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Rail transport in Belgium - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Abandon, Airlift, Ban, Banish, Bear, Bearing, Beatification, Blackball, Bliss, Buck, Carriage, Carrier |
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Belgium has an extensive rail network. On May 5 1835 the first railway in continental Europe opened between Brussels and Mechelen using Stephenson engines imported from Great Britain. The engines were called 'Pijl meaning Arrow, Olifant meaning Elephant and Stephenson obviously named after his designer.
The NMBS (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen) or SNCB (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges, not to be confused with SNCF) is the Belgian national railway company. It was created in 1926.
Most electrified Belgian lines use a 3000 Volts DC overhead power supply, but the high speed-lines (Lille - Brussels, and the new high speed lines to the Netherlands) are electrified at 25000 Volts AC.
The trains in Belgium drive on the left. This is unlike road vehicles, which drive on the right side of the road.
Citizens in Belgium, especially students and older citizens, are offered incentives and cheaper fares in order to aleviate congestion on the nation's roads.
In 2003 the amount of railways was 3,518 km all of wich were standard gauge: 1.435-m gauge (2,631 km electrified)
See also
External links
- http://www.b-rail.be (note that the travel planner, when applied to a foreign country, e.g. the Netherlands, may recommend odd detours, due to the selection of train services in the database)
- http://www.belrail.be a website with all practical and technical information about the Belgian Railways
- timetables (http://193.121.180.16/folder/e/lijstn_pdf_E.html)
- List of train stations: [1] (http://www.b-rail.be/search/statlijst_off.html) and
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