Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper): On December 15, 2023, NMBS and Dutch Railways (NS) will launch the Eurocity Direct service, offering 16 daily trains from Brussels to Amsterdam, cutting travel time by 45 minutes. Ticket prices range from €25 to €64.10. Concerns arise over reduced local train services in Belgium, with only three trains per hour between Antwerp and Brussels.
In August 2023, NMBS and Dutch Railways (NS) announced that they would change the Benelux train service. Starting at the end of this year, there will be two train connections, each with sixteen trains a day. A new fast train called Eurocity Direct will run from Brussels-South to Amsterdam-South, stopping only at Antwerp-Central, Rotterdam-Central, and Schiphol, and it will be 45 minutes faster than the current service. The existing Eurocity train will still run but will only go from Brussels-South to Rotterdam-Central, with stops at several places including Brussels-Central and Antwerp-Central.
What changes will the new Eurocity direct train bring for Brussels passengers?
Starting December 15, NMBS and NS will launch a new train service, and tickets are now available. The Eurocity Direct train from Brussels to Amsterdam will cost between 25 and 64.1 euros, while tickets to Rotterdam will be from 13.1 to 32.7 euros. NMBS tickets are still valid for travel within Belgium on the Eurocity, but not on the Eurocity Direct. NS is testing new trains for this service. However, the group Trein TramBus is concerned because, even though there will be more trains between Belgium and the Netherlands, there will be fewer trains within Belgium. From December 15, there will only be three trains per hour between Antwerp and Brussels instead of four.
In the Netherlands, people can take the Eurocity Direct train, but in Belgium, NMBS won’t let Belgian passengers use it from Antwerp to Brussels. Meukens is confused and thinks this will cause problems because trains are already full. NMBS said they asked for train schedules for December 2024 but didn’t get the schedule for the IC22 train from Brussels to Antwerp due to no space on the tracks. Starting in December, there will be a new train service between Brussels and Paris for the Olympics. It used to be called Eurocity, but it’s unclear whether this name is permanent.
