I was surprised the other day when I took the train from the Central Railway station in Brussels to the airport. Instead of the previous 3€ I paid 5€. That was an increase of 60% and I thought the machine (yes they have 2 automatic ticket machines, primitive as they might be...) was crazy... I blamed it on the cold weather, but had no time to check. On the way back, already in 2010, it had already increased to 5.05€. And the loudspeekers announced a certain "Diabolo fee" (interesting name) for anyone travelling from or to the airport.
Checking the SNCB website I found out that they are building a new track to Antwerp (they say also to Brussels but that is not true, it exists already). So they're asking everybody who is travelling to and from the airport (mostly foreigners, tourists or people who come for business) to pay 2.05€ that will be paid to this Diabolo company (good name!) to build this track to Antwerp, in the middle of the E19 highway. Good business! We, who use this (not so good infrastructure) have to pay now so that others will be able to have access to an infrastructure in the future. But let's not forget the trains... You should have seen the train I took from the airport to central Brussels... a relic from World War II, undoubtedly. Or maybe they bought it from Ceausescu's Romania... I do not mind paying well for public transport services, but I like also its quality to improve accordingly. Forget it. Even though the rail link between Brussels-centre & the airport has improved in recent years - now instead of 30 or 40 minutes it only takes 20 (or 15 if you're lucky) - which is basically due to the fact that most trains now only stop at Central station and North station (instead of the previous 5 - yes you read well 5 stations - the previous 2 with Schaerbeek, Diegem and Zaventem). So that is 20 minutes to travel 12 kms. Nowadays it's not bad, even though at times one would walk faster than the train, I have the feeling. And when the train stops at North station for loooong minutes?...
Anyway, despite the well known capability of belgian to provide efficient public services, I would advise the SNCB to travel to some european capitals like Stockholm (Arlanda airport is 40 km away from the city centre and the train takes 20 minutes to do that) or Oslo, for instance, to check how you do it. Even in Portugal, which is certainly not one of the most developed european countries, I take 40/45 minutes by train from my town (and it's not a central airport) to central Lisbon, 75 kms away. That is 100 km/h. And it stops once. The train called "airport-express" in Brussels takes 15/20 min to do 12 km. That is an average of 48 km/h (or 36). No further comments, but these guys are clever... Finally in 2009, they realised Antwerp needed a fast link to te airport (and yes not paid by the wealthy locals, no, paid by all travellers to Brussels airport). This is a best practise case and should be reproduced, everywhere.
