The
Brabant was introduced in the
TEE-network to cope with the rising number of passengers between Paris and Brussels. This fourth TEE service between the two cities was planned to be the first through electric service on this railway line. However, due to the
Big Freeze of 1963, the
overhead lines works were behind schedule and at 26 May 1963 the service was started with a northbound only
DMU, detached from the existing
TEE Île de France.
Rolling Stock Until 1 September 1963 the
Brabant was ridden by
RGP 825-multiple units of
SNCF. This was northbound only because the used multiple unit was, after arriving in Brussels, coupled with the southbound
TEE Île de France. After completing the electrification the formation changed into a locomotive hauled electric train, riding in both directions.
Locomotives Initially the train was hauled by a SNCF class 26000, replaced by the Belgian class 15 at 2 August 1964. Ten years later, at 29 September 1974, the technically identical
SNCF class CC 40100 and
Belgian class 18, replaced the class 15 locomotives.
Coaches Initially normal DEV A9 coaches were used, which meant a decline in comfort compared to the RGP 825. At 2 August 1964 the comfort was upgraded to TEE level again with the introduction of the PBA (Paris Brussel Amsterdam) class coaches.
Route and timetable The TEE service started with trainnumber TEE 128 (Paris - Brussel), at 1 September 1963 the trainnumber TEE 119 was assigned to the southbound train. At 26 May 1967 the train was renumbered, the northbound service became TEE 64, the southbound service became TEE 61. At 23 May 1971 a new renumbering was implemented. All TEE services between
Amsterdam and Paris got sequential numbers from 80 up to 87. The odd-numbers for northbound trains, the even-numbers for southbound trains. Within these numbers TEE 83 and TEE 84 were assigned to
TEE Brabant. At 3 June 1984 the
Brabant was downgraded to a two-class intercity service retaining the trainnumbers as IC 83 and IC 84. ==EuroCity==