Dutch open-access operator GoVolta has announced its most ambitious expansion plans yet, notifying the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument & Markt, ACM) of three new international routes while also seeking permission to carry domestic passengers on its Amsterdam to Berlin and Amsterdam to Paris services. Spoiler alert: notifying a government agency such…
Tag: Strasbourg
France welcomes 102 million visitors and earns €77.5 billion from tourism in record-breaking 2025
I turned 45 in June. I have this tradition – when possible – of not being in Belgium for my birthday. From Sweden in 2013 to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley in 2014, Lake Orta in 2015, Rome in 2016, London in 2018, North Carolina and Virginia in 2019, England in 2022, and Rotterdam…
NMBS / SNCB: International train travel continues to grow in popularity among Belgian holidaymakers
International rail travel is becoming an increasingly popular choice for Belgians heading abroad during the summer holidays, according to new figures from NMBS / SNCB. Belgium‘s national railway operator says bookings for international journeys continue to rise, supported by an expanding network that now offers connections to more than 6,000 destinations across 15 European countries.
TGV Brussels – Strasbourg – Basel from July 2027
Belgium‘s NMBS / SNCB, France‘s SNCF Voyageurs, and Switzerland‘s SBB CFF FFS are joining forces to launch a pilot project from July 2027 that will extend the existing TGV inOui service between the two European capitals of Brussels and Strasbourg in Alsace to the Swiss city of Basel.
TGV 9870 Brussels – Strasbourg to be extended to Basel
According to railway observers and fans on Het Grote Belgische Trein Forum (The Big Belgian Train Forum), the SNCF-operated TGV 9870 from Brussels in Belgium to Strasbourg in Alsace, France, will be extended to Basel in Switzerland. This would happen from the mid-December timetable update.
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.
Introducing the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
We haven’t travelled to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg since 2018 and 2019, but in January 2025 we returned to get a taste of the Alstom Coradia Stream HC which the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL) runs under the name Série 2400. The Coradia Stream HC was a candidate to become NMBS…
REVIEW | Lëtzebuerg City Museum or Luxembourg City History Museum
We haven’t travelled to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg since 2018 and 2019, but in January 2025 we returned to get a taste of the Alstom Coradia Stream HC which the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL) runs under the name Série 2400. The Coradia Stream HC was a candidate to become NMBS…
European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein introduce European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) from May 2025
On 14 September 2024, the European Union launched its website for ETIAS, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System. The scheme will start being applied from May 2025.
Visiting the European Parliament in Brussels
As pupils Danny and I visited the Federal Parliament of Belgium. On our travels, we visited many parliament buildings such as the Houses of Parliament in London (United Kingdom), the Bundestag in Berlin (Germany) the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne (Australia), the Old and New Parliament House in Canberra, the Palace of the Parliament in…