Commuters discover the new timetables and the modified rail offer from SNCB

SNCB and the Dutch railway company NS kicked off on Sunday the expansion of the offer already offered by the two railway companies since 1957: an international high-speed train between the Belgian capital and Amsterdam. “This new connection is in addition to the already existing IC train service (formerly called “InterCity” and which now runs under the name EuroCity Brussels-Rotterdam since Sunday), thus doubling the number of trains to the Netherlands, in collaboration with our colleagues from Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)”, rejoiced the Belgian National Railway Company.

EuroCity Direct reduces travel time between Brussels-Midi and Amsterdam-Zuid by 45 minutes (i.e. a journey time of 2h07 on weekdays and two hours on weekends), and offers around 16 round trips daily. “It stops at Brussels-Midi, Antwerp-Central, Rotterdam-Central, Schiphol airport and Amsterdam-Zuid. The train has more than 400 seats and can accommodate 12 bicycles,” specifies SNCB.

The existing IC connection – henceforth called “EuroCity” – will now stop at Rotterdam-Central. But as before, the train stops at Brussels-Central, Brussels-North, Brussels-Airport – Zaventem, Mechelen, Antwerp-Berchem, Antwerp-Central, Noorderkempen and Breda. All existing stops in Belgium thus retain their connection with the Netherlands.

These trains have more than 430 seats and can accommodate eight bicycles. The price of a EuroCity Direct ticket varies between 25 and 64.1 euros. Tickets for Rotterdam on the EuroCity are available from 13.10 euros. On the EuroCity line, domestic travel remains possible and SNCB tickets are therefore also valid in Belgium. This is not the case on EuroCity Direct.