french: Société nationale des chemins de fer belges
german: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen , type =

Statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

, industry = Rail Transport , foundation = 1926 , founder = Government of Belgium , location = Avenue de la Porte de Hal/Hallepoortlaan 40 , location_city = 1060

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, key_people = , products = Rail Transport , revenue = €2.296.6

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i. ...

(2012) , operating_income = €6.306,5

million One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the a ...

(2012) , net_income = € -152.3

(2012) , num_employees = 34,000 (2016) , parent = , subsid = BeNe Rail
Eurogare

Train World (BE) Train World is a railway museum in Brussels, Belgium, and the official museum of the National Railway Company of Belgium. It is situated in the preserved buildings of Schaarbeek railway station and in a new shed built to its north. Although sche ...

SNCB YPTO , location_country =

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, homepage = , foot_notes = The National Railway Company of Belgium ( nl, Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen, or NMBS; french: Société nationale des chemins de fer belges, or SNCB; german: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen) is the national

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

company of

. The company formally styles itself using the Dutch and French abbreviations NMBS/SNCB. The corporate logo designed in 1936 by

Henry van de Velde Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.' ...

consists of the linguistically neutral letter B in a horizontal oval.

History

NMBS/SNCB is an autonomous government company, formed in 1926 as successor to the

Belgian State Railways The Belgian State Railways ( nl, Belgische Staatsspoorwegen; french: Chemins de fer de l'État Belge) was the original state-owned railway of Belgium. Established by an organic law of 1 May 1834, it began construction of its first line, between Bru ...

. In 2005, the company was split up into three parts: Infrabel, which manages the railway infrastructure, network operations and network access, the public railway operator NMBS/SNCB itself to manage the freight (B-Cargo) and passenger services, and NMBS/SNCB-Holding, which owns both public companies and supervises the collaboration between them. Essentially, this was a move to facilitate future

liberalisation Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

of railway freight and passenger services in agreement with European regulations. Several freight operators have since received access permissions for the Belgian network. In February 2011, NMBS/SNCB Logistics began operating as a separate business. Faced with rising losses, in June 2012, the Belgian transport minister announced further reform: NMBS/SNCB Holding would be split up, so NMBS/SNCB (the train operator) would be separate from Infrabel (the infrastructure owner). Unions oppose the reform. NMBS/SNCB-Holding was merged into SNCB in 2014 in order to simplify the structure of the Belgian railways. NMBS/SNCB holds a Royal Warrant from the Court of Belgium.

Operations

In 2008 NMBS/SNCB carried 207 million passengers a total of 8,676 million

passenger-kilometre The units of measurement in transportation describes the unit of measurement used to express various transportation quantities, as used in statistics, planning, and their related applications. Transportation quantity The currently popular units ...

s over a network of 3,536 kilometres (of which 2,950 km are

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

, mainly at 3000 V DC and 351 km at 25 kV 50 Hz AC). In 2017, that number rose to 230 million passengers carried, and Belgium has a rail network of 3,602 km of main railway lines (or 6,399 km of mainline tracks). The network currently includes four high speed lines suitable for traffic: HSL 1 runs from just south of

to the French border, where it continues to a triangular junction with

LGV Nord The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Nord (North High-Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Nord, is a French -long high-speed rail line, opened in 1993, that connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. With a maximum speed ...

for and (and London beyond that), HSL 2 runs from to and onward to , HSL 3 runs from Liège to the German border near

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...

and HSL 4 connects with

HSL-Zuid The HSL-Zuid ( nl, Hogesnelheidslijn Zuid, en, High-speed Line South), is a 125 kilometre-long (78 miles) Dutch high-speed railway line running between the Amsterdam metropolitan area and the Belgian border, with a branch to Breda, North ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to allow services to run from to .

National enforcement body

Sometimes passengers are not satisfied with the answer of railway companies or passengers do not receive any answer in one month, in which case they can seek the assistance of the Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport.

Gallery

File:NMBS MS08 08004, Antwerpen Centraal.JPG, NMBS/SNCB MS08/AM08 Desiro train in Antwerp Central Railway Station File:M7 Trein.jpg, NMBS/SNCB M7 double-decker train File:M6 Rail Car R01 (cropped).jpg, NMBS/SNCB M6 double-decker train File:Luik Guillemins 2016 2.jpg,

Liège-Guillemins railway station Liège-Guillemins railway station (french: Gare de Liège-Guillemins, nl, Station Luik-Guillemins, IATA code: XHN), officially Liège-Guillemins, is the main station in Liège, Belgium. It is one of the most important hubs in the country and i ...

File:Station Brussel-Centraal Loketten.jpg, Brussels Central Railway Station's main hall File:Leuven station AM08 2014.jpg, NMBS/SNCB MS08/AM08 Desiro train in

Leuven Railway Station Leuven railway station ( nl, Station Leuven, french: Gare de Louvain), officially Leuven, is the main railway station in Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Belgium. The station is operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB) and is lo ...

File:Station Wezemaal 2020.jpg, Wezemaal station in 2020 before the renovation works, with old station sign File:NMBS totempaal in station Kiewit 2020.jpg, NMBS/SNCB totem pole in station Kiewit in 2020 File:Station Kiewit met trein 2020.jpg, NMBS/SNCB MS08/AM08 Desiro train in Kiewit File:Station Begijnendijk 2020.jpg, Station Begijnendijk in 2020 File:Station Bouwel 2020.jpg, Station Bouwel with NMBS/SNCB logo with level crossing signaling File:NMBS SNCB logo 3.jpg, NMBS/SNCB Logo in Brussels-North station

Notes

References

External links

Bueker.net – Map of the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg rail networksSNCB website
*List of stations: Liste des gares SNCB - Lijst van NMBS-stations
Collection of Google Earth locations of SNCB stations
(require
Google Earth software
from the Google Earth Community forum. * {{DEFAULTSORT:National Railway Company of Belgium Railway companies of Belgium Eurostar Railteam Belgian companies established in 1926 Railway companies established in 1926 Belgian brands Government-owned companies of Belgium Government agencies established in 1926 Government-owned railway companies