Brussels-North was Belgium’s busiest train station last year, overtaking the two stations that had beaten it into third place in 2014, Brussels-South and Brussels-Central, according to the Belgian railway utility, SNCB. An average of 63,104 daily passengers embarked on weekdays at Brussels-North, which saw its departures increase by 8% in 2015 after a 24-percent jump in 2014 over the preceding year. Departures from Brussels-South went up by 1%, while Brussels Central registered a slight decline. “The passenger count gives us an indication, but a margin of error needs to be taken into account, SNCB spokesperson Dimitri Temmerman said.
Gand-Saint-Pierre (55,817 passengers) and Anvers-Central (33.614 travelers) complete the top-5 list, followed by Louvain, Ottignies, Malines, Namur and Bruges.
The Brussels Airport station is not in the top 10, but it did see the number of its weekday travelers increase by 15%, from 6,934 in 2014 to 7,983 last year. The SNCB registered a total of 4.2 million commuters at this station last year, 7.2% more than in 2014. In recent years, traffic to and from the station has increased significantly.
The least used station in Western Flanders is that of Aarsele (Tielt) with 24 daily passengers. In Wallonia, this “honour” goes to Hourpes (Hainaut), where only 9 commuters take the train on an average day.
t (Source: Belga)
