Criticism of NMBS: “Train problems for weeks, but there is extra capacity for the demonstration”
Some commuters may have noticed. Although there have been problems on the track for weeks, eight extra trains could be put in place for the demonstration in Brussels on Friday.
“It is striking,” says Kees Smilde of TreinTramBus. “We have been receiving complaints for weeks about canceled trains, shortened trains that everyone has to take and trains with safe delays. It is striking that capacity can still be obtained on the day of the involvement.”
Nevertheless, NMBS has a logical explanation for this. “When we know something well in advance, we can deploy base games and additional trains,” says Dimitri Temmerman. “A bit comparable to days when we deploy extra trains to the sea. The same mechanisms come into effect and then it can be planned.” NMBS has tried that they have not removed capacity on other lines to support the lines to the event.
Temmerman does admit that the last few weeks have been difficult on the railways. “New trains are on their way, but they are not there yet. Partly because of this, we have to use older trains and that causes problems. They are more affected and they also fall out faster. This results in shorter or canceled trains. That is very annoying. But those are incidents that we cannot plan for and cannot resolve immediately when they occur. Let’s just say: most of them we still hinder from third parties. These are track runners, collisions with animals or copper theft.”
(NBA)