The Netherlands is connected to the European high-speed rail network with one dedicated high-speed line, HSL-Zuid, and improved traditional rail. Plans for a second dedicated high-speed line, HSL-Oost, have been cancelled.
Three high-speed train services currently operate in the Netherlands: Thalys, InterCityExpress (ICE) and Fyra. Thalys started operating on the HSL-Zuid on 13 December 2009
HSL-Zuid (Dutch: Hogesnelheidslijn Zuid, English: High-Speed Line South) is a 125km high-speed railway line in the Netherlands. Using existing tracks from Amsterdam Centraal to Schiphol Airport, the dedicated high-speed line begins here and continues to Rotterdam Centraal and to the Belgian border. Here, it connects to the HSL 4, terminating at Antwerpen-Centraal. Den Haag Centraal (The Hague) and Breda are connected to the high-speed line by conventional railway lines. Services running at 160 km/h on the HSL-Zuid began on 7 September 2009 between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. From December 2009, Thalys trains from Amsterdam to Brussels and Paris have run on HSL-Zuid, and by mid-2012 Fyra trains will serve all HSL-Zuid stations between Amsterdam Centraal and Brussel-Zuid/Bruxelles-Midi.