Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB and French railway company SNCF Voyageurs have plans to set up a new rail link between Brussels and Paris.

The plan is to run back and forth between Brussels South and Paris North several times daily, using conventional trains. It is, therefore, not a high-speed connection. The journey should take three hours, including a stop in Mons. A feasibility study is underway, and the plan is to start by the end of next year.

Competitive price

A spokesperson said that NMBS/SNCB wants to complement the existing high-speed trains “at a competitive price” with the new regular train service. How much a ticket to Paris will cost is not yet known.

It is also not planned to stop at Brussels Airport station, although much remains unclear.

Ready for the Paris Olympics?

Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) welcomed the plans. “Besides the offer for high-speed trains, I am convinced that there is a strong demand for cheaper and more regular train connections via regular international trains,” he said.

The railway companies are pushing forward the end of 2024 as the start date, but Gilkinet hopes the new connection can start earlier, in time for the Paris Olympics during the summer. “Many Belgians will travel to France for the 2024 Olympics, and if this new train offer can be brought forward a few months, it can also be done in the most environmentally friendly way,” he argues.

Journey time of around three hours

High-speed train operator Thalys – now part of Eurostar – offered a slower and cheaper connection between Brussels and Paris until the middle of last year under the name IZY.

With it, you could track between the two capitals for 10 euros. The train did not run on the high-speed railway in France, so the journey took just over an hour longer than with Thalys. The latter covers the trip in one hour and 22 minutes. According to Le Soir newspaper, the new connection between Brussels and Paris would take between 2h52 and 3h10, depending on the time of day and rail traffic.

SNCF Voyageurs also launched similar initiatives between French cities in April under the name ‘Ouigo Train Classique’. It runs between Paris and Lyon, for example, and Paris and Nantes. The trains are slower than high-speed trains but also significantly cheaper; the offer was labeled “very satisfactory” in May.

In early June, Arriva, part of the German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, and Dutch public transport company Qbuzz announced their plans for high-speed trains between Amsterdam and Paris. The trains would stop in Antwerp and Brussels en route for both companies. The start-up is targeted for January 2027.