Entire Belgian railway line now equipped with ERTMS

Belgium has completed a major ERTMS project to make its railway system safer. Infrabel, the Belgian infrastructure manager, installed a modern train management system on 350 kilometres of railway lines, along with upgrades to railway control equipment, across three main European rail routes. The project was supported by €40 million in CEF Transport funding from the European Union.

For many years, Belgian railway infrastructure relied on old and less reliable signalling systems. Following the tragic train accident in Buizingen in February 2010, in which 19 people lost their lives and many others were injured, improving rail safety became a national priority.

In response Belgium launched their Masterplan ETCS to increase railway safety across the country. Work started in 2012 and was completed in December 2025. During this time the modern ERTMS Level 1 and 2 traffic management systems were installed on 6 400 kilometres of railway lines. Like cruise control in cars, ERTMS will constantly monitor train speed and take action when necessary to avoid collisions.

Thanks to this effort, Belgium is now the second country in the European Union, after Luxembourg, to have its entire main railway network equipped with the most advanced technology in rail signalling. This makes Belgium's railway network one of the safest in Europe and the world.

The European Union supported the deployment on almost 10% of the current ERTMS-equipped lines in the country, with a total contribution of €63.5 million.

Completing this programme improves rail safety and interoperability in Belgium.

ERTMS, the European Railway Traffic Management System, is the European standard for the automatic train protection and command and control systems. It replaces the many different national train control systems used across Europe with one shared system. This makes it easier for trains to travel across borders, improves safety, and helps railways work better together.

ETCS, the European Train Control System, is a key part of this system constantly checks that trains stay within safe speeds and safe distances. It also gives useful information to train drivers to support them while they are driving.

The European Union has a long-term plan to introduce this system across Europe. The goal is to install it on the most important rail routes by 2030 and on the rest of the rail network by 2050. This will improve train capacity, reliability, cross-border travel and make rail transport more competitive across Europe.