16 injured in train accident

16 people were slightly injured when two trains collided at the station in the Flemish Brabant municipality of Linkebeek. The accident happened at around 1:30pm on Monday when a maintenance train collided with a passenger train that was on its way from the Walloon Brabant town of Braine l’Alleud to the East Flemish city of Aalst.

The are currently no trains running between Brussels South and Braine-l’Alleud. The Belgian Railways spokeswoman Nathalie Pierard told the VRT that “Those wishing to travel between Linkebeek and Braine-l Alleud can take a TEC (Walloon public transport company bus) and those wishing to travel from Linkebeek to Brussels South can take busses provided by the Brussels public transport company MIVB”. TEC also provides scheduled bus services from Brussels South to Braine-l’Alleud.

Services between Braine l’Alleud and Charleroi are running normally. The latest information on delays and cancellations can be found on the railtime.be website.

Thomas Baeken of the company that maintains and manages Belgium’s rail infrastructure told journalists that "The maintenance train ran into the back of the passenger train. This was as low seed as the train was already breaking. The circumstance surround the accident are now been investigated.”

There were 41 people travelling on the passenger train. 16 of them were taken with minor injuries to three local hospitals. The remaining passengers were taken by bus to Brussels South Railway Station from where they were able to continue their journey. .
 

Top stories