belgium

It seems the test runs for the new Belgian HLE 17's are well underway in the Netherlands in the Hanzelijn, between Lelystad and Zwolle.

These are Alstom Traxx 3 MS locomotives capable of running in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany at speeds up to 200km/h. The locomotives will run the EuroCity service between Rotterdam and Brussels taking over from the TRAXX F140 MS2 (Serie 186).

Martin van Vulpen has shares these details along with some more pictures.

As an aside, some more information on the Hanzelijn:

De spoorlijn tussen Lelystad en Zwolle geldt al jaren als een geliefde testlocatie voor nieuw spoorwegmaterieel. Dankzij de moderne infrastructuur, de aanwezigheid van het beveiligingssysteem ERTMS en de mogelijkheid om met hoge snelheden te rijden, vormt de lijn een ideaal proefterrein voor uitgebreide dynamische testen. Hoewel de Hanzelijn ontworpen is voor snelheden tot 200 kilometer per uur, worden dergelijke snelheden in de praktijk vrijwel uitsluitend tijdens test- en toelatingsritten gereden.

European Sleeper launched their Paris - Brussels - Berlin night service on 26 March. This is an addition to their existing Brussels - Amsterdam - Berlin -Prague service, which started in May 2023. Thibault Lapers coverage, as always, is extensive, so that's why I'll choose to share that here while adding some of my notes below.

This inaugural trip comes as ÖBB scraps their Nightjet connection between Paris and Berlin, and Paris and Vienna after SNCF stopped subsidising the services starting in 2026. On LinkedIn, Jon Worth uploaded a video of European Sleeper's first departure on their new connection, saying:

ÖBB and SNCF ended the Paris-Berlin night train, saying it was impossible to run it without a subsidy. So private company European Sleeper stepped in instead. The first train departed Paris Nord this evening, and the service will operate 3x a week. Excellent work Elmer van Buuren and team!

The video shows RailPool's Alstom TRAXX MS3 Universal locomotive, number 188 144, departing Paris, to much celebration, pulling eight RDC passenger carriages (a mix of sleepers and couchettes) with stickers from European Sleerp and Train Charter.

Railcolor reports that European Sleeper also leases RailPool's 188 121 locomotive.