May 05, 2025
Uber Technologies has announced a strategic partnership with Chinese autonomous driving start-up Momenta to launch self-driving taxi services in Europe. The project is planned to start in early 2026. The collaboration marks Uber’s first venture with a Chinese developer of robotaxis, and beyond its home markets in the US and China. While Waymo already offers […]
May 05, 2025
Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB may soon collect a bonus for last year’s performance. According to its publication, ‘Realizations and Key Figures 2024,’ this is because it performed better than agreed upon in several areas. Built into the public service contract between the federal government and NMBS/SNCB is a bonus-malus system of up to 5 […]
May 03, 2025
Trade tensions between the United States and Europe may cloud the important summer airline season. So says Lufthansa, pointing to changed consumer behavior due to economic uncertainty. Brussels Airlines, a subsidiary of the German airline group, suffered an adjusted operating loss (EBIT) of 53 million euros during the first quarter of this year. However, because […]
April 29, 2025
CO2 emissions from planes taking off from a European airport last year are back almost at the same level as in 2019, before the Covid-19 crisis. So, Transport & Environment (T&E) reports. The NGO that fights for more environmentally friendly transportation calls the airlines’ promise to return greener after the coronavirus pandemic “a joke.” Last […]
April 29, 2025
Flemish public transport operator De Lijn has presented its first electric articulated bus in Leuven. By July this year, 109 articulated e-buses will be in service in Flanders. The buses are part of a framework agreement under which De Lijn can order up to 500 such vehicles from the Italian industrial vehicle manufacturing company Iveco. […]
April 29, 2025
The Flemish highway network experienced its most congested year on record in 2024. Traffic jams, accident rates, and incident response demands reached unprecedented levels, according to the annual report by the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum (Flemish Traffic Center). As the body marks its 25th anniversary, it faces the challenge of managing a traffic system increasingly pushed beyond […]
April 28, 2025
Dégage!, a Ghent-based non-profit organization that offers private car sharing throughout Flanders, grew solidly last year, with 900 new users and nearly 150 additional shared cars. Through Dégage!, owners can lend their private cars to people in their neighborhood. Part of the costs are then reimbursed to the owner. Within Dégage, 543 cars are shared, […]
April 28, 2025
It was quite a saga, but the new streetcar in Liège went out for its first official public run this morning. After two months of testing on the new rails, the streetcar switched to its commercial speed of 20 k/h. The streetcar, renamed “the white snake” by designer Michel Redolfi, and the new mobility network […]
April 25, 2025
The number of accidents to and from work is increasing as more and more people travel to work by (electric) bike or on foot. That’s according to figures from insurer Ethias, based on an analysis of more than 7,500 recent claim files. Such accidents also impact the workplace, as 41% of absenteeism is due to […]
April 25, 2025
Volkswagen is stepping deeper into the autonomous driving race, announcing plans to bring a fleet of self-driving ID to market. Buzz electric vans through a new partnership with Uber. The German automaker aims to supply thousands of autonomous vehicles for Uber’s ride-hailing platform across the U.S. over the next decade, beginning with Los Angeles in […]
April 24, 2025
Belgian Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) has reached a preliminary agreement with rail unions on issues including personnel management, legal responsibilities, and the modernization of staff status. The agreement with representatives of HR Rail, NMBS/SNCB, Infrabel, and the unions ACOD Spoor, ACV Transcom, and VSOA Spoor may not be enough to also avert next […]
April 23, 2025
Antwerp-based maritime group CMB.TECH, formerly Euronav, wants to merge with Norwegian dry bulk carrier Golden Ocean Group. The merger would create one of the world’s largest diversified listed maritime groups with a combined fleet of more than 250 vessels. A final agreement would be concluded this quarter, with the merger to be completed in the […]
April 23, 2025
Today, mobility platform Bolt celebrates the third anniversary of its taxi booking service in Belgium. Bolt was launched in February 2022 and now offers its service in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Namur, and more. Three years after it arrived in Belgium, Bolt draws a very positive balance that reflects the image of urban mobility in […]
April 22, 2025
Brussels Airport will invest half a billion euros in infrastructure to accommodate the passenger growth expected in the coming years. The project involves the construction of a new intermodal hub, an expansion of the departure and arrival hall, a new hotel, a new drop-off zone, and a green boulevard with a park. The investment is […]
April 18, 2025
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn has long planned to deploy self-driving buses, but the plans just don’t seem to be getting off the ground. For example, a pilot project was underway in Leuven. However, the tendering procedure for the framework contract appears to have been put on hold. The ambition to have an […]
