NMBS marks 100 years as Brussels reckons with the railway that reshaped it
Belgium's national railway operator NMBS/SNCB turned 100 on 23 July 2026, a centenary Brussels news outlet BRUZZ marked with a look at how the company's construction projects — above all the North-South junction — tore through and permanently redrew the capital. The anniversary lands while Belgian rail faces investment backlogs, punctuality pressure and a contested service plan.
For anyone who takes a train in Belgium, the centenary is a reminder that the network's shape — and its chokepoints — were set by decisions taken generations ago. The North-South junction still funnels most national rail traffic through a few hundred metres of central Brussels, which is why disruption there is never local. For Brussels residents, the anniversary also reopens a harder question about who paid for that connectivity: entire streets in the Marollen and surrounding districts were cleared to build it.
NMBS/SNCB (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen / Société nationale des chemins de fer belges) is Belgium's national passenger rail operator, founded in 1926. Since the 2005 restructuring it operates trains and stations while a separate company, Infrabel, owns and manages the track and signalling; both sit under federal ownership. Its most consequential Brussels project is the North-South junction (Noord-Zuidverbinding / Jonction Nord-Midi), the underground rail link between Brussels-North and Brussels-South stations, opened in 1952, which carries the bulk of Belgian intercity traffic and required extensive demolition in central Brussels, including in the Marollen. Brussels-Central station, on that link, was designed by architect Victor Horta. BRUZZ is the Dutch-language Brussels public news outlet that published the centenary feature and the BRUZZ 24 bulletin cited here.
Background
Belgium opened continental Europe's first steam passenger railway between Brussels and Mechelen in 1835, and the state built out the network directly through the nineteenth century. NMBS/SNCB was created in 1926 as a separate public limited company to run it, a structure intended to give the railways commercial autonomy while keeping them in public hands. The North-South junction had been proposed in the nineteenth century but was repeatedly delayed by cost, war and political disagreement; construction spanned decades before the link opened in 1952. In 2005, under European rules requiring separation of infrastructure from operations, the company was split, with Infrabel taking the network and NMBS retaining passenger services.
What to do
Nothing changes for ticketing or timetables because of the anniversary. Passengers should still expect the Brussels junction to remain the network's chokepoint: incidents there continue to propagate nationally, and journeys crossing Brussels carry the highest delay exposure on the network.
Impact
Regional — Brussels carries the physical legacy of NMBS construction more than any other part of Belgium. The North-South junction cut a permanent scar through the central districts, and the neighbourhoods around Brussels-North and Brussels-South have been shaped ever since by station-led development and by the traffic the link generates. Commuters into the Brussels-Capital Region — a large share of them from Flanders and Wallonia — depend on the same corridor.
Opposing perspectives
- Brussels heritage and Marollen residents' associations
Groups defending the memory of the districts cleared for the North-South junction argue the centenary should not be celebrated without naming the cost: thousands of residents were displaced and a dense working-class quarter was permanently broken up so that intercity trains could cross the city. In this reading, the junction is a case study in infrastructure imposed on the least powerful neighbourhoods, and the anniversary is an occasion for acknowledgement rather than nostalgia.
- Rail operators and commuter organisations
NMBS and passenger groups point out that the junction is what makes Belgian rail work at all: without a through-link, every national journey would terminate at the edge of Brussels and the country's dense commuter network would be impossible. On this view the 1926 founding and the 1952 link delivered a level of connectivity that few comparable countries achieved, and the centenary is a reasonable moment to make the case for reinvestment in capacity.
- Federal budget hawks
Politicians focused on public finances note that NMBS remains heavily dependent on federal subsidy and argue that centenary goodwill should not translate into open-ended spending commitments. They press instead for measurable improvements in punctuality and cost control before new capital projects are approved.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceBRUZZ — NMBS is 100 jaar oud: 'Brussel werd helemaal overhoop gehaald'Primary· bruzz.be· 23 July 2026Retrieved 24 July 2026· 3 days ago· Dated
- View sourceBRUZZ 24 — bulletin on striking firefighters and 100 years of NMBS· bruzz.be· 23 July 2026Retrieved 24 July 2026· 3 days ago· Dated
- View sourceNMBS/SNCB corporate site· belgiantrain.beRetrieved 24 July 2026
- View sourceInfrabel — Belgian rail infrastructure manager· infrabel.beRetrieved 24 July 2026