November 23, 2022
The Brussels government will allocate an additional 125 million euros to Mobility next year, increasing the budget to 1,448 billion euros in the 2023 budget. This amounts to 20% of the Brussels Region’s budgetary funds. “The government is taking its responsibility on mobility challenges, the climate change, and health crisis, and more generally on the […]
November 21, 2022
The switch to electric bus traffic in Brussels is being accelerated. In the next two years, four bus lines will become electric, and six additional charging stations near Westland Shopping in Anderlecht will be added. Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB has announced this. According to MIVB/STIB CEO Brieuc de Meeûs, the terminals of bus lines […]
November 18, 2022
Next year, the Belgian railway company NMBS/SNCB will introduce a new ‘silent’ reporting system for train travelers who feel unsafe. According to research, the feeling of insecurity among train travelers continues to increase. The new system is simple and discrete: travelers can simply ask for help by sending a text message to the permanence center […]
November 17, 2022
This year, the Inter City Express (ICE) high-speed train connection between Belgium and Germany will celebrate its 20th birthday. In 2022, it will also transport a record number of more than one million passengers. On December 15th, 2002, the first ICE train rode between Brussels and Frankfurt. The ICE network is exploited by the German […]
November 15, 2022
The Hoppin center’s pilot project, a platform responsible for planning, booking, and paying for public transport in Flanders, will start today in the Klein-Brabant (Puurs, Sint-Amands, and Bornem) bell bus area. The pilot project marks the phased roll-out of the Basic Accessibility Plan, a major public transport reform in Flanders. With the mobility brand Hoppin, […]
November 10, 2022
Belgian railway company NMBS/SNCB will not extend its timetable in December as planned. The company is pressing the pause button due to the “difficult financial and operational context”. NMBS/SNCB CEO Sophie Dutordoir indicated late last month that investments would be postponed after the budget conclave. This is because the federal government came up with less […]
November 04, 2022
Hardly three weeks after its launch, the self-riding shuttle in Hasselt has been removed from public grounds. The autonomous shuttle did not always react as it should and was considered too dangerous for public use. Three weeks ago, the city of Hasselt (Limburg, Belgium) proudly announced the introduction of a self-driving shuttle, seating seven passengers […]
October 31, 2022
Belgian railway NMBS/SNCB is raising fares from February by an average of 8,73%. The decision for the increase was taken earlier, but the railroad company’s board of directors had yet to give the go-ahead. The price increase is also necessary because Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) secured a lower-than-hoped-for rail budget at the budget talks. However, […]
October 27, 2022
Belgian railway NMBS/SNCB must postpone a number of investments planned for 2023-2024 until the following years. This is the result of a decision by the federal government after the budget conclave that means NMBS/SNCB will receive less money than first promised. In 2024, NMBS/SNCB’s debt threatens to exceed 3 billion euros, well above the imposed […]
October 26, 2022
Spie Belgium will install 252 new chargers for the Flemish public transport company De Lijn. Spie Belgium is the Belgian subsidiary of the Spie Group, an independent market leader in multi-technical energy and communication services, as it claims. Last year, De Lijn signed an agreement with Spie Ekoenergetyka, a new entity, and the result of […]
October 25, 2022
Corda Campus, the Belgian tech campus in Hasselt (Limburg), comes with a ‘European scoop’: a Chinese self-driving e-scooter will pick up passengers on the campus, let them drive to their destination, and then returns fully autonomous to one of the five charging stations within the site. The vehicle is the Chinese Segway Ninebot Kickscooter T60, […]
October 24, 2022
Several major European cities and NGOs have urged the EU Commission in a letter to push through sales of zero-emission city buses only no later than 2027. They fear without action from the EU, there will not be enough incentive for the bus industry to ramp up production and supply to keep pace with demand. […]
October 13, 2022
The city of Hasselt (Limburg) is planning an experiment with a self-driving shuttle. The project is intended to try out an autonomous connection between the parking of the Trixxo Arena and the PXL academy campus. It’s the second similar project (after Mechelen) on public territory in Flanders. The shuttle will be available for one month […]
October 12, 2022
For the second time this year, 35 000 young Europeans have a chance to win a free train ticket to travel around Europe. The so-called autumn call is open until 25 October at noon to applicants from Erasmus+ countries. To win a ticket, young people are invited to apply on the European Youth website and […]
October 11, 2022
Former social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees will become the new top executive of Dutch Railways, NS. Koolmees succeeds Marjan Rintel, who left in early July for airline KLM, and will start on 1 November. Koolmees’ appointment is for four years. Koolmees was a minister from 2017 to early 2022 but did not return to the […]
