Lack of punctuality costs NMBS/SNCB a plus €400,000 fine

Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB must pay the state a fine of 416,666 euros. In 2023, NMBS/SNCB was insufficiently punctual, canceled too many trains, and experienced too many minutes of delays.

The fine results from an alarming report that is part of the public service contract between the state and the NMBS/SNCB. If NMBS/SNCB does better than what was agreed with the government it can get a bonus, if it underperforms it risks a malus.

Nine indicators score well

The NMBS/SNCB report prepared for the first time by the Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport shows that in 2023, the railroad company achieved results in line with what was agreed in the public service contract on nine of the 12 predetermined performance indicators.

These include customer satisfaction, connections, parking spaces at stations, scheduled train mileage, and even carbon footprint.

For two indicators, NMBS/SNCB did better than agreed: passenger information in disrupted situations and energy consumption of electric traction vehicles.

Improvement in sight

However, for three performance indicators, NMBS/SNCB scored below what was agreed: canceled trains, punctuality, and minutes of delay. Punctuality, for example, came in at 87.5% last year when it should have been at least 89.1%. That poor report resulted in a malus of 416,666 euros.

For this year, trains have been running more punctually all year than a year earlier, except for January. From January through September, average punctuality was 89.6%, compared to 88.3% in the same period last year.

There have been more canceled trains in recent months, though. In September, 4,139 trips were completely or partially canceled, or 4.1% of all trains. In September 2023, the figure was 3.7%. Including the cancellations, punctuality was 86% in September.