Train with a thousand travelers stops on the way to coast, three travelers taken to hospital after they became unwell (Affligem)

With the nice weather, a lot of people went to the coast on Thursday, also by train. But a train set on the way to the coast had to deal with bad luck on the fast line between Brussels and Ostend. « Around half past eleven, a train stopped at Affligem, » says Dimitri Temmerman of the NMBS. « Smoke development was determined on the train and the fire brigade arrived quickly. But the situation was immediately under control. »

At that time, the train was still well filled with a few hundred travelers. Network manager Infrabel even talks about a thousand travelers. Because the train stopped in the warm weather, it was decided to evacuate the travelers. That is why train traffic on both tracks on the busy axis of Brussels-Ghent was stopped. The train traffic was diverted via the classic line L50.

Three travelers to hospital

« The travelers were evacuated by track and were collected under a bridge where they could stand in the shade and were also offered water, » says Dimitri Temmerman. Replacement buses have been called with which travelers can possibly be transported. In the end it was also decided to let all travelers go on foot to the station of Liedekerke, 500 meters away. There they can switch to another train.

During the evacuation, three travelers have become unwell. Liedekerk’s Mayor Berdien van den Abeele says that. They were taken to the hospital for care.

There is currently nuisance on the Brussels-Ghent line. However, the NMBS is doing everything it can to get the nuisance solved by Thursday evening when the exodus from the coast starts again. (MvL)