The Board of Directors of the National Railway Company of Belgium, the NMBS / SNCB, is set to award the contract for the new MR30 / AM30 trains to manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) from the Basque Country in Spain, Thibault Lapers‘ mobilithib blog has learned from a source.
Tag: Hainaut
FRANCE | Train excursion to Maubeuge and Lille
September 2025. A few days before our Journey Across Japan, Sam, Danny, and I went an a day excursion to Maubeuge and Lille in France, just across the border with Belgium. Some proper #CrossBorderRail. From Charleroi-Central Railway Station in Wallonia, there is an S63 suburban train (while the scenery is very green and nut urban…
Pride Museum pop-up draws 4,000 visitors and strengthens case for permanent queer space in Brussels
From 15 June to 15 July 2025, the former Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art (MIMA) building on the Quai de Hainaut / Henegouwkaai in St. John’s Molenbeek (Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek) in Brussels served as the temporary home of the Pride Museum, a new cultural initiative dedicated to queer history and expression.
Mons Pride 2025 on Saturday 31 May
Another weekend, another pride in Belgium. After Brussels on Saturday 17 May, Namur (Namen) on Saturday 24 May, it’s now the turn of Mons (Bergen) in the province of Hainaut (Hainault with L if you want to honour Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England).
BRUSSELS | KBR Museum reopens on 23 May 2025
The Royal Library of Belgium‘s KBR Museum, the place where the manuscript collection of the Dukes of Burgundy shines, will reopen its doors on 23 May 2025. Thanks to a unique musical experience, visitors can now enjoy the magical polyphony from the 15th and 16th centuries in the museum.
BELGIUM | Fête du Rail at Rétrotrain, Saint-Ghislain
August 2024. Two weekends in a row, we experienced some Belgian railway heritage. On the 11th, we went to Baasrode-Noord for the Dendermonde – Puurs Steam Railway or Stoomtrein Dendermonde-Puurs over line 52. On the 17th, we travelled all the way to Saint-Ghislain for a special ride over freight railway line 100, organised by Le…
OUIGO ‘slow’ train between Brussels and Paris from 19 December 2024
NMBS / SNCB and SNCF Voyageurs are today – 5 December 2024 – opening reservations for the new classic train Brussels-Paris, for journeys from Thursday 19 December. The label EuroCity will not be used for this service, as it was during the 2024 Olympic Games.
HAINAUT | Discovering Mons
In May 2024 Thanh and I visited the Rodin exhibition at the Beaux-Arts Mons museum of fine arts. Obviously being in Mons, we explored the capital of the province of Hainaut in Wallonia.
BELGIUM | Introduction to Charleroi
A month after our visit to Couvin, we returned to the province of Hainaut. While Danny and I have conducted trains to Charleroi-Central many, many times, we never really got out of the station to explore the 5th most populous city in Belgium.
BELGIUM | Excursion to Couvin in Namur
January 2024. Since December 2023, there’s a new intercity train service between Leuven (Louvain) and Charleroi-Central, with stops at Heverlee, Wavre (Waver), Ottignies, Court-Saint-Étienne (Sint-Stefaanshof) and Fleurus. Wanting to try this new link, we decided to first travel to Charleroi via Brussels, a classic itinerary. There we explored railway line 132 to Mariembourg and then…
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