November 07, 2025
The European Commission wants to accelerate the rollout of the high-speed rail network by 2040. By significantly reducing travel times between European capitals, rail is set to become a more attractive alternative to short-haul flights. The ambitious plan also includes a new high-speed connection between Lisbon and Paris via Madrid. This would allow train passengers […]
October 31, 2025
Virgin Trains, the railway company owned by British businessman Richard Branson, has received permission from the British regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), to share a central rail depot in east London, where trains are maintained and parked, with Eurostar. With the application approved, Virgin Trains is removing a significant barrier to the […]
October 30, 2025
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn continues to rack up fines for violations of the low-emission zone (LEZ). In the first six months of this year, it has already paid almost 150,000 euros in fines, more than double the total spent in 2024. De Lijn will also have to pay LEZ fines next year. After […]
October 28, 2025
In the past ten years, the number of tram accidents involving pedestrians in the Brussels-Capital Region has halved. While the MIVB/STIB recorded between 40 and 50 such accidents per year in 2015, the figure for 2024 is 23 collisions. “A promising development,” says the public transport company, “but every accident has potentially serious consequences and […]
October 24, 2025
The Walloon public transport company TEC is reforming its fare structure from February 1st. A single price on the classic lines will replace the zone fares. There will also be an indexation of 2.15%. The current ‘Next’ and ‘Horizon’ tickets will be merged into a single ‘Classic’ ticket that is valid for 90 minutes on […]
October 23, 2025
High-speed train operator Eurostar has ordered 50 trains from French company Alstom. These are double-decker trains, a first for Eurostar. Thanks to their double configuration, with two trains coupled together, they offer more than 1,000 seats per journey while traveling at a maximum speed of 320 km/h. Eurostar needs the trains to open new routes […]
October 21, 2025
The city of Prague has decided to ban shared/rental e-scooters on its territory from January 2026. From that date, shared e-scooter providers will not be allowed to operate unless they have specific contracts. Prague isn’t banning the concept of shared e-scooters entirely; it’s banning unregulated operations. These contracts will specify where vehicles can be parked, […]
October 17, 2025
Eventually, from mid-November, Flemish public transport company De Lijn would be operating self-driving shuttle minibuses to transport passengers between Leuven station and Heverlee. A Belgian first: autonomous vehicles driving in busy city traffic at normal speeds of up to 40 km/h. But more time is needed to fine-tune and becoming fully operational is now postponed […]
October 16, 2025
Securail, the NMBS/SCNB security service, was called upon more than 7,000 times last year to intervene at Brussels South station. This was reported by the newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, among others, based on figures from Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés). With an average of 20 interventions per day for incidents in Brussels South, this is […]
October 13, 2025
Tomorrow, Belgian trade unions will mobilize en masse against the Arizona government’s plans. They are hoping for a repeat of 2014, when 100,000 demonstrators turned up to protest, among other things, an index jump. The unions are particularly concerned about the government’s pension reforms, the planned expansion of flexi-jobs, and lower pay for night work. […]
October 10, 2025
The members of Belgium’s largest rail unions have rejected the draft agreement on a modernized statute for rail personnel that the unions had initially agreed with Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés). According to the rail unions, there will probably be no new round of negotiations, and the Minister is now free to do […]
October 09, 2025
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 […]
October 07, 2025
The announced fare reform at the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB will be launched on October 15. The most significant changes to the ticket offering, the biggest change in 30 years, are fares per kilometer and a discount card. Nothing will change for subscriptions. According to the NMBS/SNCB, the average fare is expected to decrease, […]
October 07, 2025
The Belgian ministers of public transport have long been striving to make Swiss public transport a model for Belgium. Now, progress seems to be being made in implementing some of the ambitions that have made Swiss public transport so successful for many years. Belgium’s four mobility ministers are asking public transport companies to submit a […]
October 02, 2025
The approximately 2,600 employees of the Eurostar high-speed train service have been sporting new uniforms since yesterday. This is the first comprehensive uniform revamp for the company in over a decade. The 54-piece collection reflects the European spirit and is inspired by the various European cities served by Eurostar. In addition to cultural references to […]
October 01, 2025
