The NMBS approved an amended management agreement, which deferred a number of investments. But “we don’t skimp on operational personnel,” it seems.
The NMBS board on Friday approved an amended management agreement between the railway company and the government. This agreement, not renewed since the last one expired in 2012, outlines the path that NMBS will have to take over the next ten years – with concrete objectives, among others, to widen the offer – and what state resources are involved in return . A draft of the ‘public service contract’ had already been approved in May, but only after the last budget conclave, in October, did it emerge that fewer resources were available than those deemed necessary by the railway company to realize the ambitions – which it meant they had to be brought to the negotiating table.
In the new version of the management agreement, long-term ambitions – such as 10% more trains and 30% more passengers by 2032 – remain intact, but NMBS will have to postpone a number of investments to 2025, he says spokesman Dimitri Temmerman. It is not yet known exactly which investments will be postponed, but Temmerman assures that “there will be no savings on hiring operational personnel and on the delivery of new trainsets”.
Difficult years
Staff shortages and outdated train sets, which cannot be replaced in time due to delayed deliveries, are among the main reasons why more trains are delayed and canceled again, and passenger satisfaction is also declining. Just last week, several railway unions suspended work for three days, causing serious disruption. The unions denounce the high workload and want more resources for the railway – in addition to the more than 2 billion euros that the government has already promised.
• “This misery drives commuters by car”
For Sophie Dutordoir, it is a “top priority” to “remove the strain on the rail system and restore quality,” the NMBS recently told the House. Previously, the NMBS board had decided to postpone a planned expansion of the offering, and now they’re also shifting a number of investments. The construction sites started will not be stopped, CEO Sophie Dutordoir said this week The appointment, but it is expected that there will be fewer or no new constitutions in the next two years. This is also because the NMBS is facing two difficult financial years, in which in particular the indexation of wages and the sharp increase in electricity prices are weighing heavily on the balance sheet.
The unions will now decide first on the modified contract, which will first have to be approved before the Sncb summit on a new social pact. The government therefore has until December 23 to approve the agreement with the Nmbs (but also with the railway network operator Infrabel), and to “give the start of a new era for Belgian railways”, said the Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo).
