Commuters and business travellers between Ghent and Brussels faced unexpected disruption on 22 July 2026 after an incident involving a person near Melle closed the main line from the early morning. Infrabel diverted trains via Aalst, adding up to 20 minutes to journey times and forcing NMBS/SNCB to cancel several peak-hour services. By noon the tracks were declared safe and trains resumed their normal route, although residual delays lasted through the early afternoon. The closure coincided with Brussels Airport’s high-season rush, prompting some passengers to miss pre-booked airport connections. Ride-hailing fares on the E40 motorway reportedly surged as travellers scrambled for alternatives. The episode highlights the fragility of Belgium’s busiest inter-city corridor, which normally carries more than 60,000 daily passengers, including hundreds of civil servants and expatriates who commute from Ghent’s cheaper housing market to EU institutions in Brussels. It also underscores Infrabel’s push to deploy more track-side detection systems that can shorten investigation times after incidents. Companies operating flex-work policies should remind staff to build extra margins into travel itineraries during the summer peak, and to use NMBS International alerts that now integrate with most travel-booking tools.
Source: The Brussels Times
