From this coming Friday the opening hours of the ticket offices at almost all the country’s railway stations will change. From 1 March opening hours will remain the same at just 4 stations.
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All change at Belgium’s railway stations
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From the start of next month, the ticket officers will no longer be open during the weekend at 33 stations. These include Aalter (East Flanders), De Panne, Ieper, Waregem (all West Flanders), Diest (Flemish Brabant), Genk and Sint-Truiden (both Limburg) and Geel (Antwerp Province). At other stations such as Denderleeuw and Oudeaarde (both East Flanders) and Halle (Flemish Brabant) the ticket offices will no longer be open on Sundays.
In addition to this the ticket offices at stations in many stations in smaller and medium sized towns will only be open in the mornings from 1 March. From Friday Brussels South will become the only station in the country with a ticket office that is staffed after 8pm. The ticket offices at larger stations such as Anwerp Central, Brussels North, Gent Saint Peter’s and Leuven will be open or 2 hours less on weekdays than is currently the case.
Big increase in digital sales
The Belgian rail company NMBS says that it is making the changes as fewer and fewer rail tickets are being sold over the counter. Currently only around one in ten tickets are sold from ticket offices. In 2015 this was half.
However, no further stations will lose their ticket offices all together and waiting room will remain open. There will also still be staff on hand to offer assistance to people with mobility issues.