BELGIUM: Train services to different destinations cancelled due to rail strike

Record ID: 339783

  • Title: BELGIUM: Train services to different destinations cancelled due to rail strike
  • Date: 6th November 2009
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NOVEMBER 5, 2009) (REUTERS) RED LIGHTS OVER RAIL TRACKS RAIL TRACKS TRAIN AT STANDSTILL IN TRAIN STATION TWO TRAINS AT STANDSTILL ON RAIL TRACKS BOARD INDICATING ''DO NOT BOARD'' EMPTY PLATFORM WITH TRAIN AT STANDSTILL EMPTY PLATFORMS LOGO FOR THALYS AND THALYS TRAIN AT STANDSTILL EMPTY ESCALATOR EMPTY TRAIN STATION EMPTY ELECTRONIC BOARD, ONE
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA95JEERSLL5WDPN00HC1KTPQAU
  • Story Text: Railway unions in Belgium are staging a one-day nation-wide strike this Thursday (November 5) which has disrupted all international lines into France, Britain and the Netherlands.
    All French Thalys trains were cancelled and the Eurostar service was limited to Brussels - Lille in France.
    The unions say they are concerned that the planned restructuring of the railway cargo unit of the state-owned NMBS-SNCB will lead to the loss of some 3,000 jobs.
    They have criticised the railway management for failing to pass on information about their plans.
    Pierre Lejeune, rail union secretary, said employees also fear the privatisation of the freight activities will be one step towards the privatisation of other activities.
    ''We think it represents the start of a gradual privatisation where we will first see the freight services being outsourced from SNCB, tomorrow it may be the transport of passengers and later on other activities too,'' Lejeune said.
    The strike was announced in local media the day before but foreign tourists like Canadian Brian Thomson and his girlfriend still got caught by surprise.
    ''It's too bad because we saw the city the last couple of days and now we feel there is nothing to see anymore. We could see more but we want to see Bruges and it's too bad, this is inconvenience for us,'' Thomson said, referring to the historical city of Bruges, a world heritage city west of Brussels.
    The Belgian news agency Belga quoted the president of the SNCB board of directors, Marc Descheemaecker, as saying he understood the strike action but that the management would "respect the statute of the railwokers" when they create the new freight division.
    He said the number of staff should be reduced from 38,000 to 37,000 but that could be done without redundancies He added the restructuring plans were part of measures to soften the impact of the economic crisis.
    As a result of the strike, a total of 185 kilometres of traffic jam were registered on Belgian roads on Thursday morning.
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