October 06, 2022
High fuel prices have boosted carpooling in Belgium in recent months. As a result, the number of carpooled kilometers doubled in the first eight months of 2022 compared to last year. Compared to 2019, there is even a 40% increase, reports Vias Institute. Some 11% of the kilometers driven on Belgian roads are driven by […]
October 05, 2022
From now on, cyclists, pedestrians, and the buses of public transport company MIVB can use the Suzan Daniel bridge to cross the Brussels-Scheldt channel. The newly inaugurated bridge is an attractive shortcut between Tour & Taxis and the north district. It will be an essential element for the further development of the quarter. The new […]
September 30, 2022
On Thursday, Belgian railway company NMBS/SNCB inaugurated a new underground bicycle parking lot at Louvain station. Federal Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) and Sophie Dutordoir, CEO of NMBS/SNCB, were present at the opening. The new and partly guarded parking lot is an important step in the further transformation of the station and its surroundings. After […]
September 29, 2022
Luc Lallemand, for many years the top executive of Belgian rail network operator Infrabel, is being replaced at the head of SNCF Réseau. The latter was confirmed by the French government on Wednesday and ratified by an extraordinary board meeting. The French rail operator’s former number two, Matthieu Chabanel, who left the group this summer […]
September 27, 2022
Infrabel, the infrastructure branch of Belgian Rail, has ordered three battery electric measuring trains from Italian supplier Mermec. These so-called hybrid-electric trains can use a catenary system like regular trains but also access railway lines without it, pure on battery energy. The trains, totaling €42 million, will be delivered in 2024, 2026, and 2027. Measuring […]
September 22, 2022
When the Good Move plan and the new parking ordinance were introduced in Brussels, it was already clear that 53% of Brussels households do not own a car on average. That average rises to 70% among the poorest quarter of the population. Still, there are nearly half a million cars registered in Brussels. A new […]
September 21, 2022
Government party Open Vld wants the Fleming to be able to travel unlimitedly by bus or tram during the winter months for one euro a day. This reports De Morgen, and the news has been confirmed to press agency Belga. According to De Morgen, Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) has put a striking […]
September 19, 2022
Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB wants to make train tickets about 10% more expensive starting in February, the newspaper De Tijd wrote on Saturday. Minister for Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) is working on solutions to ensure that train passengers experience as little impact as possible from the rising costs facing NMBS/SNCB. The price increase consists […]
September 16, 2022
On this Friday, 16 September, Brussels sees the first taxi on hydrogen hitting the streets. It’s a member of the fleet of 500 taxis of Taxis Verts, owned since March by D’Ieteren Automotive. By the lack of a hydrogen car in its portfolio of Volkswagen brands, the D’Ieteren daughter had to fall back on Toyota […]
September 15, 2022
Polish bus manufacturer Solaris has unveiled its Urbino 18 articulated hydrogen bus, a second zero-emission model with a fuel cell, which complements the existing Urbino 12. It adds space for up to 140 passengers while keeping the same 350 km estimated range, thanks to the addition of three extra hydrogen tanks. The Solaris Urbino 18 […]
September 12, 2022
In the coastal town of La Rochelle, French train manufacturer Alstom has put its ‘high-speed train of the future’, successor to today’s TGVs, on rails for the first time. Just for a few meters at creeping speed, pushed by a large truck, for now, this train will travel at 320 km/hour. The current generation set […]
September 07, 2022
After a successful pilot project in a few Belgian train stations last year, the national railway company NMBS/SNCB wants to expand its collect system for fresh groceries to more than fifty stations in Belgium. NMBS/SNCB intends to launch the concept by spring next year and is looking for candidate distributors to deliver fresh food. The […]
September 06, 2022
The French government has asked public railway company SNCF to save energy but not to run fewer trains this winter in the event of a power shortage. SNCF is energy supplier EDF’s leading industrial customer, with 1% to 2% of total French electricity consumption. It has been stepping up its efforts to reduce energy consumption […]
September 06, 2022
Federal Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) wants to abolish VAT on public transport tickets. This is what the newspaper L’Avenir reports. Gilkinet says that he put this measure on the table during the preparation of the Consultation Committee on energy prices last week. The measure would cost just under 100 million euros. “For the […]
September 02, 2022
The federal mobility budget, introduced for employees as an alternative to their company cars, is not really persuasive. A survey by SD Worx shows that three years after its introduction, hardly 2% of Flemish employers offer their employees this sustainable mobility solution. In Brussels, the formula is slightly more popular (8%), while in Wallonia, less […]
