬π§π«π·π§πͺπ³π±
Getting back to the details about the Eurostar - Thalys merger deal. It is a good deal for both Eurostar and Thalys. Thalys is French - Belgian High Speed train so to see becoming merged with Eurostar, it will mean more destinations and new routes including extending to Germany which will mean Eurostar trains connecting to 5 countries: UK, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. π¬π§π«π·π§πͺπ³π±π©πͺπͺπΊπ
Eurostar and Thalys are merging.
So yeah, it is definitely happening guys. Especially if you are train lover like me. ππ
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