From Saturday 26 September 2025 to Sunday 28 June 2026, NMBS / SNCB‘s railway museum in Schaerbeek / Schaarbeek in the Brussels-Capital Region, Train World, will host the exhibition ‘Belgian Railways Under Occupation: Between Collaboration and Resistance‘. How did the Belgian Railways act during World War II? 

During the German occupation, the NMBS / SNCB continued to run trains in the interest of the country, thereby also participating—despite internal resistance—in the deportations to Germany and the camps, revealing a profound moral dilemma between collaboration and resistance.

Because the NMBS / SNCB places great importance on the duty of remembrance and wants to make it accessible to everyone, the exhibition will be free for all young people under the age of 18, including school groups, the Train World website mentions. 

Under the German occupation, trains continued to run in Belgium. The Belgian Railways ensured the supply of raw materials and foodstuffs, thus holding the fate of the population and industry in its hands.

“To do this, the Belgian Railways had no choice but to provide railway services as part of the Reich’s war effort. But the situation quickly began to deteriorate. Between 1941 and 1944, the Belgian Railways participated in the deportation of forced labourers, political prisoners, Jews and Roma to Germany and the camps in the East. Despite strong resistance within the company, the trains continued to run until the last day of the war.”

The history of the Belgian Railways during this complex period is full of contradictions, showing collaboration but also resistance. The dilemmas are still relevant today. “How far can you go in collaborating with a dictatorship to serve the public interest? When and in what ways is it best to resist?” 

This exhibition is part of NMBS / SNCB’s work of remembrance and is based on the research carried out by the Study Centre for War and Contemporary Society on the role of the Belgian Railways during the Second World War.

Railway and transport museums 

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• A visit of the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum – Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum (VlaTAM) in Antwerp.
• MONTREAL | Exporail – Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant.
• REVIEW | Motion and emotion at the London Transport Museum.
• BAVARIA | Lokwelt – Locomotive World in Freilassing .
• REVIEW | Orient-Express exhibition at Train World, Brussels’ railway museum.
• REVIEW | Train World exhibition ‘From Peking to Hankow: a Belgian adventure in China’.
• PHOTOS | Train World railway museum in Brussels.
• Railway and transport museums (not) to visit.
• Nuremberg Transport Museum / DB Museum. 
• Slovenian Railway Museum in Ljubljana. 
• VIDEO | Mail Rail and The Postal Museum in London. 
• Plans for a steam train heritage service between Brussels and Mechelen shelved.
• PHOTOS | Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid Delicias railway museum.
• VIDEO | Museu del Ferrocarril de Catalunya – Catalonia Railway Museum in Vilanova.
• REVIEW | Romanian Railway Museum ‘Muzeul CFR’ and Bucharest.
• PHOTOS | UK’s National Railway Museum (NRM) in York.
• PHOTOS | Swiss Museum of Transport Verkehrshaus in Lucerne.
• PHOTOS | Het Spoorwegmuseum – Dutch Railway Museum in Utrecht.
• VIDEO | Return to Spoorwegmuseum Utrecht for the dining car exhibition ‘Tosti’s, truffels, treinen’.
• VIDEO | Stoomtram Hoorn – Medemblik steamtram light rail in Holland.
• Visiting Odense and the Danish Railway Museum.
• Deutsches Museum’s Verkehrszentrum or Transport Centre in Munich.

Exploring Brussels

• REVIEW | ‘Jules Verne 200: An Immersive Journey’ in Brussels.
• REVIEW | ‘A Century of Belgian Comics’ at the Comic(s) Art Museum Brussels by the Belgian Comic Strips Center.
• MUSEUM | House of European History in Brussels.
• Visiting the European Parliament in Brussels.
• RIDE & DINE | Brussels Tram Experience.
• REVIEW | M-Gallery Le Louise in Brussels.
• Inside the Royal Palace of Brussels.
• Brussels’ Atomium.
• REVIEW | Orient-Express exhibition at Train World, Brussels’ railway museum.
• The orange world of Design Museum Brussels.
• AfricaMuseum in Tervuren near Brussels.
• Brussels Planetarium.
• Brussels’ Gare Maritime.
• Brussels’ Pannenhuis Park and L28 Park.
• Brussels’ Senne Park.
• The Hotel. Brussels.
• REVIEW | ‘Royals & Trains’ exhibition at Train World in Brussels.
• Ducal and Imperial Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels.
• MIMA – Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art in Brussels.
• Villa Empain in Brussels.
• Pullman Brussels Centre Midi.
• Autoworld automobile museum in Brussels.
• Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels, Belgium.
• Royal Military Museum, War Heritage Institute, Brussels, Belgium.
• PHOTOS | Train World railway museum in Brussels.
• Josaphat Park and residential Schaerbeek.
• BRUSSELS | BELvue Museum of Belgium.