As the European Year of Rail counts down its final days, some very good last-minute news for all train and bicycle users has emerged from Belgium. Following a proposal from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet, the Belgian Council of Ministers approved on Friday 10 December a preliminary bill relating to the rights and obligations of rail passengers.

As per the proposal, all new trains in Belgium from 2025 onwards are to be equipped with a minimum of eight designated spaces for the carriage of bicycles. This draft law reinforces the National Railway Company of Belgium’s (NMBS/SNCB) 2021 train-bike strategy, whose goals are to increase the overall capacities for bicycles on trains, provide more secure bicycle parking, ensure clear signage and better information to travelers.

This piece of legislation comes as a result of the harmonisation of an existing 2014 Belgian law on the rights and obligations of rail passengers and a 2021 regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of on rights and obligations of rail passengers. Article 6.4 of the latter regulation obliges EU member states to equip all train compositions that include new or upgraded rolling stock, with a minimum of four places for bicycles.

The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) wholeheartedly supports this proposal and hopes that these broader ambitions shown by the Belgian legislature will serve as a strong example for other member states to follow. Going beyond the four space minimum and mandating at least eight designated bicycle spaces on trains is in line with ECF’s demands to connect the two most efficient and sustainable mobility options in the EU.

Cycling and rail synergies offer European policymakers powerful tools in decreasing their transport emissions and achieving the envisioned goal of carbon neutrality. Unfortunately, this tool has long gone ignored or underutilized. For multimodality to stop being a mere buzzword, our trains need to be retrofitted with an adequate amount of bicycle spaces, transition between rides has to become seamless and train stations need to be equipped with sufficient and secure bicycle parking.

These recent developments in Belgium leave us with a healthy dose of optimism that a change for the better is in sight!

Speaking on the matter, Gilkinet said on his website, “Today, there are no standards set to encourage the bicycle-train combination in the design of rolling stock. From 2025, this will change: any new rolling stock ordered by SNCB will have to provide at least eight spaces for bicycles. And we do not limit ourselves only to the new material, since any train which is currently in service and which undergoes a major refitting will have to envisage four spaces as well. This is a new step forward, which further concretizes the BE CYCLIST, our federal bicycle action plan, to encourage cycling in Belgium for everyone.”

Read our report on bike friendliness of European railway operators here.
Read our demands for designated bicycle spaces on trains here.