Enhanced services between Belgium and the Netherlands from the new timetable

The Class 17 represents SNCB‘s first ever direct order of TRAXXes. Although SNCB has operated locomotives from this family for many years, it has so far leased them for passenger services from Alpha Trains (twelve machines 2802 - 2813, or 186 124 - 125 and 196 - 205), and uses them also to run trains to the Netherlands.

New EuroCity

From 15 December 2024 an enhanced Brussel - Rotterdam service will be introduced, which will be operated jointly by NS and SNCB and called EuroCity. These trains will run on the high speed lines in Belgium and the Netherlands. There will be 16 train pairs daily between Brussel-Zuid (Midi) and Rotterdam Centraal, starting at 05.44 in Brussels hourly until 20.44, taking 2 h 03 with eight intermediate stops, and using SNCB‘s locomotive-hauled rakes (I11) with TRAXXes, top-and-tailed. This will bring time savings not only at the terminals but also at the Breda station where the setting back takes place, because these trains will run on the line.

New Eurocity Direct

A new Eurocity Direct service will be operated by NS between Brussel-Zuid, Amsterdam-Zuid and Lelystad Centrum, with 16 train pairs daily, starting at 06.49 in Brussel, hourly until 21.49, also using the HSLs in Belgium and the Netherlands. The trains between Brussel-Zuid and Amsterdam-Zuid will take 2 h 8 minutes with three intermediate stops, those between Brussel-Zuid and Lelystad Centrum will take 2 h 49 minutes and six intermediate stops.

This new service may not be used by passengers for journeys between Brussel and Antwerp, and will be operated by NS‘s Coradia Stream ICNG-B EMUs. Originally, this timetable was supposed to be in effect from December 2023, but due to delays in the delivery of ICNGs, this will only happen now.

NS's ICNG fleet

At present, in passenger service are seven ICNG-Bs: 3311, 3312, 3314, 3315, 3316, 3318 and 3319. Three more, 3313, 3317 and 3320, are used for driver training in Belgium and the Netherlands. With the delivery of 3304 and 3321, which are just to be delivered and are doing test runs, NS will have twelve ICNG-Bs at disposal. This should be enough to operate also the hourly  Brussel Zuid - Lelystad Centrum service from 15 December 2024.

The delivery of ICNGs will bring to an end the locomotive-hauled rakes that were deployed here as replacements for the Fyra EMUs, which were withdrawn from service in 2013 due to technical problems and returned to AnsaldoBreda (and later taken over and operated by Trenitalia after their modifications).

SNCB's EuroCity stock

To cover its EuroCity services, SNCB needs 16 locomotives, because the rakes will be top-and-tailed by the TRAXXes. SNCB therefore hired also four locomotives 186 119 - 122 (2869 - 2871) from Alpha Trains, which were previously used by NS. These locomotives are now undergoing a change in external look, as shown in the photo of 186 119 (2869) taken on 7 November 2024 at Rotterdam Centraal: the new colours match the current SNCB corporate design, i. e. grey sidewalls, yellow fronts and dark blue main frame (in the background is passing a yellow-blue TRAXX in NS colours).

The first two ex-NS locomotives to be so fitted are 186 119 and 120, which completed test runs on the Belgian network (Noorderkempen, Roosendaal, Oostende) and Dutch network (Breda, Rotterdam) in November with a rakes of Type I11 cars. Next in line for the change of livery are 186 121 and 122, which in the Antwerp workshops receive a large B logo on the sidewalls instead of two small ones. Later, SNCB plans to use the new Class 17 TRAXXes on this route with rakes of Type I11 coaches, and the rented TRAXXes will be returned to Alpha Trains.

SNCB's M7 stock

Moreover, the single-deck I11 Class BDX driving trailers will be increasingly released on account of the fact that more and more Type M7 double-deck cars are in operation, among those the Class BDx and BVx driving trailers. Out of a total of 747 cars of six versions, 491 cars were in service in mid-November 2024, i. e. 66 %. This contract has its roots in December 2015, when a frame contract with the Bombardier Transportation/Alstom consortium for up to 1,362 Type M7 cars with a top speed of 200 km/h was signed.

445 cars were ordered at the same time - for these, the original delivery date was set for 2018 to 2021, but this was far from being met. The order was extended by 204 cars in December 2020 by exercising part of the option and then again in December 2021 for a further 98 cars. From January 2021 onwards, Alstom is now the only supplier.

The very first use of the Type M7 cars took place in January 2020 on the Liège-Guillemins - Brussel-Zuid services. Then, since January 2021, the M7 coaches have been used on all Oostende - Eupen services. In August 2021, the first homogeneous rakes of M7 coaches were diagrammed on some of the Schaerbeek to Gent-Sint-Pieters services. In April 2024, Alstom delivered the 400th M7 car, the end of deliveries of the whole batch is now envisaged by the end of 2026.

Pictured is a type M7 rake, headed by a Class BDx driving trailer 75019, at Langdorp on 19 August 2022. The train from Tongeren to Gent-Sint-Pieters is a ten-car rake, consisting of one four-car and one six-car set, each with one Class Bmx power car. As these rakes are not fixed units (neither traction/powered nor non-traction/non-powered units) but separate cars, SNCB can operationally form sets of varying lengths which can be hauled also by a locomotive instead of the Bmx power car. The M7s can be used in 2 x 4, or 2 x 6, 1 x 4 or 1 x 6 rakes, even in combination with the older Type M6 sets. Each train has a fixed composition which passengers can find in the SNCB planner, so they know in advance where the first class coaches are, where there is room for the disabled, for the bicycles and suchlike.