Stranded Overnight: SNCB Replacement Buses Took 6 Hours to Arrive at Jurbise Station
Passengers were stranded overnight at Jurbise station in Belgium after a train disruption on the night of June 26–27, with replacement buses taking up to six hours to arrive. Some travelers reported waiting until the early hours of the morning for alternative transport, prompting renewed criticism of the Belgian national railway company’s crisis management protocols.
Context
The disruption began late on the evening of Friday, June 26, when train traffic was suspended on the Mons-Brussels and Mons-Charleroi lines after a body was discovered on the tracks near Mons station. Belgian procedure requires the public prosecutor’s office (parquet) to attend the scene before train services can resume, a process that significantly complicated the response, according to RTBF.
Passengers were left stranded at Jurbise, La Louvière, and Nivelles stations, with Jurbise experiencing the longest delays.
Key Developments
According to an account published by RTBF journalist Charlotte Legrand, the mother of a 20-year-old passenger stranded at Jurbise contacted the broadcaster to describe the situation. She reported that train personnel left the scene around midnight via taxi, leaving passengers unattended at the closed station.
“Complete chaos with SNCB! Following a ‘person accident’ in Mons, travelers are stranded at Jurbise, La Louvière, Nivelles. My 20-year-old son is stuck at Jurbise in the middle of the night. The station is closed, the train staff went home by taxi around midnight, leaving the travelers to fend for themselves,” the mother told RTBF.
She further described how a newly arrived SNCB agent had to re-request a bus, which only departed from Brussels in the early hours of the morning. When she called Sécurail — the SNCB’s security service and the only contact point reachable overnight — she learned that only three agents were available to handle calls nationwide.
“Totally lamentable and scandalous management by SNCB!” she said.
Tom Guillaume, spokesperson for SNCB, confirmed the incident and acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. “Traffic was interrupted from late evening. Several trains were stopped on the Mons-Brussels and Mons-Charleroi lines. A body was discovered on the tracks near Mons station, which required the presence of the public prosecutor’s office at the scene,” Guillaume told RTBF. “A bus service was put in place but given the context, at night, the prosecutor’s office that had been dispatched to the scene… the management was quite complicated. We understand that this may have been difficult for passengers left waiting.”
Replacement buses finally arrived at Jurbise station in the early hours of the morning — nearly six hours after the initial disruption.
Analysis
This incident is not an isolated case. It adds to a growing pattern of service failures on the Belgian rail network. In January 2026, passengers were stranded for three hours on a train between Liège and Brussels. In September 2025, dozens of passengers spent the night stranded on a Brussels-Luxembourg train that broke down. Hundreds were also stranded in August 2025 after a person was struck by a train in Hoeilaart. Just four months prior, in February 2026, train traffic was interrupted between Mons and Jurbise after a similar person accident.
The recurring nature of these incidents raises questions about SNCB’s crisis management capabilities, particularly during nighttime hours when staffing is minimal. The fact that Sécurail — the only service reachable overnight — operates with just three phone agents suggests systemic under-resourcing for nighttime incident response.
Jurbise station itself, located on railway line 96 connecting Brussels to the French border, has faced service reductions in recent years, including the closure of ticket counters. The SNCB has been working on its 2026–2029 transport plan, approved in June 2026, which aims to increase service by 10% by 2032. However, the network continues to face challenges including aging infrastructure, staffing constraints, and heat-related disruptions.
What’s Next
The incident is likely to fuel further public frustration with SNCB service reliability, particularly as Belgium approaches the summer travel season. Key questions remain unanswered: Has SNCB launched an internal investigation into the response time? What specific protocols exist for passenger welfare during extended overnight disruptions? And are there plans to increase Sécurail’s overnight staffing levels?
For now, the passengers who spent the night at Jurbise station — cold, uninformed, and left to wait for hours — serve as a stark reminder of the gap between SNCB’s service ambitions and the reality on the ground for travelers.