The Thalys PBKA is a

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

variant ordered and operated by

Thalys Thalys (French: ) is a French-Belgian high-speed rail, high-speed train operator originally built around the LGV Nord high-speed line between Gare du Nord, Paris and Brussels-South railway station, Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar tr ...

between its namesake cities

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

(german: Köln) and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, forming the abbreviation PBKA. The sets have eight carriages and are long, weighing a total of 385 tonnes. They have a capacity of 377 seats. They were intended to be Thalys' sole rolling stock, but their extreme cost and complexity led SNCF to order a simpler sister class, the Thalys PBA, a

TGV Réseau The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

derivative, with which they can work in multiple. All of the trains are quadri-current, capable of operating under ( LGVs and a part of the French ''lignes classiques''), 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC (Germany), 3 kV DC (Belgium) and 1.5 kV DC (the Netherlands and the remainder of the French ''lignes classiques''). Their maximum speed in regular service is with under 25 kV AC, with under 15 kV AC, and with under 1,500 V DC; further constraints resulted in imposing a limit of on these trains in Germany. Seventeen trains were ordered: nine by

SNCB/NMBS french: Société nationale des chemins de fer belgesgerman: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen , type = Statutory corporation , industry = Rail Transport , foundation = 1926 , founder = Government of ...

, six by

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

and two by NS.

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

contributed to financing two of the SNCB sets.

Fleet details

References

External links

TGV Thalys official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sncf Tgv Thalys Pbka European high-speed trains Pbka Electric multiple units with locomotive-like power cars 3000 V DC multiple units 15 kV AC multiple units 25 kV AC multiple units 1500 V DC multiple units of France Alstom multiple units

Fleet details

See also

References

External links