At the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB, only 6,5% of tickets are still purchased at ticket offices, compared to 50% a decade ago. This is logical, considering that there are only 91 stations with ticket offices left, which are often only open in the mornings. The Mobility Committee is now asking NMBS/SNCB to launch a […]
September 26, 2025
Thanks to an agreement with the Flemish Brabant municipality of Linkebeek, the legal issues surrounding the expansion plans for the Brussels-Nivelles line as part of the Regional Express Network (GEN) have been resolved. Federal Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engages) and Benoît Gilson, CEO of Infrabel, signed an agreement yesterday with the first alderman […]
September 25, 2025
There is no longer any legal obstacle preventing the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB from awarding the contract for the definitive allocation of hundreds of new AM30 trainsets to the Spanish company CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles). After the Council of State rejected Siemens Mobility’s appeal against the order by German train manufacturer last […]
September 24, 2025
Getting a 4/10 on your report card and still receiving a financial bonus of more than 400,000 euros? That is the outcome of the annual performance report by the Federal Public Service Mobility for the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB. In 2024, NMBS/SNCB achieved its targets for five of the 12 performance indicators, while scoring […]
September 24, 2025
A pilot project has been launched in Antwerp, in which public transport company De Lijn will use AI driver assistance systems on trams to help prevent accidents in the future. The system, developed by the Ghent technology company Otiv, was presented on Tuesday, September 23rd, in Antwerp, in the presence of Minister of Mobility Annick […]
September 23, 2025
For the first time in the history of Deutsche Bahn, a woman will become chair of the board of the German national railway company. That honor goes to Evelyn Palla, who previously headed Deutsche Bahn’s regional train division. In the German business world, it remains relatively rare for women to hold the top position in […]
September 22, 2025
The Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB is in a stronger legal position regarding the tendering of new trains. As expected, the Council of State has rejected the appeal by German company Siemens Mobility against NMNS/SNCB’s plans to award an order for hundreds of new trainsets to the Spanish company CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles). […]
September 19, 2025
The new tram in Liège has been in service since the end of April and is proving to be a resounding success. Although no reliable public sources are immediately available, the newspaper Le Soir reports 100,000 users per week, which would amount to more than 2 million passengers to date. The only downside is that […]
September 17, 2025
The three-country train between Maastricht in the Netherlands, the German city of Aachen, and Liège in Belgium was canceled too often last year and ran late 34% of the time. According to agreements between the Dutch province of Limburg and transport company Arriva, this should be no more than 5%. The main reasons for cancellations […]
September 17, 2025
The Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB reportedly orders trains to skip stops an average of five times a day to make up for delays. In six months, more than 900 stops were skipped. It was already known that NMBS/SNCB was applying this practice. For example, the ombudsperson service already mentioned it in its annual report […]
September 16, 2025
Eurostar, the European high-speed train operator, has just presented its 2024 sustainability report, with a clear focus on circularity. The company opts for sustainable materials and strategies when designing new terminals and lounges. And there’s another noteworthy initiative: surplus sandwiches will be processed and converted into craft beer. “Since May 2024, we have converted unused […]
September 16, 2025
The Walloon public transport company TEC has inaugurated the B2 line in Sart-Tilman, Liège, the first fully electric bus line in Wallonia. The bus line has its own infrastructure and priority at traffic lights. From now on, 14 articulated e-buses will run on this strategic axis between Guillemins station and Sart-Tilman/Botanique, which is used by […]
September 15, 2025
On September 21, Car-Free Sunday will be organized in various cities and municipalities in Belgium. To mark the occasion, NMBS/SNCB is offering a second-class return ticket for 8 euros. It is noteworthy that in Wallonia, only a few municipalities, such as Moranwelz, Le Bizet, and Ans, are participating in the initiative, while the entire Brussels-Capital […]
September 15, 2025
Only one in eight Belgian companies meets the regional targets for sustainable commuting by its staff. This is according to the first mobility index published by Securex, an HR service provider, and Vias, the knowledge institute for mobility and road safety. In general, Brussels companies score the best, Flemish companies average, and Walloon companies lag. Securex […]
September 11, 2025
The Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB is currently carrying out extra checks on more than 400 trains on various lines and platforms to verify the validity of tickets. The campaign is part of a broader crackdown on fraud: this year, 40% more passengers will be checked compared to last year. Checks on the 900,000 passengers […]
September 11, 2025
