Belgium's aging railway infrastructure has been pushed to breaking point by a persistent and severe heatwave, leading to frequent delays and cancellations of trains.
Belgium issued a nationwide heat alert on Wednesday. The Royal Meteorological Institute said that almost the entire country would be under an orange heat alert from 00:00 on June 24 to 00:00 on June 29. Starting June 24, maximum temperatures in most parts of Belgium were expected to reach or exceed 35 degrees Celsius.
National railway operator SNCB has announced that about 100 trains would be canceled daily this week due to the extreme temperatures.
"I've been living here for 20 years. I think it's the first time when I see such a long period and so warm. Yes, there are big problems, there are the delays simply, then the lots of cancellation. I see my train now is 12 minutes delayed. It could only be worse," said Lisa, a local resident.
"So you cannot go to work, you cannot go to your appointment if you don't have a car or something like that," said Selina, another resident.
The extreme heat has caused malfunctions in some overhead power transmission lines, and many trains in direct sunlight have seen interior temperatures climb to unsafe levels, rendering them unfit for service.
Currently, about one in five trains in Belgium is not equipped with a cooling system. The rail operator has acknowledged the problem and set a long-term target to phase out its last non-air-conditioned trains by 2032.
Heatwave exposes vulnerability in Belgium's aging rail network
