The train... always a bit of misery

Belgian Rail has a motto which goes: "The train... always a bit of travelling". I'd suggest to change this into the above title.

Why? Well, for the last ten years there is always something wrong with our trains. The trouble started when some 'wise man' up in government decided to have not one service (NMBS) but three instead. One service for passengers, one for freight, and one for the upkeep of material. They all have a director, and those directions don't agree. They can't make deals. The unions have been on strike for ages, but it doesn't help.

The result is that trains in Belgium don't run on time (I suppose everybody would be scared to death when a train left on time) and break down every other day. Then you simply get the announcement: Train cancelled. If you depend on trains to reach work, you better make sure you take an earlier train so it doesn't matter when it arrives half an hour late.

Another problem is the lack of communication. Take today. We arrive in the station to take the train of 11.13 am - and only hear there Infrabel is doing repairs on the line, so the trains run 40 minutes late. They can't put that on their website when you buy a ticket! We arrived home one hour later than expected.

I always thought that British rail was a jambles too, but every time I took a train in Great-Britain it was more or less on time. And if you travel in Switzerland, you can put your clock right on the departure time.

Why can't they do this in Belgium??