Eurostar and Thalys European High-Speed Rail Merger Approved

Rail travel in Western Europe is going to get easier. The merger of high-speed rail operators Thalys and Eurostar will create a single company connecting some of Europe's largest cities.

Edward Russell.

The merger of Eurosta r and Thalys will make rail travel in Europe easier. The company will connect some of Europe's largest cities, including London, Paris, and Amsterdam, with a single offering.

The combination would do little to change the structure of the market according to the European Commission. The current home of Thalys will be the location of the merged company. French rail company SNCF has control of both Thalys and Eurostar.

The combined operator could carry 19 million travelers. That is still less than some of Europe's best known high-speed rail systems. The TGV high-speed network in France carried more than 100 million passengers in 2019.

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A single high-speed rail offering connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK is the latest step towards the EU's goal of increasing cross-border rail trips across Europe. The EU wants to increase the percentage of cross-border trips made by rail from 7 to 10.

Kathrin Obst, the deputy head of unit in the European Commission's directorate general of mobility and transport, said that people will only take the train if it is easy for them to find the information. Booking and itinerary changes are problem areas for rail operators.

As part of their merger, Eurostar and Thalys have promised to make it easier to book and to have a unified loyalty program.

The merger of the two rail companies is pending approval from the European Commission.

As the companies emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, the merger is seen as a way to support them. Early in the Pandemic, demand for train travel was hit hard. It has not returned to pre-covid levels since the crisis ended. Both Thalys and Eurostar said last year that they were hit hard by the Pandemic. The passenger numbers were down 70 percent in 2020 compared to the year before.

The debt refinancing deal that Eurostar and its lenders closed in May of 2021 iscrucial to the restoration of demand and the financial recovery of the business, according to CEO Jacques Damas.

Thalys would likely need to raise funds for its recovery, according to the CEO.