Germany-bound passengers face major disruptions after Belgium’s socialist public-services union CGSP/ACOD called a 24-hour strike from 22:00 CET on Sunday, 11 October, through Monday, 12 October 2026. Belgian rail operator SNCB has issued a ‘revised service’ plan, warning of significantly reduced domestic and international schedules during the walk-out. Eurostar has already cancelled several Brussels–Cologne and Brussels–Dortmund services, while NS International says regional trains between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany will also be affected. The timing is especially awkward for German business travellers returning after the first week of autumn school holidays. Cologne Messe, Europe’s largest trade-fair organiser, expects 18,000 delegates to arrive in the Rhineland on Monday for the annual “Digital Factory” expo; organisers are scrambling to accommodate late-arriving visitors and advising delegates to fly or drive instead of taking the usual high-speed rail connection from Brussels. Rail operators estimate that up to 20,000 cross-border seats will be lost on Monday alone. Deutsche Bahn says its ICE 3M trains between Frankfurt, Cologne and Brussels will terminate at Aachen, where onward travel by bus will be provided—but journey times will increase by up to two hours. Logistics companies that rely on overnight freight wagons crossing into North Rhine-Westphalia are bracing for delays that could ripple into Tuesday’s just-in-time factory deliveries. For mobility managers, the immediate priority is to alert assignees and frequent travellers of likely cancellations and to trigger contingency routing via Luxembourg or Lille. Experts also recommend checking corporate travel insurance, as labour action is normally deemed a “known event” and may not be covered. Travellers who must reach Germany on 12 October should consider rebooking on afternoon flights into Düsseldorf or Cologne/Bonn, where capacity remains available.
Source: SNCB / Eurostar travel alerts
