Belgian rail to launch tenders for 2,500 EV-chargers at stations

The Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB will call for tenders this fall for the rollout of a large network of charging stations in its station car parks, reports the business newspaper De Tijd/L’Echo.

The NMBS/SNCB charging station network is not extensive at the moment. The railroad company has 522 stations with parking facilities totaling 75,000 parking spaces. However, only 35 station car parks currently operate a charging infrastructure. This is done by the Dutch charging station company Allego, based on a concession concluded in 2020.

European obligation

A European obligation will become effective in 2025. It mandates installing charging points in parking lots of certain existing buildings. The obligations result from the European Directive’s transposition on buildings’ energy performance and are necessary to support the transition to zero-emission transport.

Therefore, according to De Tijd, NMBS/SNCB should provide at least 194 charging points in station car parks in Flanders and Brussels as of January 1. Wallonia has not translated this obligation into legislation.

Discount for train pass holders

The railroad company is counting on the activity to bring in extra money. The charging network of NMBS/SNCB station car parks charges at a standard rate of 0.45 EUR/kWh. However, after registering their MOBIB card, owners of a valid train pass can charge at a reduced rate of 0.41 EUR/kWh.

At the end of May, Flanders had 46,000 public charging points. By 2030, that should rise to at least 100,000, or one public charging station for every 10 EVs. About three-quarters of the charging points are in Flanders, compared to 13% in Wallonia and 10% in the Brussels Capital Region.

From 2025, EVs must have fast-charging stations every 60 km along European roads. Buses and trucks should also have charging stations every 120 km. By 2030, there must be one hydrogen filling station every 200 km. The European Council has laid that down in legislation.