The National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB, or Belgian Rail) is Belgium’s national train operator. Its extensive rail network covers the country and connects Belgium with France, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Germany. CEO Jo Cornu discusses NMBS/SNCB’s current projects and priorities.
European Times: What are your main goals for NMBS/SNCB?
Jo Cornu: These are very critical times for the company because we are negotiating a new contract with the government concerning our services, pricing, financing and investment. NMBS/SNCB plays an essential role in helping to combat the chronic traffic congestion on Belgium’s roads. Belgium has a car-oriented culture, and one result is that Brussels experiences Europe’s worst traffic jams. Trains can help solve this problem, and a lot is expected of NMBS/SNCB. When I came to the company two years ago, the main goal was to improve our trains’ punctuality, which was the worst in the company’s history. We have made great progress and now only 9.1% of our trains are more than six minutes late. We will continue to improve our on-time performance and to make train travel more attractive for our passengers.
European Times: What are you doing to encourage more people to travel by train?
Jo Cornu: We have become very consumer-focused in all our short-term strategies, which include improving parking facilities for both cars and bicycles at all train stations, streamlining access to trains, and investing in more modern and comfortable train cars. We recently placed a €1.3 billion order for new cars to be jointly built by Bombardier and Alstom. Over the longer term, Belgium is upgrading its rail network’s infrastructure, including installing a €4 billion ETCS signalling system on both trains and infrastructure, to be completed by 2023. Railways are traditionally slow to implement new technologies, and we need to change this.
European Times: What kind of passengers are you targeting?
Jo Cornu: Commuters are very important to NMBS/SNCB because they account for most of Belgium’s train traffic in the hours when people are going to and from work or school. Private companies are also key customers for us, and we offer them special advantages. We also want to attract more leisure passengers, who now represent around 20% of our business. To do this means being more flexible with pricing.
European Times: What is your personal message about Belgium’s train system?
Jo Cornu: NMBS/SNCB has had a negative reputation in the past but we are making great progress and working hard to earn our passengers’ trust.
