From December 14th, extra late trains will run from Brussels and Antwerp on Friday and Saturday evenings, sometimes until well after midnight. This has been announced by NMBS/SNCB. At weekends, there will also be more trains between several major cities, such as the suburban S-net around Brussels, Ghent, and Charleroi.
The changes have already been incorporated into the NMBS/SNCB travel planner. By September 2026, the remaining services of the Belgian public railway company will also be expanded by 2%. NMBS/SNCB had already planned this, but it was later postponed due to a shortage of drivers, among other things.
Less ambitious for 2023-2026
The innovations form the final part of NMBS/SNCB’s 2023-2026 transport plan. Initially, this plan envisaged a 7% increase in services, but this ambition was revised to 5% last year. However, the target of increasing services by 10% between 2023 and 2032 remains unchanged.
The railway company has already begun preparations for the next three-year transport plan, which will cover the period from December 2026 to the end of 2029. NMBS/SNCB is less ambitious for this plan, aiming for a service expansion of around 2.5%.
“We want to grow in a sensible way, where we see the greatest potential to achieve the passenger growth we have in mind,” said transport director Koen Kerckaert in the Chamber Committee on Mobility.
Among other things, the intention is to open more than 20 trains that currently run empty, for example, because they are being taken to the depot or departure station, to passengers from December 2026. These include early trains between Brussels and Luxembourg, as well as between Brussels and Brussels Airport.
Capacity issues
On December 5th, the management will submit a plan to the board of directors. The Council of Ministers should then consider it in the spring of 2026. However, NMBS/SNCB is keeping its options open by pointing out essential conditions: the expansion depends on rail capacity and the availability of personnel and equipment. “The past few years have not been easy in that regard,” said Kerckaert.
Capacity is a problem on the critical rail axis between Antwerp and Brussels, among other places. Currently, only three IC trains per hour run there, much to the frustration of passengers, whereas there used to be four.
NMBS/SNCB has already requested that rail infrastructure manager Infrabel reduce the time between trains arriving at Antwerp Central Station from four to three minutes. This would enable the addition of a fourth IC train to the timetable. Infrabel refused this request to ensure the timetables’ robustness. On the other hand, NMBS/SNCB does not have the right equipment to offer more seats.
At the same time, the railway company refuses to respond to a request to open the international Eurocity Direct train between Brussels and Antwerp to domestic passengers, even when seats are still available.
According to the NMBS/SNCB, the connection is subject to international cooperation agreements and a different fare system from the domestic network. Additionally, priority is given to international passengers who pay a higher fee. Legal restrictions on subsidized domestic services also play a role.
However, opposition party Groen believes that NMBS/SCNB is not respecting its agreements with the government and is demanding structural solutions for commuters. For example, the party is pushing for a review of the transport plan, with priority given to the most congested routes and missing links.
Vlaams Belang, on the other hand, points to the inferior plans for the province of Limburg, where, for example, there will be no additional peak-hour trains between Mol and Hasselt.
Good punctuality, but canceled trains remain high
The punctuality of domestic trains in September was 92%, which is three percentage points better than in September last year. After nine months, punctuality has improved to 91.8%, compared to 89.7% in the same period the previous year.
In principle, NMBS/SNCB aims to achieve a punctuality rate of more than 91% throughout the year. This would be the first time since 2015 that punctuality has exceeded 91%, excluding the COVID-19 years 2020 and 2021, when punctuality peaked due to fewer trains running.
However, the number of canceled trains remains high. Between January and September, more than 34,000 trains were either wholly or partially canceled. This number is roughly the same as in the first nine months of 2023, when a record number of more than 46,000 trains were canceled over the whole year.
The canceled trains are excluded from the overall punctuality figure. Including these cancellations, punctuality was 89.4% in September, compared to 86.0% in the same month a year earlier.
Protocol agreement on the status of railway personnel
The railway unions and Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) have also agreed on a new draft protocol agreement regarding the status of railway personnel in the meantime. The union’s members rejected an earlier deal at the end of May.
The draft agreement stipulates, for example, that HR Rail will remain the legal employer of railway staff, rather than NMBS/SNCB and Infrabel, as was the case in the previous proposal.
There are also changes regarding recruitment. Originally, from 2028 onward, only contract workers would be recruited, and statutory recruitment would cease. However, the new draft agreement now provides for a deviation from this. The union members of ABVV and ACV will vote on the draft agreement today.
