Changes and improvements During December 1997, the Belgian HSL 1 line, allowing and running from the French border to the outskirts of Brussels, was inaugurated. On 14 December 1997, the first Thalys train from Paris to Brussels ran on the HSL 1, reducing travel time to 1:25 hours. At the same time, service commenced to Cologne and Aachen in Germany, and Bruges, Charleroi, Ghent, Mons, Namur and Ostend in Belgium. On 19 December 1998, the Thalys Neige service started to the ski resorts of Tarentaise Valley and Bourg-Saint-Maurice. In May 1999, the new high-speed line serving Charles de Gaulle Airport opened, and Thalys started direct services from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Brussels, including codeshare agreements with Air France, American Airlines and Northwest Airlines. On 28 November 1999, Westrail International changed its name to Thalys International. In 2000, Thalys started a daily Service between Brussels and Geneva. With its (French for 'Thalys Sun'), it started offering direct connections to Provence, initially to Valence, and extended to Avignon and Marseille in 2002. Service between Brussels and Cologne was improved in December 2002 when trains began running on the new HSL 2 in Belgium. During 2003, Thalys services started to Brussels Airport and the Thalys Nuits d'Été service to Marne-la-Vallée. In 2007, Deutsche Bahn purchased a 10% shareholding, while SNCF reduced its stake to 62% and SNCB to 28%. Beginning on 14 June 2009, the journey between Brussels and Cologne was shortened by 19 minutes when the new high-speed line HSL 3 between Liège and Aachen opened using Deutsche Bahn's thrice-daily ICE trains running between Brussels and Frankfurt. While HSL 3 was completed during 2007, Thalys trains had not been initially equipped with the European Train Control System (ETCS) signaling equipment necessary to use the new line. Following the completion of installation and testing work, Thalys began operating on HSL 3 on 13 December 2009. For the same reasons, Thalys started operating on the HSL 4/HSL-Zuid high-speed line between Antwerp and Amsterdam on 13 December 2009, two years after the line's construction. Since 29 August 2011, one return journey to Cologne has been extended to Essen Hauptbahnhof, and since 30 October 2011, one return journey to Brussels had been extended to Brussels National Airport. On 9 June 2013, permanently ceased the sale of tickets for Thalys services, forcing affected travellers to purchase separate tickets. The company also opted to sell its