From January, every Belgian employer must also offer the mobility budget to every employee with (or entitled to) a company car. However, only one in five small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, is aware of this new obligation. This is according to a recent survey of more than 500 SMEs conducted by SD Worx. The […]
September 11, 2025
The Belgian public railway company NMBS/SCNB has always been a lukewarm supporter of access gates in train stations. This idea has been raised several times in the past and was also mentioned in the coalition agreement, but has now been shelved by NMBS/SNCB after a “negative business case.” According to Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke […]
September 05, 2025
The Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB will now make its camera footage directly available to police officers. This will enable the police to monitor what is happening in stations and station areas in real-time. Until now, police services could only request the images after the fact, for example, after an incident had occurred. Almost 130 […]
September 05, 2025
€280,000. That is the amount of compensation that the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB had to pay last year to passengers whose trains did not arrive or were late. This was reported by the newspaper De Morgen. It is mainly delays of more than an hour that are costing the railway company money. A response from […]
September 03, 2025
The auditor of the Belgian Council of State has advised rejecting the cancellation appeal of train manufacturer Alstom. Alstom had gone to court against plans by the railway company NMBS/SNCB to award an order for hundreds of new trainsets to the Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF). According to Alstom, there were several violations […]
August 27, 2025
On Tuesday, work began to install a shore power installation at the cruise terminal on the Swedish Quay in Zeebrugge (Belgium). In the near future, cruise ships will be able to switch off their polluting diesel generators and fully utilize shore power. Shore power is an environmentally friendly and quiet way for ships to moor. It allows […]
August 27, 2025
There is another fly in the ointment in the NMBS/SNCB saga concerning the designation of the Spanish company CAF as the preferred bidder for a multi-billion euro order for up to 600 new trainsets. Following the French company Alstom’s continued exercise of its legal rights before the Council of State in Belgium regarding the tender, […]
August 22, 2025
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn is testing a new, intelligent driving assistance system in Antwerp to warn tram drivers of potential hazards, such as pedestrians, cyclists, or obstacles on the tracks. The system uses cameras, sensors, and artificial intelligence (AI), and was developed by the Ghent-based technology company OTIV. The tests are part […]
August 22, 2025
From January 2026, Volvo Car Gent will discontinue its own bus transport service for its approximately 6,500 employees. The decision to terminate the private bus service comes as no surprise: only 98 employees still use the service. The bus service had, therefore, become too expensive to continue. Together with the personnel department, a solution is […]
August 14, 2025
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into an incident at Brussels North train station in which Securail agents allegedly assaulted a woman of African origin. According to the public prosecutor’s office, blows were inflicted by both a Securail officer and another person involved in the incident. Both are now under investigation, but […]
August 08, 2025
The trains of the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB ran more punctually in July compared to a year ago. In July, 93,4% of trains arrived on time or with a maximum delay of 6 minutes in Brussels or at their destination. This means that punctuality was higher than in July last year, when it was […]
August 08, 2025
The Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB has dismissed a train driver for posting a live video on TikTok while driving a train. This was reported by the newspaper Le Soir, among others. Or how a well-intentioned “proportional initiative”, according to the train driver, turned into a personal nightmare. According to the newspapers, the incident dates to […]
August 06, 2025
Until 17 August, Belgian rail network operator Infrabel will be renewing 24 km of sleepers on the section between Hoegaarden and Pousset. The company is using a 700-meter-long mega work train for this to replace around 40,000 sleepers. This Austrian work train, weighing 1,600 tons, travels across Europe to undertake massive construction projects. This is […]
August 05, 2025
Many cities and policymakers dream of it, but few can achieve what Helsinki accomplished last year: zero traffic fatalities. The formula behind these exceptional figures is the introduction of a 30 km/hour speed limit in the city. But speed limits were certainly not the only important factor contributing to this success. The zero traffic fatalities […]
July 30, 2025
Eureka moment at MIVB/STIB: the Brussels public transport company has made a breakthrough in the issue of noise pollution caused by the wheels of the new M7 metro trains. The wheel manufacturer has developed new wheels that meet strict technical criteria. Production has already started, and delivery is scheduled for the last quarter of 2025, […]
