Federal minister wants to replace low-profit rail lines with buses

Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts has criticised a proposal from his federal counterpart, Jacqueline Galant, to close down unprofitable rail routes and replace them with buses. 

Weyts said he was fully in favour of more collaboration between rail authority NMBS/SNCB and Flemish public transport company De Lijn. “But keeping profitable lines within the NMBS and dumping the rest on De Lijn is not my idea of co-operation,” he said. “In many places, the NMBS/SNCB and De Lijn are virtually competitors. Some bus and train links run almost literally side by side. That’s of no use to anyone. If we were to work together on transport options, both authorities could benefit. That would allow us to save money and at the same time improve the public transport on offer.”

At present, however, co-operation was not working in both directions, he said. “The NMBS/SNCB recently brought out its new timetable, without a word of discussion with De Lijn or with the Flemish government,” he said. “In the end, we now have to adapt our timetable to that of the NMBS/SNCB, which amounts to a completely missed opportunity.”

Weyts was joined in his criticism by the public transport users’ organisation TreinTramBus. “Galant’s proposal is unacceptable,” said spokesperson Jan Vanseveren. “Galant said earlier that saving on the NMBS would not affect passengers. She appears to have been mistaken.”

Vanseveren also pointed out that low-occupancy trains were already cancelled in December 2012, with more cancellations to come in December this year. “What remains are trains with 30 to 40 passengers, which is not a low occupancy as far as we’re concerned. We worry that the attraction of public transport will be reduced.”

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