April 18, 2025
The Belgian Council of State has suspended the public railroad company NMBS/SNCB’s decision to designate Spanish CAF as the preferred bidder for purchasing new trainsets. The decision came after co-bidder Alstom went to court to ask for it to be suspended. The Council judges that NMBS/SNCB has not been sufficiently transparent in its decision. As […]
April 17, 2025
According to the Central Bureau for Statistics (Centraal Bureeau voor de Statistiek, CBS), in the Netherlands, 675 people died in a traffic accident last year, among them 246 cyclists. Almost half of them (44%) rode an electric bicycle, and most (60%) died from head injuries. Cyclists form the largest group of road fatalities. It mainly […]
April 17, 2025
Staff of the Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB were victims of aggression 2,102 times in 2024. That’s about 200 fewer reports of aggression compared to the previous year, but it still equates to staff being victims of aggression an average of nearly six times a day. The figures are down from 2023 and 2022 (1,900 […]
April 17, 2025
In Northern California, hackers have manipulated pedestrian lights’ audio to mock Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. Instead of the usual ‘walk’ or ‘wait’ audio instructions that emanate from the crosswalk speakers, pedestrians hear seemingly deepfake recordings, mocking some of the titans who preside over the tech world. A series of viral videos posted […]
April 17, 2025
At the New York International Auto Show, the World Car of the Year and other winners in different categories were revealed. The overall winner is the Kia EV3, chosen by 96 international automotive journalists from 30 countries out of 52 contenders. This is Kia’s second consecutive World Car of the Year win and the third […]
April 17, 2025
American ride-hailing platform Lyft is buying the taxi app FreeNow from German luxury car brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The Uber competitor is paying 175 million euros for this and wants to use it as a lever to enter Europe under its own name. Lyft is primarily a ride-hailing platform that connects passengers with drivers through […]
April 16, 2025
China has ordered its airlines to stop taking further deliveries from Boeing, the US manufacturer that, along with Airbus, ranks as one of the world’s largest aircraft producers. This reports news agency Bloomberg. This is a retaliatory measure in the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump. Beijing has also asked Chinese airlines to […]
April 15, 2025
Energy company Engie has started constructing a solar park on its site in Rodenhuize, the peninsula in the port of Ghent that already houses three wind turbines and an ultra-fast charging station for EVs. Starting this summer, the installation will produce about 5.7 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity annually, enough for the average consumption of […]
April 14, 2025
As already known, the Belgian railroad company NMBS/SNCB must save over 675 million euros from the new government. But now the business newspaper L’Echo/De Tijd is also publishing more detailed figures on what those savings must look like year by year. This year, the railroads must save 50 million euros from the De Wever government. […]
April 14, 2025
In a radiation protection study commissioned by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV), all electric cars analyzed complied with the recommendations for protection against the health effects of magnetic fields. According to the researchers, people are not generally exposed to stronger magnetic fields in […]
April 11, 2025
The Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB is introducing a flexible parking subscription, an initiative that aims to respond mainly to commuters who regularly work from home and thus do not take the train to work every day. With this, NMBS/SNCB wants to capitalize on the success of telecommuting, which is now well established in the […]
April 10, 2025
Belgian private drivers are avoiding electric vehicles. They cite cost, lack of infrastructure, and doubts about sustainability, even as the country embraces broader changes in mobility trends. According to the 2025 Mobility Barometer by insurer Europ Assistance, 62 percent of respondents say their next car won’t be electric, a 10 percent increase from last year. […]
April 09, 2025
Not a week goes by now, so to speak, without a new competitor to the Eurostar being announced. Now, the Italian rail group Ferrovie dello Stato also wants to run high-speed trains between London and Paris via the Channel Tunnel by 2029. It has planned an investment of one billion euros for this purpose. It […]
April 09, 2025
The Auditor of the Council of State advises to suspend the decision of Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB on the order of new trains. This is what the public broadcaster VRT writes on its website. NMBS/SNCB chose Spanish company CAF as the preferred bidder to build hundreds of new trains, an order worth 3.4 billion […]
April 09, 2025
What kind of drivetrain will we choose for our next car? Plain-old gasoline, hybrid, or electric? It’s often a question about actual needs, economics, and practicality, which most families wrestle with. In reality, 44% of family drivers have no idea of their mobility profile, and a third don’t even know how much their current car […]
April 08, 2025
