According to formateur Bart De Wever (N-VA), the so-called ‘Arizona coalition’ is gradually entering the final straight line for forming a new federal government. One notable mobility measure on the table is that Charleroi Airport would get a connection to the rail network.

This is according to a leak to the newspaper La Libre Belgique, but the news was also confirmed by a close source to the news agency Belga. Brussels Airport would, in turn, receive a connection for high-speed trains, something it has been asking for for years.

‘Not realistic’

The issue of making Charleroi Airport, with 10 million passengers, the second largest airport in Belgium, also accessible by train has been under discussion for years.

Several studies have been conducted on the subject. The last one, from 2022, was conducted by the Stratec office at the request of the Walloon government.

The conclusion is that a train to the low-cost airport would not add much value or be unrealistic. After all, Charleroi Airport is easily accessible by road, although it would also reduce road traffic.

Plus, as a low-cost airport, Charleroi has many early and late flights, which means that you would, therefore, also have to put in plenty of very early and late trains.

The option of betting even more on better bus connections between the airport and the train stations of Fleurus and Charleroi and more direct train connections of less than 40 minutes between Charleroi and Brussels is, therefore, much cheaper, something that was emphasized again on Wednesday by Thomas Dermine, the socialist Mayor of Charleroi.

The cost of a rail connection to Charleroi Airport is estimated to be at least 500 million euros. Apart from the TEC bus connections, there are also FlixBus and Flibco connections from Charleroi with a Benelux network.

Moreover, according to transport economist Wouter Dewulf (UA) in the newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, the airport itself is not eager for a train. After all, the airport gets a lot of income from its car parks.

Brussels Airport has been asking for years for HST connection

In turn, Brussels Airlines welcomes the news that Brussels-Airport would get a connection for high-speed trains. Even more, Brussels-Airport itself has been asking for it for years.

A direct high-speed connection to the airport, for example, would allow Brussels Airlines to reduce its reliance on short-haul flights and strengthen its position as the preferred airline for Africa.

Travelers from Paris or Amsterdam would then no longer have to change trains at Brussels-Midi but would arrive directly at the airport, making the trip a bit more attractive.

Brussels Airport has also been negotiating with HST carrier Eurostar for several years about returning its trains to the airport, but these negotiations have not yet yielded any results.

More to the point, Gwendoline Cazenave, the CEO of Eurostar Group, is keeping that door firmly shut for now. “Our project is to connect major cities via high-speed lines. Zaventem is not on a high-speed line, and there are excellent and fast train connections to the airport,” Cazenave said in January 2023.