The SNCB board of directors reconfirms its train offer for 2025, the railway company said on Friday.
At the beginning of September, the ambition to strengthen SNCB’s rail offering was partly revised downwards, due in particular to a shortage of train drivers. The outgoing Minister of Mobility, Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), canceled this decision, and the file returned to SNCB.
The latter now confirms the postponement of the extension of its train offer and asks the minister to submit his decision for approval by the Council of Ministers “as soon as possible”.
Planned as part of the 2023-2026 Transport Plan, this new rail offer will come into force on December 15, 2024, indicates SNCB. It will represent an additional 2% growth in the number of train-km (i.e. the distance traveled in kilometers multiplied by the number of trips), in addition to the 1% extension already implemented in 2024.
Return to service of 220 trains
This increase will be supplemented by the return to service of 220 trains which had been temporarily withdrawn from service since 2022, due to a significant staff shortage following the health crisis.
However, in the initial plan presented by SNCB, 2,000 more trains should have run per week by the end of 2026, covering 7.4% additional kilometers.
Faced with the SNCB’s decision, the Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet indicates “regrets the absence of firmer commitments for the future, since the increase in the supply of trains is at the heart of the Public Service Contract and that SNCB has received substantial new resources to improve the quality of the offer for travelers”.
Mr. Gilkinet also expresses his concern “concerning the impact on travelers of the modification of the reference transport offer decided today.”
The Consultative Committee of Rail Passengers (CCVF), made up of representatives of unions, employers and “representative members of train users” (young people, seniors, League of Families, etc.), urges the railway company to implement the expansion of the train offer immediately. “The postponement to 2027 (or later) jeopardizes the ambition of 30% growth in the number of travelers by 2032,” regrets the committee.
The CCVF also asks the negotiators of the new federal government to ensure that the SNCB has the necessary means to achieve this growth in the number of passengers.
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