‘Fast train connection Tilburg-Belgium disappears’

The direct fast train connection from Brabant to Antwerp will disappear from the train timetables in 2012. The Intercity train via Roosendaal will be cancelled. Taking the Amsterdam-Brussels high-speed train Fyra, is not a fast possibility either. Rotterdam will be its last stop, reports regional tv channel Omroep Brabant.

Initially, the high-speed train Fyra would start running between The Hague and Brussels, with one last stop in Breda. But the Belgians did not want to pay their share, reported daily newspaper BN / De Stem.

North-Brabant residents who want to travel to Belgium fast, first have to travel to Rotterdam and then back south with high-speed train Fyra. The only alternative is taking the slow local train from Roosendaal to Antwerp, a journey of 46 minutes.

CDA member of the Provincial Executive Ruud van Heugten announced that he will send an urgent letter to transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen and the parliament. “It’s crazy. The train journey from Eindhoven to Antwerp is almost turning into a world trip”, Van Heugten said.

The Dutch Railway NS denies that the fast train connection will definitely disappear. “Compared to the current intercity connection it is, in terms of time, not such a big difference to travel via Rotterdam. But it feels longer of course”, said Dutch Railway spokesman Rose Teunissen in the regional newspaper.

The international train timetable for 2012 is not published on the internet yet.

Tilburg University staff and students currently make a lot of use of the fast train connection to Belgium. Tilburg University professor Ton Wilthagen wonders aloud whether ‘the university should not fuss much more about the train timetable 2012, in which the connection Brabant – Brussels (including Leuven) will only run via Rotterdam?”

“It is bad for our European contacts, also in terms of research funds. And bad for our students who wish to study in Belgium. A research master’s in Law for instance, which is offered in cooperation with Leuven.”

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