Rail traffic in and around Ghent’s Sint-Pieters Station was severely disrupted this morning after the discovery of a bomb dating from the war. Workers encountered the device during planned digging work overnight.
The army bomb squad DOVO attended the scene and quickly disarmed the device allowing rail traffic to resume at 6AM, but that didn’t mean all services then ran on time!
“The bomb dating from the war was discovered around 2:30AM during planned digging work” explains Frédéric Petit of rail track company Infrabel. “The bomb was found near track heading for Brussels, some 300 metres from the platforms”.
The digging work forms part of renovation work at the station. The find meant virtually all traffic was suspended early this morning.
“Before 6AM no rail traffic from Brussels to Ghent was possible. Trains were diverted via Kortrijk-Denderleeuw. Some services were cancelled. Others started from Melle Station with replacement buses from Ghent-Sint-Pieters” says Petit.
After DOVO dismantled the device services resumed at 5:50AM. “Disruption to services this morning is not too bad. Most services are operating with an average delay of 5 minutes. Some services have been cancelled. Redirected trains are suffering 45-minute delays” says Petit, who urges the travelling public to consult the NMBS app for the latest train information.