Rail line near Ternat to remain closed until Monday
An incident involving a maintenance train and a passenger train damaged the track; no one was injured.
Listen to this article
There is no audio version yet. Request one and an AI voice will read the article aloud.
Read by an AI voice.
Train services between Jette and Denderleeuw in Belgium are expected to remain suspended until Monday following an incident near Ternat. A component of a maintenance train struck a passenger train, and three carriages of the maintenance train later derailed.
The incident occurred on Wednesday on the railway line between Brussels and Denderleeuw. According to rail infrastructure manager Infrabel, a component of the maintenance train first came into contact with a train near Liedekerke and later struck a passenger train near Essene-Lombeek.
The maintenance train then derailed as it entered Ternat station. Infrabel amended its initial account of the sequence of events after new findings became available. The investigation into the cause is still under way.
About seventy people were on the passenger train. They were able to leave the train at a platform. According to the Belgian railways, no one was injured, although emergency services had to attend because two people were in shock.
The damage to the track is serious enough to suspend the connection between Jette and Denderleeuw for several days. NMBS is running replacement buses, but passengers should expect longer journey times and changed connections.
The railway line mainly serves regional traffic in Flemish Brabant and the Brussels outskirts. For Dutch travellers, the disruption is mainly relevant when travelling via Brussels to destinations in that region; the incident does not involve a direct Dutch railway line.
Infrabel stresses that the description of what happened is provisional. According to Infrabel, investigators are still examining how a component of the maintenance train could strike a passenger train and why the maintenance train later derailed.
The key new information is therefore not only the duration of the disruption, but also that the original account of the incident has been revised. Until the investigation is complete, the cause cannot be attributed to a specific error or party.
Also show where in Europe and in the world
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The text follows the revised account of events as reported by Infrabel via Belga and makes clear which elements remain uncertain. The duration of the disruption and the absence of injuries were reported by Belgian sources.
- confirmed The Jette–Denderleeuw railway line will remain suspended until Monday. — Reported by VRT NWS and Belga. source
- confirmed A component of a maintenance train struck a passenger train before the maintenance train derailed. — Infrabel’s revised provisional account appears in BRUZZ/Belga. source
- confirmed None of the approximately seventy passengers was injured. — Reported by NMBS via BRUZZ/Belga. source
Editor's note
The railway line’s closure, the absence of injuries and the revised account of events have been confirmed. The cause of the detached component remains unknown.Sources
More on this in Dutch media
- AD — „belgië ternat”
- de Volkskrant — „belgië ternat”
- RTL Nieuws — „belgië ternat”