The National Railway Company of Belgium is the national railway company of Belgium. The company formally styles itself using the Dutch and French abbreviations NMBS/SNCB. The corporate logo designed in 1936 by Henry van de Velde consists of the linguistically neutral letter B in a horizontal oval.
The HSL-Zuid, is a 125 kilometre-long Dutch high-speed railway line running between the Amsterdam metropolitan area and the Belgian border, with a branch to Breda, North Brabant. Together with the Belgian HSL 4 it forms the Schiphol–Antwerp high-speed railway. Originally scheduled to be in service by 2007, the first public operations began on 7 September 2009, after a ceremony on 6 September.
Bombardier TRAXX is a modular product platform of mainline diesel-electric and electric locomotives produced by Bombardier Transportation, which was built in both freight and passenger variants. The first version was a dual-voltage AC locomotive built for German railways from the year 2000. Later types included DC versions, as well as quadruple-voltage machines, able to operate on most European electrification schemes: 1.5/3.0 kV DC and 15/25 kV AC. The family was expanded in 2006 to include diesel-powered versions. Elements common to all variants include steel bodyshells, two bogies with two powered axles each, three-phase asynchronous induction motors, cooling exhausts on the roof edges, and wheel disc brakes.
The HSL 2 is a Belgian high-speed rail line between Leuven and Ans and is 66.2 km (41 mi) long, all of it on dedicated high-speed tracks, which began service on 15 December 2002. As part of the Belgian railway network, it is owned, technically operated and maintained by Infrabel.
Euro Cargo Rail is a French rail freight operator formed in 2005 by English Welsh & Scottish Railway. It is now a subsidiary of DB Cargo.
Class 11 is part of the large 1980s family of 144 electric locomotives. The family was made up of Classes 11 (12), 12 (12), 21 (60) and 27 (60). Classes 11, 12 and 21 were nearly twice as powerful as Classes 22, 23 and 25 while Class 27 was more than twice as powerful as these 1950s locomotives. This family was heavily influenced by the Class 20² from the mid-1970s. They were very reliable because of the trial and error development of their predecessor. This family came into service with M4 and M5 coaching stock and the AM 80 and AM 86 series of EMUs. This generation was a major modernization of the NMBS/SNCB even if the older M2 coaching stock remained active for more than a decade before being replaced. The only real difference between a Class 11 and a Class 21 was the Class 11 had a transformer inside to allow working under both 3000 V DC in Belgium and 1500 V DC plus Dutch signalling and train protection for working in Holland. Externally they were identical to Classes 12 and 21 aside from the livery and a few minor details.
The Class 13 are a type of mixed use 200 km/h (124 mph) multivoltage electric locomotive of type Traxis designed by Alstom in the late 1990s for the Belgian and Luxembourgish railways.
SNCB Class 22 Locomotives were owned by the National Railway Company of Belgium, also known as Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen or Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges, the Belgian national railway operator.
Class 25 locomotives were part of the 1950s generation of SNCB electric locomotives that included Types 122, 123, 125, and 140 built between 1953 and 1961. There were 50 Series 122, 83 Series 123, 16 Series 125 and 6 Series 140 for a total of 155 locomotives. They were seen across Belgium on passenger and freight trains until they were retired in 2012. Class 23 was later fitted for multiple working, and were often found in pairs. There was no difference in power between the classes as they all used the same traction motors and control equipment.
SNCB Class 25.5 locomotives were part of the 1950s generation of SNCB electric locomotives that included Series 122, 123, 125, and 140 built between 1953 and 1961. There were 50 Series 122, 83 Series 123, 16 Series 125 and 6 Series 140 for a total of 155 locomotives. They were seen across Belgium on passenger and freight trains until they were retired in 2012. There was no difference in power between the classes as they all used the same traction motors and control equipment.
The NMBS/SNCB Class 77 is a class of 4 axle B'B' road switcher diesel hydraulic locomotive designed for shunting and freight work manufactured at the beginning of the 2000s by Siemens Schienenfahrzeugtechnik and later by Vossloh at the Maschinenbau Kiel plant in Kiel, Germany for the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB/NMBS).
The EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives is a modular concept of locomotives for the European market built by Siemens Mobility. The internal Siemens product name is ES 64, with ES for EuroSprinter and the number 64 indicating the 6,400 kW power at rail.
The original NMBS/SNCB Class 28 locomotives were produced by Baume - Marpent (nl) in 1949 and entered service in 1950. Three were built under the designation of Type 120. They were built as prototypes to help SNCB develop a standard electric locomotive for future electrification projects. They are in no way related to Type 101/Class 29 locomotives, which were an off the shelf design already in use as Class BB 300 by SNCF. They also had nothing in common with Type 121, another series of three prototypes that SNCB bought at the same time. Class 121 was designed in Switzerland and used a number of existing Swiss components but they were assembled in Belgium.
The SNCB/NMBS HLE 18 are a series of four axle Bo′Bo′ multivoltage electric Siemens EuroSprinter locomotives ordered in two batches of sixty in 2006 and 2008.
RAIL4CHEM was a German rail freight transport company, and the parent company of a number of European subsidiary rail freight transport companies including rail4chem Benelux B.V. (Rotterdam), the rail4chem transalpin AG (Basel) and Fer Polska S.A. (Warsaw).
The DBAG Class 145 and DBAG Class 146 are Bo′Bo′ mainline electric locomotives built by Adtranz primarily for the Deutsche Bahn at the end of the 1990s. The Class 145 is the freight version for DB Cargo; the Class 146 is the passenger version for DB Regio. Additional freight machines were built for the former Swiss railway Mittelthurgaubahn as well as for various private operators and leasing companies.
Fyra was an international high-speed rail service between the Netherlands and Belgium using the AnsaldoBreda V250 train. The service used the HSL-Zuid and HSL 4 railway lines to connect Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels. Continuous technical difficulties suspended the service, and it was eventually permanently halted due to reliability and safety concerns.
The Vectron is a locomotive series made by Siemens Mobility, introduced at the 2010 InnoTrans trade fair in four prototype versions: diesel, multi-system, and both AC and DC electric power. The diesel version has been replaced in 2018 by a dual mode locomotive which is powered by electricity on electrified sections of the track and can be switched to diesel mode on non-electrified sections. The Vectron series is reconfigurable and modular, with a Bo'Bo' wheel arrangement, and is intended as the successor to the EuroSprinter family of locomotives. A more affordable, basic version called Smartron was introduced in 2018.
Lineas the largest private rail freight operator in Europe with headquarters in Belgium and sites in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The Federal Holding and Investment Company holds 10% of the shares. Private equity group Argos Wityu and the management of Lineas together hold the remaining 90%.
The NS Class 186 is a type of B-B electric locomotive built by Bombardier Transportation between 2006 and 2014. It is a member of the Bombardier TRAXX family of locomotives, the Bombardier TRAXX F140 MS2 variant.
