Intercity Direct

Intercity Direct route map

Legend
Amsterdam Centraal
Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Rotterdam Centraal
Breda

Intercity Direct is a high speed train railway within the Netherlands, connecting Amsterdam Central to Schiphol, Rotterdam Central and Breda. Intercity Direct replaced the Fyra brand as of December 2013.

History

The Intercity Direct train service uses the HSL Zuid high-speed railway line which went into service 6 September 2009.[1] An hourly domestic service branded Fyra by operator NS Hispeed was started on 7 September 2009 between Amsterdam and Rotterdam using TRAXX-locomotives and ICR-carriages. Initially the service was hourly and weekdays only. On 12 April 2010 service expanded to Saturdays and Sundays. As of 4 October 2010, frequency increased to twice hourly. Service was extended to Breda on 3 April 2011.[2]

An international service also known as Fyra between Amsterdam and Brussels started 9 December 2012 using V250 rolling stock of AnsaldoBreda. From 17 January 2013 this service had to be pulled due to undercarriage damage caused by ice and snow. As of June 2013 international Fyra service has been permanently suspended by both Dutch and Belgian railways.[3]

Due to the perceived bad reputation of the Fyra brand, the domestic service rebranded into Intercity Direct as of December 2013.[4]

Services

OV-Chipcard card reader for paying the Intercity Direct supplement

Intercity Direct offers the following services:

 Class  Image  Type   Top speed   Number   Routes operated   Built 
 mph  km/h 
Class 186 Traxx Locomotive 100 160 ?

Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam - Breda,
Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam

ICRm (Prio) Carriage 100 160 ?

Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam - Breda,
Amsterdam - Schiphol - Rotterdam

A supplement is required for travel on the Intercity Direct for the Schiphol - Rotterdam stretch. As of 2014 single use supplements cost €2.30 regardless of the class.[5] This supplement can be paid by touching an OV-Chipcard to a "supplement pillar", which can be found on platforms from which Intercity Direct trains depart. These pillars are similar to OV-Chipcard validation machines, containing a red "Toeslag" label. A bi-lingual sign indicates for which train the supplement is required. For journeys between Schiphol and Amsterdam Central, and between Rotterdam Central and Breda, no supplement is required. If the supplement was mistakenly paid, touching an OV-Chipcard to the same device within 30 minutes will cancel the purchase.

References

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.