Thalys boosted by Fyra woes

Thalys, a coöperation of French, German, and Belgian railways, saw its profits boosted by the cancellation of Fyra, a coöperation between the Dutch and the Belgian railways. Thalys registered a growth of 46.3 percent in traffic between Amsterdam and Brussels, as evidenced by statistics from their annual report, presented today.

The number of travelers spiked on the Fyra route in the second half of the year. 2013 registered a total of 6.7 million travelers for the Thalys, an increase of 1.8 percent, but the Amsterdam-Paris route only saw a minor increase of 0.6 percent. The overall turnover was €487 million, almost 2 percent more than in 2012. Statistics indicate that the boost in profit was mainly due to the Dutch NS and the Belgian NMBS cancelling the Fyra, due to constant, debilitating technical difficulties. To facilitate the increase in demand for train travels between Amsterdam and Brussels, the Thalys increased its frequency from nine to twelve trains a day.