Thalys is a high-speed train network built around the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. The system uses two models of trains, which both belong to the TGV (train à grande vitesse) family of high-speed trains built by Alstom in France, although they are not identical to domestic TGV sets.
Beyond Brussels, the main cities Thalys trains reach are Antwerp, The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Liège, Aachen and Cologne. Trains to these destinations run partly on dedicated high-speed tracks (some of these are yet to be built), and partly on older tracks shared with normal-speed trains. Plans to continue the line to Cologne further to Frankfurt had to be abbandoned because of the insufficient power the Thalys trainsets generate when operating under the 15 kV voltage system used in Germany.
From Paris, the French TGV network has high-speed links to other French cities including Avignon and Marseille, Geneva in Switzerland, and also Paris's main international airport Charles de Gaulle airport near Roissy and the Disneyland theme park in Marne-la-Vallée.
The link with the Charles de Gaulle airport allowed Air France to cancel its air service between Paris and Brussels; instead, Air France books seats on Thalys trains.
Travel time from Brussels (Gare du Midi/Zuidstation) to Paris (Gare du Nord) is normally 1 hour, 25 minutes, for a distance of approximately 300 km. Peak speed is 300 km/h on a dedicated high-speed railway track.
Thalys has been given the IATA designator 2H. This is used in conjunction with American Airlines and Northwest Airlines. American Airlines has a codesharing agreement with Thalys for rail service from Charles de Gaulle airport to Brussels Midi. The Airline alliance Skyteam also has a codesharing agreement with Thalys for rail service from Schiphol Airport Amsterdam to Antwerp's Berchem Station and Brussels Midi.