2023-12-11 05:14:00
A program that should have everything to please commuters. “I applaud with both hands,” quips Géry Baele, the spokesperson for Navetteurs.be, the association for the defense of rail users. But before promising the arrival of 2,000 additional trains per month, shouldn’t we instead manage all the problems that rail transport suffers from?
Chistelle, direct victim of the lack of punctuality of SNCB trains: “I have to leave home 1h30 early”
The problems on the rail are indeed numerous. Punctuality, in constant decline for several months, reached a symbolic bar in November : almost one in five trains arrived at the station more than six minutes late. “It may not seem like much, but if a traveler coming from Quiévrain, for example, arrives six minutes late at Mons station, he risks missing his connection to Brussels and arriving at his final destination ¾ d hour late, says Géry Baele. Over a week, he can lose almost a day of work because of these delays which are not occasional but structural.
Train punctuality is at its lowest. In November, one in five trains arrived at the station more than six minutes late. ©SNCB
And Géry Baele points out that the punctuality count “never takes into account canceled trains.”
But there are many of them: since the start of the year, an average of nearly 3,500 trains have been canceled each month. Here too, a milestone was reached in November: 6,200 trains were canceled. That’s almost 200 per day, one train in 15! “If SNCB really wants to increase its train offering, it must really increase its offering by 5,500 trains each month: the 3,500 canceled monthly plus the 2,000 that it wishes to launch. This is utopian. On paper, the new transport plan looks very nice. But I’m afraid these are just empty promises.”
The number of canceled trains exploded in November. ©Infrabel
According to SNCB, only 45% of delays are the responsibility of SNCB and Infrabel, the rest is attributable to third-party events such as accidents, suicides, cable theft, intrusions on the tracks, etc. “But it is up to SNCB and Infrabel to ensure that these third-party events reduce, by providing more resources to combat these problems.”
According to the spokesperson for Navetteurs.be, two structural problems would also be responsible for numerous delays and cancellations of trains: firstly a shortage of personnel in key positions such as drivers and attendants without whom the trains might not run. “But also the obsolescence of the machines. There is obsolete equipment that should no longer be running but which still runs and breaks down regularly. Result, either we eliminate the train, or half of the wagons. The trains are therefore crowded and this causes extreme discomfort for commuters. The delivery of M7 trains has been seriously delayed and we learn that those already delivered are suffering from their youthful illnesses. How can we believe that trains which break down following one year will still be efficient in 20 years?
According to a survey carried out by us among 450 commuters, the general satisfaction rate with SNCB is at its lowest. Nearly 57% of respondents consider themselves not very satisfied (48%) or not at all satisfied (9%) with the service offered by the railway company. And 22% have a mixed opinion on the issue. Ultimately, only one in 5 commuters consider themselves satisfied (16%) or even very satisfied (5%) with the offer.
In this context, the announcement made on Friday of a new increase in prices coming into force next February has commuters jumping. According to them, this is like going to the cinema only to see that the last 20 minutes have been cut from the film and that you are asked to pay more at the end of the screening. In such a case, you will not return and will prefer to go to the competition. But with SNCB having a monopoly on passenger transport, commuters who have no other means of getting around say they are “trapped”.
1702279955
#SNCB #transport #plan #convince #Lets #solve #current #problems #making #nice #promises
