2023-08-03 18:02:00
It will soon be possible to fill your water bottle for free in the busiest stations in Belgium. This was announced by the SNCB at the beginning of the year, following the questioning of “Free Tap Water”, a movement which campaigns in favor of access to free water for all. Their most well-known fight concerns the free jug of water in restaurants. But their advocacy also concerns stations. And SNCB was not insensitive to this. A promise was then made to equip the busiest stations in the country with water fountains accessible free of charge by the end of 2023.
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“Good news ! A few sips of water before boarding his train, a gesture that will soon become… natural in our stations!”, commented in April the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility, Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), on social networks . “We are thus reducing the use of plastic and it is good for the wallet”, confirmed the same day Petra de Sutter, Vice-Premier Groen.
Some stations
A few months following the announcement, however, the maturity is no longer guaranteed. Questioned by the deputy Vincent Scourneau (MR), the Minister of Mobility explains that the call for tenders was not as successful as expected. “The SNCB had initially issued a call for tenders for the management of toilets in stations. The provision of water fountains was included in this. Unfortunately, the offers received did not meet the expectations set out in the call for tenders. Consequently, the project was split into several phases”, explains Georges Gilkinet in a written parliamentary response.
On the precise timetable, the ecologist is cautious: “The SNCB is doing everything possible to provide the facilities in its busiest stations by the end of 2023. It will continue to deploy these therefollowing in the other stations”, one can read in the answer.
The traveler should therefore wait a little longer before being able to fill his bottle in the busiest stations (which ones, by the way?). But the ambition is displayed and the project is on track.
This is not the first time that access to water in stations has come up in parliamentary debates. In 2015, Open VLD MP Tim Vandeput suggested that SNCB provide drinking water taps. “Just like in other places, shopping centers or taverns, the SNCB does not offer free water to travellers. In most of its stations, SNCB has a wide range of food, non-food and passenger services”, he was told.
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