September 01, 2022
Poppy, the 100% Belgian shared mobility provider from D’Ieteren, will launch more than 1 500 shared e-scooters in Brussels. It’s the only app in Brussels to offer shared cars, vans, and e-scooters. In hardly four years, Poppy built up a fleet of 750 shared cars, and 2 000 shared e-scooters in cities like Antwerp, Brussels, […]
August 29, 2022
According to the German public railway company, Deutsche Bahn, the cheap monthly ticket they introduced for almost unlimited use of train transport was a huge success. Last June, July, and August, Deutsche Bahn alone sold 26 million of those monthly tickets. The tickets will be valid until the end of August. The tickets cost nine […]
August 26, 2022
The ‘try-out’ mobility package Mechelen launched last year in August is a success. The idea was simple but brilliant: anyone who moved to Malines could apply for a free mobility package containing a free monthly subscription for one month to public transport company De Lijn, combined with shared cars and e-bikes from Cambio and Blue […]
August 25, 2022
De Lijn’s depot in Genk-Winterslag is currently being equipped with charging stations for electric buses. Public transport company De Lijn has started preparational works to install superchargers. About 20 parking places for buses will be equipped with charging points. De Lijn has an ambitious plan to offer its customers 100% emission-free public transport as of […]
August 25, 2022
After more than three years of fruitful testing with two trains, the German regional line between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde, and Buxtehude is now officially the world’s first passenger train line where hydrogen replaces diesel completely. Fourteen Alstom Coradia iLint trains will service the 100 km trajectory on a daily base. At the same time, Linde […]
August 23, 2022
In Schaarbeek, the railway infrastructure manager Infrabel started this summer with the renewal of the so-called Carwash junction, which forms the gateway to the Schaerbeek-Formation tracks. This is the largest switch renewal in Brussels in recent years, representing an investment of over 10 million euros. The renovation of the railway intersections, which will be finished […]
August 23, 2022
Gwendoline Cazenave will be the new CEO of Eurostar Group, the coordinating holding of Eurostar and Thalys. She will get to work as of October 1st. Eurostar Group announced the news on Monday. Cazenave is an old hand in the railway business. She can rely on twenty years of experience as manager of the French […]
August 19, 2022
The French railways SNCF have placed an order with Alstom for 15 extra new-generation TGVs, in addition to the 100 already bought four years ago. SNCF does this to meet traffic growth, “which is higher than initially forecast”, and to launch trains abroad. The contract, worth nearly 590 million euros, concerns four-cycle TGVs which, Alstom […]
August 19, 2022
Public transport company De Lijn has put one of its old depots in Lochristi at the disposal of NostalBus, a non-profit organization that collects, restores, and maintains historical buses. Twelve buses from the period between 1977 and 1991 will be used again for events. To celebrate the collection’s new accommodation, NostalBus will organize an open-house […]
August 17, 2022
The Estonian micro-mobility platform, Bolt, celebrates its ninth birthday in Europe, and business is booming. The company with the green vehicle fleet has quadrupled its activities worldwide since the beginning of the corona pandemic. July 2022 was the most successful month ever. Bolt is operational in Belgium since last year, and meanwhile, one can find […]
August 12, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) wants to accelerate the rollout of the Basic Accessibility Plan. A complete reorganization of public transport and to align all levels of it. The concept was launched in 2015, and approved in 2019, but never realized. After several delays and adjustments to the timing, Minister Peeters now […]
August 10, 2022
In Antwerp, the 2,5 millionth passenger on the Waterbus that travels down the Scheldt was honored on Tuesday. According to the Flemish government, which is funding the project, the Waterbus is very popular and has left behind the logical dip of the corona period. One in three passengers also takes a bicycle on board, which […]
August 10, 2022
Antwerp has kicked off the rollout of an extensive shared e-bicycle network. In May, the city announced that the 32 municipalities of the Antwerp transport region and the Waasland would start to launch a large shared e-bike platform. In the meantime, the first bright orange bicycles are driving around the metropolis. On May 11th, Antwerp […]
August 04, 2022
The Brussels region has issued the building permit for the renovation and extension of the former postal sorting office at Brussels-Midi station. This was announced by Pascal Smet (one.brussels-Vooruit), State Secretary for Town Planning in Brussels. The Belgian rail company NMBS/SNCB will accommodate its headquarters and many other activities in the future building. A consortium […]
August 03, 2022
The national railroad company NMBS/SNCB has launched a remarkable summer campaign. The company sells promotional products like socks, bucket hats, or banana bags with the logo of NMBS/SNCB, and T-shirts and sweaters with the name of a station on them. Train fanatics can choose between 550 different station names. The products are only available online […]
