High-speed train service between Brussels and Basel from July 2027
From early July 2027, Brussels will have a direct high-speed rail link to the Swiss city of Basel. This will be an extension of the existing TGV Inoui high-speed service between Brussels and the French city of Strasbourg.
The TGV Inoui high-speed link between Brussels and the French city of Strasbourg is jointly operated by the French railway company SNCF and Belgium’s national rail operator SNCB/NMBS. This service will be extended to Basel on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with one train per day in each direction. This will be done in collaboration with the Swiss operator SBB. “It is a pilot project designed to gauge demand for travel between Brussels and Basel,” stated the SNCB.
The TGV Inoui will depart from Brussels around 7 am and arrive in Basel around 12.30 pm. In the opposite direction, the train will depart from Basel at around 2 pm and arrive in Brussels at around 7 pm. The intermediate stops in France are the same as on the current Brussels-Strasbourg service: Lille-Europe, Roissy Aéroport CDG TGV, Champagne-Ardenne TGV, Meuse TGV, Lorraine TGV and Strasbourg.
There is currently no direct train service between Brussels and Switzerland but there are several routes in the pipeline. For instance, night train operator European Sleeper plans to run services from Brussels to Switzerland (and on to the Italian city of Milan) from September. These night trains will not stop in Basel in Switzerland, but at places such as Lugano. And Eurostar has announced a high-speed train service between Brussels and Geneva, but this will not be introduced for several years.
TGV Inoui train at the Grenoble station © PHOTO HANSLUCASCOLLECTION / Laure Boyer
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