Belgium’s three largest railway unions—CGSP/ACOD, CSC Transcom/ACV and SLFP/VSOA—confirmed late on Sunday, 25 January, that they will press ahead with a five-day national strike running from 22:00 on Sunday night until 22:00 on Friday, 30 January 2026. The action will hit passenger operator SNCB/NMBS as well as infrastructure manager Infrabel and is framed as a protest against a €675 million federal funding cut, plans to end statutory status for new recruits and prospective pension reforms.
Under Belgium’s “minimum service” legislation, roughly one train in three will run, but disruption will be highly uneven. SNCB has already published an alternative timetable for Monday showing that only 75 % of InterCity (IC) services and 66 % of S-L suburban trains will operate; virtually all peak-hour P-trains are cancelled. Cross-border business services are also affected: Eurostar, ICE and Thalys have warned of cascading delays and reduced frequencies through Brussels-Midi. Corporate mobility managers should anticipate missed connections and advise travellers to keep at least a two-hour buffer between rail and flight segments.
![Week-long national rail strike to paralyse Belgian network from 26 January]()
Travel disruptions of this scale can also strand international passengers or push them onto unexpected itineraries through neighbouring hubs where visa rules differ. VisaHQ’s Belgium desk (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) can obtain Belgian and transit visas on urgent notice, track entry-requirement changes and courier documents directly to travellers or mobility managers, helping companies keep staff compliant even when strike-day plans change at the last minute.
Cargo flows will likewise suffer. Infrabel expects to prioritise “strategic industrial corridors”, but automotive plants in Flanders that rely on just-in-time rail freight have been told to shift to road or build additional stock on site. Employers that sponsor commuter season-tickets can allow remote work during the week to avoid breaching Belgium’s complex social-security “multi-state worker” thresholds triggered by ad-hoc telework.
Labour-court challenges are unlikely: unions complied with the legal strike-notice period and the planned minimum service. However, should the federal parliament push the controversial rail-funding bill through its final reading next month, unions warn they could escalate to an indefinite strike in March. Mobility teams therefore need contingency frameworks—re-routable tickets, remote-work policies and employee-communication channels—ready before the current walk-out ends. (striketracker.app)
Under Belgium’s “minimum service” legislation, roughly one train in three will run, but disruption will be highly uneven. SNCB has already published an alternative timetable for Monday showing that only 75 % of InterCity (IC) services and 66 % of S-L suburban trains will operate; virtually all peak-hour P-trains are cancelled. Cross-border business services are also affected: Eurostar, ICE and Thalys have warned of cascading delays and reduced frequencies through Brussels-Midi. Corporate mobility managers should anticipate missed connections and advise travellers to keep at least a two-hour buffer between rail and flight segments.
Travel disruptions of this scale can also strand international passengers or push them onto unexpected itineraries through neighbouring hubs where visa rules differ. VisaHQ’s Belgium desk (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) can obtain Belgian and transit visas on urgent notice, track entry-requirement changes and courier documents directly to travellers or mobility managers, helping companies keep staff compliant even when strike-day plans change at the last minute.
Cargo flows will likewise suffer. Infrabel expects to prioritise “strategic industrial corridors”, but automotive plants in Flanders that rely on just-in-time rail freight have been told to shift to road or build additional stock on site. Employers that sponsor commuter season-tickets can allow remote work during the week to avoid breaching Belgium’s complex social-security “multi-state worker” thresholds triggered by ad-hoc telework.
Labour-court challenges are unlikely: unions complied with the legal strike-notice period and the planned minimum service. However, should the federal parliament push the controversial rail-funding bill through its final reading next month, unions warn they could escalate to an indefinite strike in March. Mobility teams therefore need contingency frameworks—re-routable tickets, remote-work policies and employee-communication channels—ready before the current walk-out ends. (striketracker.app)
