It’s not a title to be proud of, and certainly not something to boast about to visitors or travelers, but of the approximately 140 major train stations in Belgium, Genk remains the least punctual.
The Limburg station is also the only one where, on average, more than two in ten trains were delayed by at least six minutes last year.
Last year, punctuality at Genk station was 77.3%. This was an improvement on 2024 (75.7%) and 2023 (71.7%), when Genk was also at the bottom of the punctuality list for the most important train stations, as compiled by the Belga press agency on the open data website of rail network manager Infrabel.
Also at the bottom of the list is Eupen station, in the province of Liège, where punctuality was just 80.6%. Another Limburg station, Hasselt, followed with a punctuality rate of 86.6%.
Due to the infrastructure
People sometimes joke that people in Limburg speak slowly, but that doesn’t mean they work more slowly. The lack of punctuality in Genk can mainly be explained by the infrastructure. Genk station is located at the end of a railway line, part of which has only one track.
“This means that trains in both directions have to use the same track,” railway company NMBS/SNCB and Infrabel explain, “which, especially in the event of incidents, means there is less margin to absorb disruption, and we see a domino effect on other trains more quickly.” The same explanation applies to Eupen.
“In addition, two important IC connections that crisscross virtually the entire country stop in both Genk and Eupen. This increases the likelihood that these trains will experience delays due to accidents, trespassers, or technical problems with the rail infrastructure or with a train.
In recent years, a lot of work has been done at Hasselt station, both on the rail infrastructure and on the station itself. As a result, fewer tracks and platforms were available.
Fleurus takes the crown
The list of major stations includes approximately 140 stations, or a quarter of all train stops in Belgium. The most punctual of the larger stations are Fleurus and Charleroi-West in Hainaut, with a punctuality rate of 97.6%, followed by Spa (Liège) with a punctuality rate of 97.2%.
The first station in Flanders on the list is Wondelgem with 96.3%, just ahead of Ronse, with 96.2% (both in East Flanders).
Overall punctuality on the Belgian rail network improved to 91.7% last year. It was the first time in four years that more than 90% of trains ran on time. A train is considered punctual when it arrives on time or with a maximum delay of six minutes.
