France train shooting: Gunman overpowered by American passengers

A man has opened fire on a train travelling between Amsterdam and Paris before being overpowered by two American passengers.

Police work on a platform next to a Thalys train of French national railway operator SNCF at the main train station in Arras, northern France, on August 21, 2015. (AAP)

Three people have been wounded in a shooting incident on high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris.

The man was arrested when the train stopped at Arras station in northern France but his motives were not yet known, a ministry spokesman said. Two US passengers on board the train overpowered the man, French media said.

Train operator Thalys said that travelers were safe and the situation was under control.

"A man opened fire on this Thalys train between Amsterdam and Paris," ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said on BFM-TV television.

"Talking about a terrorist motive would be premature at the moment."

France has been on high security alert since Islamist militants killed 17 people in and around Paris in January.

"Talking about a terrorist motive would be premature at the moment."

"The man was armed with automatic weapons and knives. He was stopped by passengers," Christophe Piednoel, a spokesman for French railway SNCF said on iTele television.

Police union official Slimane Hamzi said the 26-year-old man had said he was of Moroccan origin.

Thalys is partly-owned by SNCF and Belgian railways.

A photo released with permission via Twitter user @FreedomFilmLLC of security forces detaining the suspect of the shooting on a Thays train at Arras train station in Arras, northern France, 21 August 2015. Source: @FREEDOMFILMLLC