the new plan will come into force

Several trains will be abolished from the introduction of SNCB's 2019 transport plan, on 9 December, due to work carried out on the network. Stations will no longer be served on certain lines and schedules will be changed, says Monday the railway company in a statement. But there is also some good news for some travelers.

On the Antwerp-Brussels-Nivelles / Charleroi line, the last two S1 trains during the week will be limited to Brussels-Midi because of the RER project. They will therefore no longer serve the stations of Forest-East, Uccle-Stalle, Uccle-Calevoet, Linkebeek, Holleken, Rhode-Saint-Genèse, De Hoek, Waterloo, Braine-L'Alleud, Lille, Nivelles and Obaix-Buzet, binding travelers to turn to the Stib or TECs.

These trains will be diverted and will serve from Charleroi-Sud via Luttre, Courcelles-Motte, Roux and Marchienne-au-Pont. On weekends, it will be the same for the last train S1 Antwerp-Central (22h05) -Brussels-Midi (23h21) -Charleroi, but only via Luttre and Marchienne-au-Pont.

Until August 2020, the last two IC Brussels-Namur-Luxembourg trains will no longer be able to travel beyond Libramont. These trains will no longer serve the stations of Marbehan, Arlon and Luxembourg.

The departure time of certain IC, S and L trains will have to be adapted between Liers and Liège-Guillemins and between Liège-Guillemins and Marloie. S41 Verviers-Central-Herstal trains will be temporarily limited to Liège-Guillemins, where a connection is planned in 9 minutes to the center of Liège and Liers.

The departure time of L Libramont-Athus-Arlon and Athus-Luxembourg trains is adapted every Monday for maintenance work. It will be different from the rest of the week.

One Thursday a month between 8:40 am and 3:20 pm, work will result in the replacement of all trains by buses between Mons and Quévy, in both directions.

There will be some good news, however, which will also apply from 9 December, stresses SNCB.

Thus, the frequency of S2 Braine-le-Comte-Brussels-Louvain will be doubled in each direction on Saturday, a train every 30 minutes.

On weekdays, the S41 Liège-Guillemins-Verviers-Central relationship (Angleur, Chênée, Chaudfontaine, Trooz, Fraipont, Nessonvaux and Pepinster) will be reinforced by two new trains in rush hour (one in the morning, one in the evening).

The end of the work will allow the full recovery of L Spa-Géronstère-Verviers trains-Central-Aachen.

Finally, as announced recently, the entry into force of the new transport plan will mark the return to service of the connection between Paris and Namur, Charleroi and Mons.

For ease, travelers are invited to consult the SNCB's communication channels (application, site) to see the changes that affect them.

HERE IS THE COMMUNIQUE OF SNCB WHICH REPRESENTS ALL THE ADAPTATIONS

A large part of the adaptations to the Transport Plan is in fact due to the numerous infrastructural works carried out by Infrabel, forcing SNCB to have to cut certain routes over several sections, which it strongly regrets because of the impact on the movements of its travelers. SNCB invites them to consult its travel planner on its website or via the SNCB app in order to become aware of any adaptations that concern them.

Infrabel's infrastructure works impacting SNCB's offer

SNCB is obliged to make a number of changes from 9 December. In general, and because of the organization of this work, many adaptations schedules (advanced trains, delayed, deflected or even deleted) are planned. The major adaptations are:

–
Brussels – Nivelles – Charleroi

Following the restart of the RER infrastructure works between Brussels and Nivelles, Infrabel asked to limit the last two trains S1 Antwerp – Brussels – Nivelles / Charleroi of the day in Brussels-Midi until 2025. They will therefore no longer serve the stations of Forest-Est, Uccle-Stalle, Uccle-Calevoet, Linkebeek, Holleken, Sint-Genesius-Rode, De Hoek, Waterloo, Braine-L'Alleud, Lille, Nivelles and Obaix-Buzet. Travelers to Forest-East, Uccle-Stalle, Uccle-Calevoet and Linkebeek will have the opportunity to reach their destination by using the services of STIB and those traveling to Waterloo or Braine-L'Alleud will be able to borrow the TEC W bus to reach their destination.

The two trains will be diverted to serve Luttre, Courcelles-Motte, Roux, Marchienne-au-Pont and Charleroi-Sud stations and will therefore circulate via another route.

