Belgium's national railway operator SNCB has announced that it is postponing the number of investments planned for 2023-2024 following the release of the Federal Government's budget for the following year.
Sophie Dutordoir, SNCB's director, announced the news to MPs in the Parliamentary Committee on Mobility. When exactly the postponed projects will now be carried out is to be decided in discussion with Infrabel in the following weeks.
Dutordoir stated that SNCB had requested over €1 billion in additional funds due to the energy crisis, but had only been allocated an extra €234 million in the federal budget.
As the operator had highlighted 2023-2024 as a key year for pursuing its long-term goals, it has now conceded that it must adapt its ambitions to the available funds and the time from which they will become available. SNCB received €808 million less than it had hoped.
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Furthermore, the railway operator is also carrying a €2.355 billion debt, edging ever closer to the limit set by the Federal Government of €2.565 billion.
As a result, “we are going to have to postpone projects we would have liked to have started from 1 January," Dutordoir told the parliamentary committee. "We are (also) going to reduce costs wherever possible."