July 28, 2025
Train services between Liège-Guillemins and Verviers will be suspended entirely from today until Sunday, 24 August. Infrabel is starting a major modernization project on line 37. The works include the renewal of points, tracks, overhead lines, and signaling. Certain bridges will also be renovated, including a bridge in Pepinster that was severely damaged by the […]
July 24, 2025
The Board of directors of the Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB has finally chosen Spanish train builder CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) as the preferred bidder for the supply of new train carriages. It concerns a contract for up to 600 new train sets by 2034, for an estimated sum of between €1.7 billion […]
July 22, 2025
Because the Netherlands has awarded domestic train traffic to Dutch Railways NS, the European Commission is going to the European Court of Justice. Such a direct allocation is contrary to the European rule that requires several transport companies to be able to apply for the main domestic train traffic. The court may decide to fine […]
July 21, 2025
Mobility provider Bolt has published its latest Micromobility Incident Overview. The report reveals new data showing a significant drop in the number of incidents involving electric scooters in Belgium. According to the bulletin, the number of incidents in Belgium has decreased by 82% compared to the same period last year. This equates to just 0.13 incidents per […]
July 17, 2025
The price of train tickets will increase by 6 to 9% in the Netherlands next year. This was announced to the Lower House by resigning State Secretary for Public Transport Thierry Aartsen. Earlier, a 12% increase was still assumed. However, the Dutch Railways NS is now taking measures such as reducing costs by organizing train […]
July 14, 2025
The number of international train travelers at the Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB is increasing year after year. Since 2019, the number of bookings through NMBS/SNCB International has risen by over 50%. The most popular countries are France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. NMBS/SNCB sells tickets to more […]
July 14, 2025
Self-driving shuttle buses will be operating in Leuven before the end of this year. The vehicles will be able to seat eight passengers and will drive around the city center. With this pilot project, Leuven is following the example of other European cities, such as Zurich, Barcelona, and Paris. The project is part of the […]
July 11, 2025
With 4,070 abolished trains per month in the first half of the year, the Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB scored a new record, but one of the kinds you prefer not to show off during company presentations or half-yearly overviews. The same period in 2023, the previous record year, involved 4,016 trips per month. In […]
July 10, 2025
The Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB has put the former station building of Londerzeel up for sale through its real estate platform. The setting price for the building with a land area of 277 m² is 245,000 euros. The municipality of Londerzeel, in Flemish Brabant, is pleased that NMBS/SNCB is finally taking steps to give […]
July 08, 2025
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn will increase the amount of its administrative fines by 18.37%. The acceptable amounts thus follow the fare indexation implemented in April. According to Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA), it is logical for fines to follow that price trend and should “continue to encourage people to […]
July 08, 2025
In Brussels, the bus, metro, streetcar, and train are regaining importance after a decline during the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only is the number of travelers increasing proportionally, but the number of trips by public transport in the capital is also rising, according to a recent survey by Brussels Mobility. Looking purely at the market share, […]
July 04, 2025
Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB is to roll out an action plan to “improve the working environment of employees.” It is doing so following a welfare survey conducted early this year by IDEWE, an external service for prevention and protection at work. According to the unions, the survey’s results and conclusions, which measured, among other […]
July 01, 2025
Flemish public transport operator De Lijn is becoming greener without having to do anything about it. As of today, the private bus operators that provide rides on behalf of De Lijn are deploying 588 new electric buses on De Lijn’s network. According to the Federation of Belgian Bus and Coach Operators (FBAA), this is “the […]
June 30, 2025
Children younger than twelve can travel for free on the coastal tram in July and August if they have a beach flower with them. Transport company De Lijn presented its colorful summer campaign last Friday in Bredene. With this campaign, De Lijn is linking a true coastal tradition to one of its most iconic lines and […]
June 30, 2025
The Board of Directors of the Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB has postponed its decision on designating Spanish CAF as the preferred bidder for a billion-euro order for new railcars. NMBS/SNCB’s decision drew considerable political criticism, and CAF competitors Alstom and Siemens also appealed to the Council of State. In a reaction, NMBS/SNCB refers to […]
