More than 4,000 trains cancelled last month in Belgium

Last month in Belgium, 4,040 scheduled trains did not depart from the station or complete their journey, according to the monthly punctuality report of railway companies SNCB and Infrabel. Several strikes in October are largely responsible for the high number, writes De Standaard.

Last year in October there were 1,767 cancelled trains, or 1.6% of the total annual number. This year, by comparison, October accounted for about 3.9% of all cancelled trains. Various trade union strikes in October are to blame for nearly three-quarters of the cancellations that month, says SNCB.

Infrabel and SNCB do not include cancellations in their overall punctuality rate, which has in fact improved since last year. Last month, 89% of the trains left on time or with a delay of less than six minutes. In October 2014, the punctuality rate was 83.7%.