Arrived off the service from Binche into Brussels Midi this morning at about 10:35 to find that there was a complete meltdown as smoke/fire had been detected.
Nothing really moving or going anywhere, but my train to Lokeren was still advertised so I went and sat down on it. To my surprise, we departed 8 minutes behind schedule and went via Brussels-West and rejoined the intended route south of Jette. At present we're down to a mere 4 minutes late. (Long dwell at Dendermonde should cancel that out too)
Conductor didn't know much more than us, but said that 'decisions have to be made very quickly' when I remarked that we seemed to be underway faster than expected. Considering the scale of the disruption, I was impressed nonetheless!
I'm not sure what other services can take the diversion via Brussels-West and Simonis, and most passengers on the concourse just looked bewildered. One passenger was noted screaming and kicking the side of a cancelled train- clearly everything was a bit much for him
I was just wondering (maybe not this second, as it's a fresh ongoing disruption) whether anyone more au-fait with the Belgian system had any further details on how this has occurred?
My one gripe was the lack of staff and information. The only staff member I encountered was my own conductor telling passengers we were diverting, and information on the ground was essentially "there's problems" rather than any sort of advice on what to do (make your own way to Brussels Nord, etc).
Nothing really moving or going anywhere, but my train to Lokeren was still advertised so I went and sat down on it. To my surprise, we departed 8 minutes behind schedule and went via Brussels-West and rejoined the intended route south of Jette. At present we're down to a mere 4 minutes late. (Long dwell at Dendermonde should cancel that out too)
Conductor didn't know much more than us, but said that 'decisions have to be made very quickly' when I remarked that we seemed to be underway faster than expected. Considering the scale of the disruption, I was impressed nonetheless!
I'm not sure what other services can take the diversion via Brussels-West and Simonis, and most passengers on the concourse just looked bewildered. One passenger was noted screaming and kicking the side of a cancelled train- clearly everything was a bit much for him
I was just wondering (maybe not this second, as it's a fresh ongoing disruption) whether anyone more au-fait with the Belgian system had any further details on how this has occurred?
My one gripe was the lack of staff and information. The only staff member I encountered was my own conductor telling passengers we were diverting, and information on the ground was essentially "there's problems" rather than any sort of advice on what to do (make your own way to Brussels Nord, etc).
