A judge has ruled in favor of a resident living near the Lokeren station in a complaint about noise pollution from diesel trains left idling while on standby there. As a result of the ruling, the Belgian railway company NMBS\/SNCB must adjust its schedule for trains serving Lokeren, the Ghent region, and Ronse, and vice versa.<\/p>\n
Specifically, the court has prohibited NMBS\/SNCB from keeping diesel trains on standby at the station before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. This immediately affects the train schedule during those times, particularly for the S53 line, which runs between Lokeren and Ronse, because part of the route between Ronse and De Pinte lacks overhead wires, preventing electric trains from operating there.<\/p>\n
For example, at Ghent-Dampoort, there will be only four trains per hour to and from Ghent-Sint-Pieters instead of five; at Lokeren, three instead of four; and at Gentbrugge, only one train per hour in each direction instead of two.<\/p>\n
Beervelde will retain one connection per hour because NMBS\/SNCB is having the Ostend-Antwerp IC train stop there; otherwise there would be no trains left there at all following the cancellation of the diesel train.<\/p>\n
The railway company emphasizes that the change, which, for commuters from the Ghent area who must transfer at Ghent-Sint-Pieters to continue to Ghent-Dampoort, means a 25-minute transfer in time, for example, is temporary and that it is working on a permanent solution.<\/p>\n
“NMBS\/SCNB is doing everything possible to implement this as quickly as possible, so that the temporary reduction in train service can be kept to a minimum,” says the spokesperson.\u00a0In the longer term, starting in 2031, replacing diesel trains with modern electric trains and battery-powered trains should solve the problem.<\/p>\n
The NMBS\/SNCB has 96 MW41 trainsets built, but due to damage, only about 93 of them are still in service. After sitting idle overnight, the trainsets often have difficulty starting up or won’t start at all. As a solution, the NMBS\/SCNB keeps them running all night or starts them up very early in the morning, which is precisely what causes the noise pollution.<\/p>\n
Residents of Geraardsbergen, for example, have long complained that diesel trains have been idling as early as 4 a.m. to stay warm. Currently, there are still five non-electrified lines in East Flanders on which the MW41 operates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A judge has ruled in favor of a resident living near the Lokeren station in a complaint about noise pollution from diesel trains left idling while on standby there. As a result of the ruling, the Belgian railway company NMBS\/SNCB must adjust its schedule for trains serving Lokeren, the Ghent region, and Ronse, and vice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":192103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\r\n\r\n{excerpt}\r\n\r\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[77170,25,7,26,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belgium","category-legislation","category-mobility","category-public-transport","category-top-stories-today"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=2048%2C1363&ssl=1",2048,1363,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1",640,426,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1",640,426,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=1536%2C1022&ssl=1",1536,1022,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=2048%2C1363&ssl=1",2048,1363,true],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=18%2C12&ssl=1",18,12,true],"related-thumb":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,true],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=400%2C400&ssl=1",400,400,true],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1",600,600,true],"mailchimp":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?fit=560%2C373&ssl=1",560,373,true],"unipress-phone":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=640%2C100&ssl=1",640,100,true],"unipress-tablet":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=1536%2C240&ssl=1",1536,240,true],"unipress-tablet-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=1536%2C180&ssl=1",1536,180,true],"unipress-tablet-landscape":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=2048%2C180&ssl=1",2048,180,true],"unipress-smartphone":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=1080%2C168&ssl=1",1080,168,true],"unipress-wide-screen":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/485655957_1076033587884494_6554247486152253629_n.png?resize=2048%2C180&ssl=1",2048,180,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"
A judge has ruled in favor of a resident living near the Lokeren station in a complaint about noise pollution from diesel trains left idling while on standby there. As a result of the ruling, the Belgian railway company NMBS\/SNCB must adjust its schedule for trains serving Lokeren, the Ghent region, and Ronse, and vice versa. Specifically, the court has prohibited NMBS\/SNCB from keeping diesel trains on standby at the station before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. This immediately affects the train schedule during those times, particularly for the S53 line, which runs between Lokeren and Ronse, because part…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Belgium<\/a>, Legislation<\/a>, Mobility<\/a>, Public transport<\/a>, Top Stories Today<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Luc Joris","url":"https:\/\/newmobility.news\/en\/author\/belga-5\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n