Belgium’s infrastructure manager Infrabel is carrying out a 48-hour programme of signalling and ballast renewal on the corridor linking Brussels-Airport-Zaventem with Mons, Braine-le-Comte and the Charleroi axis from Saturday 06:00 to Sunday 23:59, 13–14 June 2026. National operator SNCB-NMBS has re-routed InterCity services via alternative lines, resulting in a 30-minute reduction in direct trains each hour from the airport to Brussels-Nord and the southern provinces. According to the engineering notice published on 13 June, platform allocations at Zaventem change several times during the works and some late-evening services are replaced by buses between Halle and Braine-le-Comte. Eurostar and Thalys departures are unaffected but passengers connecting from the airport are advised to allow an extra 20 minutes. Infrabel says the mid-June window was chosen to avoid peak commuter traffic and to prepare the network for the summer demand surge tied to July’s Brussels 2030 cultural events. The €12 million project upgrades legacy ETCS cabling and will raise line speeds by 10 km/h, trimming Mons–Airport journey times from December 2026. For employers running Monday-morning assignment rotations, the key takeaway is to book Sunday-evening staff travel earlier in the day or to use the Diabolo tunnel to connect at Mechelen. Travellers on rail passes can claim automatic service-quality compensation if delays exceed 60 minutes during the works window.
Source: SNCB-NMBS engineering notice
