Belgian trains improved their punctuality by more than 90% for the first time in three years, according to new figures from rail infrastructure manager Infrabel.
Train punctuality throughout 2019 averaged 90.4%, marking the first time since 2015 that the punctuality rate has gone above the 90% bar. In 2018, the punctuality rate was of 86.4%, La Libre reports.
The timekeeping improvements in 2019 also mark the second time in a decade that the over 90% of trains were either on time or with a delay of less than 6 minutes.
The construction of two additional tracks running from Brussels to the western town of Denderleeuw, in the direction of Ghent, was one of the reasons that allowed more trains to be on time last year, Bruzz reports.
While overall punctuality was up in 2019, the number of cancelled trains last year spiked by 11% in comparison to cancellations in 2018.
A total of 29,679 trains were cancelled in 2019, a number which represents 2.2% of total trains running on the network.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
