FIGURES released by French and Belgian National Railways suggest that the Paris - Brussels Thalys service has been a spectacular success. Back in 1994, rail’s market share on the inter-capitals route was just 24%. Although the final 71 km of high speed line into Brussels opened only in December, last year saw the figure jump to 43%. Completion of the last segment was the signal for traffic to boom. Journey times were slashed to 85min for the 314·6 km route, and in the first three months of this year 1·1 million passengers rode the red-and-grey Thalys trains, a 72% increase over the same period in 1997. With Paris - Brussels load factors now averaging 74%, SNCF is predicting that traffic will have doubled by the end of the year.
Much of the business is being won from private cars, and SNCF estimates that road’s share of the Paris - Brussels market will fall from 61% to 43%. The through Paris - K
