SNCB punctuality record rated ‘disastrous’

Belgian railway operator SNCB’s punctuality record is “disastrous”, Flemish commuters’ association TreinTramBus deplored on its website yesterday. The association criticises SNCB’s punctuality plan put into place in 2011 and demands an assessment of the concrete results it has yielded so far. In 2011 , SNCB and Infrabel launched a 128-point plan to improve the punctuality of trains. However, statistics for 2013 are expected to be worse than in previous years in terms of punctuality, if the figures for the first half of the year, collected by De Morgen, are anything to go by. "We want to know what SNCB and Infrabel intend to do in order to solve this problem," said TreinTramBus spokesman Jan Vanseveren . "We must identify and improve some of the 128 points that can deliver quick results," he suggested. The spokesman of the SNCB , Bart Crols , said it was essential to solve the problem , following a high number of complaints. He added that the new mobility plan will be finalised by the end of 2014, the previous one dating  back to 1998. "The new mobility plan and the use of new equipment should, in the medium term, improve punctuality," he concluded.