All main lines of the Belgian rail network, covering 6,399 km, are equipped with the ETCS safety system. This train-speed control system continuously monitors speed and intervenes when a train exceeds the speed limit.
The rollout by rail network operator Infrabel, which involved installing more than 48,000 beacons in the tracks and equipping more than 11,000 signals, cost approximately 2.8 billion euros. In principle, a train running a red light, or a train disaster, such as the one in Buizingen, would now be almost impossible.
Significant improvement in rail safety
Cruise control or the European Train Control System (ETCS) only works if the trains are equipped with the system. By the end of this year, the entire NMBS railway fleet will be equipped with this system.
The rollout of safety systems on the railways – first TBL1 and then ETCS – was accelerated after the train crash in Buizingen on February 15, 2010, in which 19 people lost their lives and which is still considered the deadliest disaster in the history of Belgian railways.
Its gradual rollout has already improved rail safety, says Infrabel. In 2024, 51 trains passed a red signal, half as many as in 2010. The number of potentially dangerous signal violations, for example, because the train crosses another track, fell from 51 to 14 during that period.
Pioneer in Europe
“I am very proud that we have reached this historic milestone,” says Infrabel CEO Benoît Gilson. “ETCS, in combination with digitized train traffic management systems, offers our customers the highest level of safety and strengthens Belgium’s position as one of the best-equipped and therefore safest railway networks in Europe.” After the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Belgium is now the second European country to have fully equipped its railway network with ETCS.
In addition to safety, ETCS also aims to achieve the broader goal of unifying European railways by enabling all operators, both public and private, passenger and freight carriers, to eventually operate according to the same standards, provided that the trains themselves are equipped with it.