August 01, 2022
In the first six months of the year, 21 856 passenger trains on the Belgian rail network were canceled due to staff shortage. That is more than in 2017. If the situation does not improve, the 2016 record will be broken. The most important culprit seems to be the national rail, NMBS/SNCB. The company struggles […]
July 28, 2022
Young people, especially those between 18 and 34 years old, drive less by car. As a result, the share of kilometers they traveled as car drivers has decreased from 55% in 2019 to 45% in 2022. This is evident from the mobility barometer of safety institute Vias, based on an online survey of a representative […]
July 18, 2022
The Antwerp-based private aircraft company Flyinggroup has ordered 50 e-VTOL VX4 airplanes from British Vertical Aerospace (Vertical), a pioneer in electric aviation. Delivery is expected by 2025. Flyinggroup, headquartered in Deurne (Antwerp), manages a fleet of more than 45 private planes in Europe and the Middle East, of which 15 are stationed in Antwerp. Now, […]
July 14, 2022
SNCF boss Jean-Pierre Farandou has estimated the need for additional investment in French railways at around 100 billion euros over fifteen years. This is to help decarbonize transport by doubling the share of trains. To achieve this objective, the president of the French railway company defended several projects that will require an investment that is […]
July 12, 2022
Flemish public transport company De Lijn has decided to opt for the PSI eBus charging and depot management system from the German PSI Transcom. The PSI software package will control the charging processes of the electric buses and monitor all movements of the buses in De Lijn’s depots. The contract represents an amount of € […]
July 11, 2022
For a few weeks now, an e-ATAK eight-meter-long midibus of Turkish light commercial vehicle builder and bus manufacturer Karsan has been running autonomously on a daily service from Stavanger’s bus operator Kolumbus in Norway. It’s equipped with autonomous Level 4 driving hardware and software supplied by Californian company Adastec and is claimed to be the […]
July 08, 2022
In Ghent, ‘Gentspoort’ was officially launched on Thursday. With this project, which you can translate as ‘Ghent tracks’, the Flemish government wants to offer an answer to some persistent mobility bottlenecks in and around the city. For example, there will be new tram lines, and the ring road will be partly relocated, including at the […]
July 04, 2022
Public transport company De Lijn is going through a small revolution: the company will get more autonomy as of 2023. It will be free to put together its offer and define its fares. Until now, all fare changes had to be submitted to the Flemish government. At the same time, De Lijn’s partners will play […]
June 24, 2022
More and more Belgians are convinced that the (night) train is the ideal mode of transport for trips abroad. According to the Federal Mobility and Transport Agency’s survey, most travelers consider the train the perfect solution for a trip to Paris, London, or other popular European destinations like Amsterdam, Berlin, and Vienna. In the proper […]
June 17, 2022
This summer, the Belgian national railway company NMBS/SNCB launches a special ‘off-peak summer subscription’ that allows passengers unlimited access to all train transport. The subscription ticket costs 59 euros (or €99 for two) and can be used on weekdays (from 9 a.m.), weekends, and holidays (all day). This new formula, however, is only available for […]
June 15, 2022
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn launched a new campaign on Tuesday to convince people to travel more by bus and tram. The campaign specifically focuses on sustainability and reducing CO2 emissions and does so under the slogan “Join us on the journey toward less CO2”. For the campaign, De Lijn’s electric buses, of […]
June 15, 2022
Despite the 666 new job recruitments of train drivers and conductors, the Belgian railway company NMBS/SNCB will cut 1 771 jobs in the coming ten years. On the other hand, the 666 new jobs will expand the train offer by 10%. Rail manager Infrabel will cut 900 jobs by 2032. The company estimates to need […]
June 14, 2022
Flanders has launched its first autonomous shuttle service in Mechelen. The vehicle will be operational in and around the industrial zone of Mechelen North and cover a 2,5 km loop in fifteen minutes. The top speed is about 15 km/hour. Although a driver is unnecessary, the shuttle still has a steward on board, just for […]
June 10, 2022
From 1 September, a season ticket with the TEC, the Walloon public transport company, will cost 1 euro a month for people aged between 18 and 24. This rate change will be implemented a year earlier than first announced, Walloon Minister of Mobility Philippe Henry (Ecolo) confirmed on Thursday. The TEC pass will thus cost […]
June 10, 2022
According to a survey by the Smart Mobility Institute, partnered with consultancy giant Deloitte, Belgian companies have the highest maturity for mobility in Europe. This pole position is mainly attributed to the mobility budget put in place by the government for driving the switch from company cars to alternative mobility solutions. However, it doesn’t imply […]
