Brussels North regains position as busiest train station in the country (Brussels)

The Brussels-North train station will again become the busiest station in the country on weekdays in 2023, after having to leave that title to Brussels-South the year before. This is evident from the passenger counts that the railway company NMBS had carried out in October 2023.

While the aftermath of the corona crisis was still clearly visible in the counts in 2022, the number of travelers counted in the largest stations in 2023 was almost back to the level of 2019, before the coronavirus broke out. For example, last year the Brussels North station once again passed the mark of 60,000 boarding passengers on weekdays. An average of 60,449 were counted per day, compared to more than 48,000 in 2022.

Weekdays

This makes Brussels North once again the busiest station on weekdays, ahead of Brussels Central (58,877) and Brussels South (58,344). The first non-Brussels train station is in fourth place: Gent-Sint-Pieters with an average of 48,441 passengers boarding on weekdays. This is followed by two more stations in Flanders – Antwerp Central (37,591) and Leuven (31,461) -, before the first Walloon stations in the list: Ottignies (21,977) and Namur (21,590).

Brussels North is a station par excellence for commuters. During the weekend the station receives far fewer travelers. On Saturday, for example, it is only in fifth place with 20,825 passengers boarding. At the top of the Saturday list is Brussels-South, the hub for high-speed trains, with 33,469 passengers, followed by Brussels-Central (26,916), Ghent-Sint-Pieters (25,578) and Antwerp-Central (25,163). (blg)