The Belgian rail company NMBS has made changes to its timetable. The changes take effect from today (Sunday 11 December). Most of the changes impact rail services in Wallonia with only some minor changes having been made to services in Flanders. Also from today the main railway station in Charleroi that as hitherto known as “Charleroi Sud” will be called “Charleroi Central” instead.
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All change on Belgium’s railways
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NMBS has taken the decision to change the name of the main railway station in Charleroi at the request of the city authorities there. It is hoped that the name change will make it clear to rail passengers that this is the station that they need to use if they want to get to the heart of Wallonia’s biggest city quickly. Charleroi Central is also the station passengers need to use if they want to take a bus of taxi to Charleroi Airport. Charleroi also has another, smaller station “Charleroi Quest”.
In addition to the name change in Charleroi, NMBS has also made some minor changes to its timetable. The changes are not major as the rail company has decided to delay any major increase in its services due to the current difficult financial and operational (staff shortages) context in which it finds itself. In a statement released on Sunday the rail company said “The route of some services has been modified, while with other services the timetable has been altered”. The frequency of some services has been increased with stops in more stations. However, elsewhere some services have been scrapped.
On weekdays there will be more “L-train” stopping services between Arlon (Luxembourg Province) and Luxembourg. In future the services will run throughout the day an not only during rush hour.
The direct service between Namur and the northern French town of Maubeuge has been scrapped. There will also be no more cross-border train services to France from Mons (Hainaut). Passengers wishing to travel to France by train will have to travel via Charleroi (also Hainaut).
In Flanders there are only a few minor changes to rail services. Visit the NMBS website or the rail company’s app for more information.