€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 Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) to a question from CD&V Member of Parliament Tine Gielis reveals that NMBS/SNCB received 41,400 requests for compensation for delays, cancellations, or missed trains last year. Of these, 81% were accepted, representing a payout of 278,900 euros.
Most compensation for delays of more than 1 hour
Remarkably, in five years, the number of requests has more than doubled, from 17,000 to 41,300. More than nine out of ten compensations are granted for a delay of more than an hour.
This immediately indicates that NMBS/SNCB trains are either very late or do not show up at all. Last year, more than 10% of trains were not on time, i.e., with a delay of six minutes or more at the final station.
And in the period from January to June of this year, an average of 4,070 trains per month were canceled, an absolute record. That amounts to an average of 4.27% of scheduled trips each month.
Rules tightened
If you wish to claim financial compensation due to your train arriving late or not running at all, you must submit a claim within three months via the NMBS/SNCB website, by post, or at the station ticket office (if one is available).
If your train is delayed by an hour or more, you are entitled to a full refund of the ticket price. However, this only applies if the delay was not communicated in advance and could not be avoided by any other route.
Additionally, a separate scheme is available for individuals who regularly experience minor delays, defined as at least ten delays of 30 minutes or more within six months. Only passengers with a season ticket can apply for this compensation, which is half the value of the journey.
Compensation for delays between 15 and 29 minutes has been abolished since October 2023.