On weekends, the last train S1 Antwerp-Central (22h05) – Brussels-Midi (23h21) – Charleroi will also be hijacked and will stop at Luttre, Marchienne-au-Pont and Charleroi-Sud. 2

Departure time of trains IC Antwerp-Central – Charleroi-Sud will be adapted between Charleroi-Sud and Nivelles, in both directions throughout the day.

– Antwerp – Mol – Hamont

Following electrification works on line 19 between Mol and Hamont, the last three trains IC Antwerp – Mol – Hamont will not travel beyond Mol until December 2020 and will no longer serve the Lommel, Overpelt, Neerpelt and Hamont stations. Of these three trains, two will be replaced by buses between Mol and Hamont.

– Brussels-Midi – Ottignies – Namur – Arlon – Luxembourg

Until August 2020, the last two trains IC Brussels – Namur – Luxembourg will no longer be able to travel beyond Libramont. These trains will no longer serve the stations of Marbehan, Arlon and Luxembourg.

– Namur – Liège-Saint-Lambert – Liers

The departure time of certain IC, S and L trains must be adapted between Liers and Liège-Guillemins and between Liège-Guillemins and Marloie. S41 Verviers-Central – Herstal trains will be temporarily limited to Liège-Guillemins where a connection is scheduled in 9 minutes to the city center of Liège and Liers.

– Libramont – Athus

As part of the recurring maintenance work on the Infrabel network, the departure time of L Libramont – Athus – Arlon and Athus – Luxembourg trains is adapted every Monday. Monday departure times will be different from those of the rest of the week.

– Mons – Quévy

One Thursday a month between 8:40 am and 3:20 pm, following work, all trains will be replaced by buses between Mons and Quévy, in both directions.

– Ronse – Oudenaarde

One Thursday a month between 9 am and 3 pm, following recurring maintenance work, all trains will be replaced by buses between Ronse and Oudenaarde, in both directions.

Positive Transport Plan Adaptations for Travelers and Catering on Many Relationships of the Normal Transportation Plan

Notwithstanding the many impacts for its pbadengers as detailed above, SNCB has also been able to make improvements and reinforcements of its offer. With this in mind, the following adaptations will come into effect on December 9th:

Set up of new S2 trains Braine-le-Comte – Brussels – Leuven

On Saturdays, the frequency of S2 Braine-le-Comte – Brussels – Leuven trains will be doubled in each direction. These trains will run every 30 minutes, instead of a 3

times every hour as now. The duplication of this relationship on Saturdays entails the following adaptations:

– The relationship IC Binche – Brussels – Antwerp-Central will be divided into two parts: Part IC Binche – Brussels – Schaerbeek and part IC Brussels-Midi – Antwerp-Central.

– The relationship IC Braine-L'Alleud – Brussels Airport-Zaventem – Leuven will no longer stop at Kortenberg or Herent. On Saturdays, these stations will be served by the new S2 Braine-le-Comte – Leuven.

– Verviers-Central – Liege-Guillemins

During the week, the relationship S41 Liège-Guillemins – Verviers-Central will be reinforced by two new trains in rush hour (one in the morning, one in the evening). These S41 trains connect Liège-Guillemins to Verviers-Central via Angleur, Chênée, Chaudfontaine, Trooz, Fraipont, Nessonvaux and Pepinster.

Following the completion of work between Pepinster and Verviers-Central, L Spa-Géronstère trains – Verviers-Central – Aachen will again circulate fully, as provided by the Transport Plan, between Spa-Géronstère and Aachen, so it will no longer be necessary to change trains. The service of Verviers-Palais returns to its normal level. As a result, the IC Ostend – Brussels – Eupen trains will no longer stop at Pepinster and IC Courtrai – Brussels – Welkenraedt trains will no longer stop at Dolhain-Gileppe.

New connections from Namur, Charleroi and Mons to the Hauts-de-France and Paris region

From 9 December, the cities of Namur and Charleroi, on the one hand, and Mons, on the other hand, will be connected to Paris via the Hauts-de-France Region, respectively via Maubeuge and Aulnoye-Aymeries. The IC (Namur – Charleroi-South – Maubeuge & Mons – Aulnoye-Aymeries) trains will run twice a day in each direction, for weekdays and weekends. Each train is in correspondence with a train from / to Paris-Nord SNCF.