Dinner Train is expanding from the Netherlands to Belgium. The concept is simple, really, while you dine, Dinner Train travels on the rails. The first ride in Belgium is in Saint Nicholas (Sint-Niklaas, Saint-Nicolas), on Friday 1 March 2024. 

“Dinner Train is a unique pop-up experience in a train designed as a restaurant that runs through Belgium for a year and welcomes guests at twenty stations for a tasty journey. Every week the Dinner Train departs from a different city”, the website’s FAQ section says. 

In Belgium, those stations are: Aalst (Alost), Antwerp-Berchem, Bruges, Brussels (the website doesn’t say which station in Brussels), Charleroi (again, which station?), Genk, Ghent-Saint-Peter’s, Hasselt, Kortrijk (Courtrai), Leuven (Louvain), Liège (Luik, unclear which station) Mechlin (Mechelen, Malines), Namur (Namen), Ostend, St. Nicholas, Turnhout, Verviers. 

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Dinner options

The dinner options are:

• Dinner.
• First class dinner.
• Mystery Game.
• Tastes of Spain. 

Tables are for two, three or four. The experience takes some two hours.

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Routes

What is the itinerary? That is not divulged in advance, to not disappoint guests. Because the itinerary can change last minute due to problems on the track or engineering works. 

What is Dinner Train?

“Dinner Train is a moving train restaurant that travels through the Netherlands, departing from a different city every week. The operation is in the hands of Train Charter Events, based in Oisterwijk“, Wikipedia says. 

In 2015, the now defunct Railpromo started the concept of a moving train restaurant together with chef Edwin Soumang under the name Het Panorama Rail Restaurant. Amsterdam was chosen as a base and the focus was on national and international interested parties.

The mobile restaurant consisted of two buffet carriages, originally Trans Europ Express carriages, and a panoramic carriage. The panoramic carriage belonged to the luxurious international train Rheingold, built in the late 1950s, which connected Hook of Holland with Milan in Italy and Geneva in Switzerland, among others. Travellers could enjoy the Rhine and Alpine landscape from a glass panoramic dome. 

The route consisted of an almost 3-hour tour through Groene Hart, via Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague, Rotterdam, Gouda and Breukelen.

At the end of 2018, Railpromo opted for a different approach through the Dinner Train concept. This started from various cities in the Netherlands. The required capacity and deployability could be achieved with the purchase of two additional carriages from BahnTouristikExpress (BTE) and the purchase of three locomotives). In March 2019, the first ride with the new concept started from Rotterdam.

On August 6, 2019, Railpromo was declared bankrupt.On October 1, 2019, the curator announced that an acquisition of the Dinner Train brand and concept had taken place. The company Train Charter Events is the new owner of Dinner Train. The first ride took place in ‘s-Hertogenbosch at the end of October 2019.

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Rolling stock

In 2014, the buffet carriages were taken over by Railpromo from Herik Rail, Martijn Haman from Stalen Rijtuigen van de Nederlandse Spoorwegen says. These were originally Gril-express carriages built for the SNCF in 1970 and purchased and converted by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) in 1993. The carriages were given a new interior with a bar and some standing tables. 

“The design is such that the carriage can also be used as a dining carriage, where these tables are replaced by dining tables and chairs. For the catering function, the kitchen is not only equipped with sandwich makers and microwave, but also with convection ovens, hob and grill plates, boiler and dishwasher.”

“After being acquired by Railpromo, the carriages underwent an overhaul in which the interior was renewed and a new color scheme was applied. The carriages have a predominantly blue and gray color with white piping. A Limburg flag and the European flag are affixed to the side walls.”

“At the beginning of 2019, Railpromo acquired dining cars BahnTouristikExpress. These were originally WRümz 135 carriages built by Orenstein & Koppel for the Deutsche Bundesbahn in the period 1969-1973. In 1999-2001 the carriages were converted by OFV Verona and then in 2002 by Vossloh. This type of carriage rode in the Intercity Amsterdam – Berlin in the period 2012-2013.”

In addition to a dining area with tables for 34 people, the carriages also have a buffet area where standing tables and half-height tables can be found. Both parts are separated by a kitchen with a serving counter on the buffet side. The carriages have a length of 27.5 meters and are therefore longer than most other carriages.

Early dinner

The drain departs at 5 PM and is expected back at 7.15 PM. That’s really early to dine. In Flanders, 6PM – 7PM is a more usual supper time. When eating out, 7 PM – 8 PM is more usual. People want to get home from work and change perhaps.

In Wallonia, people eat later. 7 PM – 8 PM for supper at home is more usual. So 5 PM is really early. Danny fears too early for the Belgian market.

Also, 5 PM is rush hour. So there’s even more trains on the tracks.

So?

We booked a table for the St. Nicholas ride of 1 March. We wanted to try Dinner Train in the Netherlands, but it was too hard to find a date and a departure station which suited us. 

We’re curious to see how things are done.