Brussels North regains its position as the busiest train station in the country

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. NMBS counted an average of 60,449 travelers per day, compared to more than 48,000 in 2022.

Brussels stations in top three

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 it receives far fewer travelers. For example, on Saturday it was only in fifth place with 20,825 boarding passengers. 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).

The quietest station in Flanders

At the bottom of the ranking are about 25 train stations that have an average of fewer than fifty boarding passengers on weekdays. The smallest number of travelers per day was counted at the Hainaut stops Beignée (9) and Hourpes (15). The quietest station in Flanders on weekdays is that of Aalst-Kerrebroek (East Flanders, 20 travelers per day). Fewer than fifty travelers per day are counted at five more Flemish stops: the West Flemish Aarsele (24), three stops in the East Flemish municipality of Erpe-Mere – Bambrugge (31), Vijfhuizen (32) and Erpe-Mere (48). ) – and the Flemish Brabant stop at Hambos (37).

The traveler counts are carried out every year during a week in October. They are the only source that allows to determine the number of boarding passengers per station and the long-term evolution, says the NMBS. The railway company does warn that the counts are the result of “a short observation over time, which inevitably involves a margin of error, which in some cases can be significant”.

The counts are still done manually. There are automated counting systems, but manual counting still offers the best price-quality ratio, according to the NMBS.