Nationwide three-day strike disrupts Belgian and international transport
Today marks the first day of a three-day national strike in Belgium, with public transport bearing the brunt of the disruption. Local services have been severely impacted, and there have been significant delays to international rail traffic. The action, organised by the country’s major trade unions, is targeting the federal government’s policy agenda.
At the national railway operator, SNCB/NMBS, a three-day walkout began on Sunday at 22:00. In collaboration with infrastructure manager Infrabel, the operator has implemented a reduced timetable based on staff who have confirmed that they will report for duty.
The impact is most severe on Monday and Tuesday, with only half of IC trains and one-third of L and S trains available. Peak-hour services will remain limited throughout the strike. Rail services are expected to improve slightly by Wednesday, the final day of the strike. On that day, three out of five InterCity (IC) services and two out of five local L-services and suburban S-services will operate.
Cross-border services
The strike is also disrupting cross-border services. High-speed operator Eurostar is running all trains between Brussels and Lille, as well as between London and Paris. However, only half of the trains between Brussels and Paris are running. Services between Brussels and Amsterdam and between Amsterdam and London are operating at around 75 per cent capacity. Only one in five Eurostar services from Brussels to Germany are running.
The high-speed ICE services between Brussels, Cologne and Frankfurt are experiencing fewer delays. According to the SNCB/NMBS international service notice, all trains are running but are being rerouted and departing 20 minutes earlier from Brussels-South, Brussels-North and Liège-Guillemins.
Most TGV Inoui services are operating as normal, although some terminate at Lille Europe instead of continuing to Belgium. Two round trips between Brussels and Nantes have been cancelled. All scheduled Ouigo Brussels–Paris trains are running.
The EuroCity Direct service between Brussels and Amsterdam has been significantly reduced, with only six of the usual sixteen daily trains running in each direction from Monday to Wednesday. On the EuroCity Brussels–Rotterdam route, eleven out of sixteen trains operate on Monday, followed by nine out of sixteen on Tuesday and Wednesday. All services are being rerouted via Roosendaal, which is extending travel times and requiring an amended timetable.
Bus operator De Lijn expects disruption levels to be similar on Tuesday to those seen on Monday, with only 50 to 60 per cent of scheduled services running across Flanders. The cities of Antwerp and Ghent are more severely affected.
The worst disruption is anticipated in West Flanders, where only around 50 per cent of services are expected to run. Antwerp and East Flanders are expected to reach 55 per cent, Limburg 60 per cent, and Flemish Brabant 65 per cent. In the metropolitan areas of Antwerp and Ghent, fewer than half of all services are expected to operate.
The three major unions — ABVV, ACV and ACLVB — called for a three-day strike targeting government policy. They have scheduled rail action for Monday 24 November, a strike across all public services on Tuesday and a nationwide strike across all sectors on Wednesday. In addition to the three-day rail strike, the unions have urged workers at public transport operators De Lijn, MIVB and TEC to join the walkout for all three days.
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