According to the International Energy Agency’s latest report, transport in Germany is a significant obstacle to the country’s green energy transition, still accounting for 95% of all transport emissions. IEA experts identified transport as “the largest emitting sector in Germany” and thus a key area for additional focus. The IEA report highlights how Germany has […]
April 08, 2025
Urban focus, one seat, and no emissions from a battery driveline are the main features of the Mibot from KG Motors. This Japanese start-up wants to reinvent electric mobility by lifting the kei car into a new era. The dimensions are so small that the vehicle fits into a panel van. Japan must cope with […]
April 08, 2025
Ombudsrail, the Belgian ombudsman service for rail passengers, was contacted 4,154 times last year, up 7.6% from 2023. On that basis, 1,089 files were opened, accounting for 2,344 complaints – one file can contain several complaints. Seven out of ten complaints in this regard were filed in Dutch. Together with even older complaints, just over […]
April 07, 2025
This year, Limburg celebrates the 30th anniversary of the cycle route network—one of the province’s main attractions. Recent research by Visit Limburg confirms that cycling in Limburg is popular not only with the Limburgers themselves but also with cyclists from far beyond the provincial borders. Visit Limburg’s study shows that 90% of cyclists are delighted […]
April 07, 2025
French train builder Alstom is planning a significant expansion in France. The company plans to invest 150 million euros and recruit at least 1,000 people this year. The investments and hiring are coming to meet the increased demand for high-speed trains. The plan is to start a new production line at Alstom’s Valenciennes plant. At […]
April 07, 2025
Kia Corporation and LG Electronics announced a partnership to collaborate on implementing mobility space solutions based on the PBV (Platform Beyond Vehicle) technology. The companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Kia pavilion at the 2025 Seoul Mobility Show. They unveiled concept models for mobile work and recreational spaces incorporating advanced home appliances […]
April 07, 2025
According to charging station operator MobilityPlus, a quarter of all employees with an electric car hardly ever charge their company car at home. Nevertheless, employees with electric company cars usually have a charging station at home. But most fear that charging at home will drive up their energy bill. MobilityPlus discovered that 26 percent of […]
April 07, 2025
In March 2025, 40,184 new passenger cars were registered –10% fewer than in the same month last year. The decline continued throughout the first quarter, from -13% in January to -8.1% in February. It is striking that the share of private buyers in the first quarter was approximately 10% higher than last year, possibly due […]
April 04, 2025
The Antwerp shipping company, Flandria, has a new attraction: the Oosterweel Cruise. From April 12th, the Easter holidays, tourists can register for a boat trip along the Oosterweel works, often called “the largest road project of the century.” The tour lasts three hours, and visitors are guided via the Asiadok and the Royersluis to the […]
April 04, 2025
Rehabilitation physicians at UZ Ghent want a bicycle helmet to become mandatory in Belgium. After all, less than a third of Belgians (29%) wear a bicycle helmet, but out of the nearly four in ten victims of injury accidents involving bicycles and speed pedelecs who ended up in a Belgian hospital in 2023 had a […]
April 03, 2025
Irish airline Ryanair ended its fiscal year with a record: for the first time in its history, it rounded the 200 million passenger mark. The airline says it is the first time a European airline has done so. Based on passenger figures, Lufthansa, which includes Brussels Airlines, is the number two airline in Europe. That […]
April 03, 2025
The almost free subscriptions the previous Walloon government introduced for public transport were not an unqualified success. More season tickets were sold, but validation on the buses and trams decreased. “If this price reduction does not encourage the use of public transport, where is the problem?” Minister of Mobility, François Desquesnes (Les Engagés), wonders. The […]
April 03, 2025
As a symbol for Europe’s rapidly evolving EV infrastructure, four of the continent’s leading charging operators—Fastned, Electra, Atlante, and IONITY—have joined forces to create Spark Alliance. This strategic partnership must leverage the seamlessness, reliability, and user-friendliness of charging experiences across 25 European countries. However, it also tightens the space for smaller or new competitors. Spark […]
April 02, 2025
Between 2019 and 2023, business flights fell by 34%. That’s according to a new report by the NGO Transport & Environment. However, 44% of the 326 companies in the Travel Smart ranking still have no target applying to business travel, putting overall progress at risk. Especially the disproportionate flying of private jets by large companies […]
April 02, 2025
An international group is acquiring Belgian auto glass group Soliver, also known as AGP. It is not known which international player is involved or how high the bid is. The new owner wants to continue operations in Belgium under a new name and would take over most of the approximately 1,000 employees. Soliver makes auto […]
April 02, 2025
