The ''Rubens'' was an

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations along ...

that linked

Gare du Nord The Gare du Nord (; English: ''station of the North'' or ''Northern Station''), officially Paris-Nord, is one of the six large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station accommodates the trains that run between the capit ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, France, with Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. The train was named after Flemish painter

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...

History

Trans Europ Express

The ''Rubens'' was introduced together with the TEE ''Memling'' in the

TEE A tee is a stand used in sport to support and elevate a stationary ball prior to striking with a foot, club or bat. Tees are used extensively in golf, tee-ball, baseball, American football, and rugby. Etymology The word tee is derived from the ...

-network to cope with the raising number of passengers between Paris and Brussels. Both services were the first in the morning, the ''Rubens'' departed from

at 6:42 in the morning, while the ''Memling'' departed from the

at 6:45. The return services were scheduled as the fifth of the six daily TEEs in both directions, departing around 6:45 p.m.

EuroCity

In 1987 the ''Rubens'' was, like the other Paris-Brussels TEE services, integrated into the new

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

network. On 23 May 1993 the EuroCity services between Paris and Brussels were classified as TEE again. After the opening of the LGV-Nord on 23 January 1995 the ''Rubens'' was withdrawn. La Légende des TEE p. 407.

References

Works cited

* * {{EuroCity trains EuroCity International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of France Named passenger trains of Belgium Railway services introduced in 1974 Trans Europ Express Railway services discontinued in 1995 Peter Paul Rubens