SNCB receives harsh report from Court of Auditors

The federal government’s Court of Auditors, which scrutinises all expenditure at whatever level, is about to produce a report severely criticising the national rail authority SNCB and the rail infrastructure company Infrabel, according to an advance copy obtained by the daily newspaper Le Soir.

The audit was requested by the federal parliament’s infrastructure committee in order to examine the various obligations of the two government enterprises in return for the subsidies they receive.

The court of auditors found “dozens” of areas where the two enterprises failed to meet their obligations, including on quality of service. The SNCB failed, the audit said, to take account of complaints from the committee of rail users. The SNCB was also lax in providing information to the government’s mobility ministry under claims that the information was confidential or commercially sensitive.

The report also cites a failure of the rail authorities to keep up checks on infrastructure and rolling stock as a result of shortages of manpower.

Photo: Yves Herman/Reuters/Corbis