National railway company NMBS/SNCB is not responding to the request from traveler interest group TreinTramBus to compensate season ticket holders for the many strikes of the past weeks with a ‘Sorry Pass.’ TreinTramBus had requested railway company NMBS/SNCB to compensate season ticket holders for February and March with a Sorry Pass for all the recent […]
April 01, 2025
“Eurostar’s London depot could accommodate additional trains if necessary.” With a simple phrase, British rail regulator ORR has cleared the way for more Eurostar competition. Virgin, the group around British billionaire Richard Branson interested in operating a train link between London and continental Europe, said that it welcomed the “green light for competition.” Battle for […]
March 31, 2025
This weekend, the Belgian railroad manager Infrabel slid a 750-ton railroad tunnel under the tracks at the station of Wezemaal, near Rotselaar in Flemish Brabant. The concrete element, 18 meters long, 14 meters wide, and almost 4 meters high, was placed under the tracks via a special metal chute. The tunnel should provide a better […]
March 31, 2025
Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB posted an operating profit, i.e., before interest and tax costs, of 131.6 million euros last year, down 10.6 million euros compared to 2023. The number of passengers rose slightly in 2024 to 245.1 million. “This is an increase for the third year in a row, but the return of commuters […]
March 28, 2025
Europe’s major airlines think that Europe’s ReFuel legislation is not going to succeed in creating the affordable market for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that is promised. They said this at a press conference in Brussels. They fear there will not be enough production. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report, released on Thursday, predicts a shortfall […]
March 28, 2025
The entrance to the new Antwerp Scheldt tunnel on the left bank is ready. It is a colossus of 85,000 m³ of concrete and 19,000 tons of steel. After more than three years of preparation and intensive construction work, the essential parts of the Scheldt Tunnel are ready. Everything is prepared now to place the […]
March 27, 2025
Poppy Mobility, D’Ieteren’s provider of shared mobility services in Antwerp, Brussels, and Belgian airports, plans to install smoke detectors in its cars to combat cigarette smell. Poppy wants to prevent smoking in its cars. The company’s goal is clear: to keep their fleet fresh and clean for everyone. “When smoke is detected, the system will […]
March 26, 2025
By the end of 2030, a uniform digital mobile driver’s license will be recognized in all Member States. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU Member States agreed on this during the night from Monday to Tuesday. Why a digital driver’s license? There are currently more than a hundred types of driver’s licenses in […]
March 25, 2025
After Virgin Trains and Spain’s Evolyn, another candidate has come forward with plans to run passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel: British Gemini Trains. There is no timescale yet for when Eurostar’s new potential competitor plans to run services between London and continental Europe, particularly Paris and Brussels, although other media are talking about 2029. […]
March 25, 2025
Paris residents voted in a referendum on Sunday to make hundreds of streets car-free. With this measure, the left-wing city council wants to reduce car use further, improve air quality, and increase the quality of life in the French capital. However, turnout was low: barely 4% of the 1.4 million residents bothered to vote. Two-thirds […]
March 25, 2025
On May 27th, Hasselt University will award an honorary doctorate to Hugo Bollen, the inventor of the walking and cycling node network. Hugo Bollen, a former engineer at the Kempen Coal Mines (Kempische Steenkoolmijnen), came up with the now widespread cycling and walking junction network years ago. The doctorate is a recognition of his essential […]
March 24, 2025
According to the Progress Report on the Programmatic Approach to Nitrogen, nitrogen oxide emissions in Flanders have fallen by 35 percent between 2015 and 2022, and ammonia emissions have fallen by 9 percent in those seven years. Environment Minister Jo Brouns presented the report on Friday, March 21st. Nitrogen oxides (80%) mainly come from the […]
March 24, 2025
Brussels Airport is adding six new destinations to its network this summer, starting on March 30th. These destinations are both within Europe and intercontinental. Passengers will be able to fly directly from Brussels Airport to 180 destinations offered by 68 airlines. Some new summer destinations, such as Curaçao (TUI fly) and Bangkok (Thai Airways International), […]
March 22, 2025
With 540,356 bikes sold, bicycle sales in Belgium have declined for the second consecutive year. Mobility federation Traxio Velo announced this at the Bike Brussels trade fair opening at Tour & Taxis, which runs until Sunday. However, this slight 4.75% drop isn’t necessarily a cause for concern, says Frank Glorieux, General Secretary of Traxio Velo. […]
March 21, 2025
North Sea Port, the cross-border port area between Vlissingen (the Netherlands) and Ghent (Belgium), has installed a new jetty with shore power. Ships arriving in Ghent must now dock here. With this investment, North Sea Port strengthens its position as a European sustainable port. The sustainable jetty, located at the head of the Grootdok, is […]
