Belgium Railway Information

Trains in Belgium are operated by NMBS (Dutch) and SNCB (Belgium) or also know as the Belgian Railways.

NMBS/SNCB is a government owned railway founded in 1926 and in 2008 year carried 207 million passengers on its trains.

Train Service

There are several types of train that will take you to your destination in a day.

Trains have 1st and 2nd class seats.

Some international trains running through Beligium have a restaurant car and others a mobile mini-bar offering hot and cold drinks, snacks and a range of light meals.

Domestic connections:

The Belgian Railways provide services between many major stations with Belgium including:

Journey times:

Journeys by train in Belgium can be quite fast. 

Some journey times are:

International train connections

The Belgian railway (NMBS/SNCB) has direct rail connections to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Germany.

Connections to Amsterdam in the Netherlands are available hourly on normal trains.

Connection between Brussels and Paris are only available on Thalys trains and reservations are required.

Connections between Brussels and London in Great Britain are also available on Eurostar for which a compulsory reservation is required. This special Passholder Reservation is available to anyone holding an Interrail Global, or Interrail One Country Benelux, France or Great Britain Pass. Simply contact Eurostar directly on 01233 617 575 to reserve (...and when booking, remember to tell them you have an Interrail Pass so you are given the Passholder reservation rate!)

Facilities and services on trains

Beverages and snacks

High-speed trains: Most of the high speed trains (Eurostar, Thalys, TGV and ICE) have bars serving a wide range of hot and cold drinks, snacks and light meals. The bars on these trains are usually open to all passengers. 

International daytime trains: On some international daytime trains, a minibar is brought through the carriages, offering an assortment of hot and cold drinks, sweets and snacks.

Some ICE trains even have a restaurant car

Bikes on trains

You will able to take your bike on most trains once you have bought a special bike ticket.

For some international trains you will need to make a reservation to be able to board the train with your bike.

Trains do not always have a dedicated space for bikes; you can leave it in the vestibule area or consult the ticket inspector for assistance regarding the storage of your bike.