Passengers were reportedly stranded for more than two hours on a broken-down Eurostar train without air conditioning during Friday's heatwave, with several people becoming unwell before emergency services evacuated the train.
The train, travelling from Liège to Paris, came to a halt near Leuven. Three passengers were later taken to hospital as a precaution after suffering from the heat, while firefighters, police and ambulance crews were called to the scene.
One of the passengers, Thibault Decoeur, a doctor travelling to a conference in Paris, described the conditions on board as unbearable.
"We left Liège at 09:54, but not long afterwards the train broke down near Leuven. Then we were simply left waiting," he told RTL Info.
According to Decoeur, the air conditioning stopped working soon after the train came to a halt, causing temperatures inside the packed carriages to soar.
"It must have been well over 40°C. It may even have been close to 50°C," he reportedly said. "Children and elderly passengers became unwell, but we weren't allowed to leave the train because staff said it wasn't safe."
He said the train had been especially crowded because an earlier Eurostar service had been cancelled.
"I've never seen anything like it. It was a disaster," he added.
Passengers reportedly remained on board for almost two hours before police officers arrived to supervise an evacuation onto the tracks shortly before midday.
They were then transferred to a replacement train, which departed for Leuven shortly before 14:00, before continuing to Brussels-South, according to Nieuwsblad.
Eurostar confirmed earlier that the train had suffered a technical fault near Leuven and said passengers were evacuated safely. Bottled water was distributed while emergency services responded to the incident.
By around 13:45, all travellers had boarded the rescue train and were transported to Leuven station, where they received more water before continuing their journey.
The incident also disrupted domestic rail services. According to NMBS/SNCB spokesperson Dimitri Temmerman, two trains travelling from Eupen to Ostend became stranded behind the Eurostar before returning to Ans station.
Rail traffic has been diverted via the Hasselt-Leuven line, which was already affected by a collision between a train and a tractor near Hasselt earlier on Friday.
The two incidents combined are causing delays across the network.
