Heritage rail organisation PFT-TSP has confirmed that its Weihnachtsmarkt-Express will run again this winter, offering passengers a festive rail journey from Belgium to Aachen (Aken, Aix-la-Chapelle) in Germany on Saturday 13 December 2025. The special train, which will call Vilvoorde, Antwerp-Central, Lier and Hasselt, will provide a direct and comfortable connection to Aachen Hauptbahnhof –…
Tag: Mons
BELGIUM | Naming towns and cities: municipalities with Dutch, French, English and other translations
15 November is Dynasty Day or King’s Day in Belgium. 15 November being the name day of Leopold, the name of three of the seven Kings of the Belgians. To mark this occasion, and inspired by a Belga News Agency post, let’s take a look at names of villages, towns, municipalities and cities in the…
Leuven and East Brabant named European Capital of Culture 2030
Leuven (Louvain) and the East Brabant reference region have been named European Capital of Culture 2030 by the European jury. The announcement was made at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels, where Leuven’s bid, presented under the banner LOV2030 – Leuven & Beyond, triumphed over its Belgian rivals Namur (Namen) in Wallonia and Sint-Jans-Molenbeek…
NMBS / SNCB sees popularity increase of international train travel
Year after year, Belgian railway operator NMBS / SNCB is seeing growing interest in international train travel during the summer months. Since 2019, the number of bookings via NMBS / SNCB International has increased by more than 50 per cent, the operator says in a press release.
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).
Arriva surveys customers for Groningen – Amsterdam – Utrecht – Antwerp – Brussels – Paris train
You may remember reports in 2023 on how Deutsche Bahn is interested in running trains from the Netherlands, via Belgium, to France. And DB would use its Arriva brand, already a household name in the Netherlands. Arriva is since 2024 also present in Belgium with the Tri-Country Train.
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…
EuroCity Brussels – Paris to run from 19 December 2024
The EuroCity from Brussels-Midi/Zuid in Belgium to Paris-North in France will start running regularly on Thursday 19 December 2024. From French perspective, the service will run under the OUIGO brand. This train service already ran in the summer for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Benelux trains to be rebranded EuroCity Direct and EuroCity, allowing new market position
The train service between Brussels and Amsterdam which is nowadays known as ‘the Benelux‘ in Belgium, will be (re)named EuroCity Direct and EuroCity, the Dutch train enthusiasts website Treinreiziger.nl reports.
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.
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