Belgian train punctuality increased slightly in March this year compared to February 2023, but remains below the 90% threshold.
The information was made public on the Open Data website of Infrabel, Belgium’s rail infrastructure manager.
Last month, 87.9% of trains arrived on time or less than six minutes late at the first station in the Jonction Nord-Midi. This is still lower than last year at the same time (89.9%), but slightly better than in February 2023 (86.2%).
However, these percentages do not take account of cancelled trains. In March this year, no fewer than 3,999 trains were cancelled in full or in part, i.e. 4% of trains in service. If these train cancellations were taken into account, punctuality would drop to 85.1% in March 2023, compared to 82.4% in the same month of 2022.
Several incidents caused train delays. These include a railway safety zone intrusion on 30 March at Ghent-Saint-Pierre, which caused 4,391 minutes of delay and the cancellation of 79 passenger trains.
Belgian train punctuality has fallen below 90%
Over the whole of 2022, the punctuality of trains (excluding those that were cancelled) was 89.2%, falling below the 90% threshold for the first time since 2018. In the new management contracts of Infrabel and state rail operator SNCB, punctuality of domestic passenger transport is one of the criteria on which funding depends.
The target set by the federal government is to achieve a minimum punctuality of 90.6% by 2027 and 91% by 2032.
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