Frequently Asked Questions

The SNCB Europe site offers an integrated module where you can check the times of all trains in Europe and buy tickets to the most commonly requested destinations online.

This module lets you buy tickets online to the main destinations in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland and Austria (whether you travel on high speed trains or not). An online product range that grows month on month!

Basic principle
Through this site, you can buy your tickets online for international journeys:

• Departing from or arriving in Belgium. Bookings between foreign countries or within the same foreign country are not offered online (apart from journeys within France).
• On daytime trains (high speed or otherwise. Not overnight trains, then).

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg
Online booking is now offered for departures or arrivals at over 300 stations in Belgium, 300 in the Netherlands and 70 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Very soon booking will even be possible for departure from all stations and all stopping points in Belgium! (over 500)

France
At present, online booking is possible to a hundred or so major destinations in France (those that are part of what the French railways consider as mainline stations). In the autumn of 2010 the number of French stations available online will double.

Germany
Online booking is available to about a hundred large destinations in Germany served by Thalys, ICE or IC train. At the end of 2010 about 70 additional German stations will be added to the number available online.

Great Britain
Online booking is possible for the 3 Eurostar station stops in England: London (St Pancras), Ebbsfleet and Ashford International.

Switzerland
Booking in Switzerland is available to about forty destinations in Switzerland. These are destinations served by the three direct Eurocity trains leaving Brussels or by Lyria TGV (via Paris).

Austria
Online booking is available to about fifty destinations in Austria. All these destinations are served by ICE via Cologne. At Christmas or Carnival time you can also book your tickets online for Treski, the direct ski train.

And beyond?
Booking online is possible towards Milan (with TGV Artesia via Paris and Turin), and will be also possible to Figueras (Spain) as from 3 November 2010 with the new Paris-Figueras TGV connection (to be extended to Barcelona).

For connections that are not available online the site gives you the number of the Contact Centre from which the trip can be booked. SNCB Europe therefore offers a solution for every trip!

Certainly! You can simply print your international train ticket for Thalys, Eurostar, ICE, TGV Brussels-France* or within the Benelux (+Lille) at home!  The confirmation e-mail you receive will contain the link to your PDF ticket, which enables you to print the ticket at home.  Your ticket is then scanned and “punched” digitally on the train – it’s as simple as that!

* Only the Prems-fare and most promotions.

The time when bookings open depends on the type of train you’re taking.

For most international trains, bookings can be made 3 months before the travel date. This applies to Thalys, TGV, ICE, and the traditional international trains. In the case of return journeys, you can book the entire trip 3 months before the return date (e.g. a return journey to Paris by Thalys, outbound 15 October, returning 17 October, can be booked from 17 July).

Exceptions:
- Eurostar bookings can be made from 120 days before the departure date.
- For certain seasonal trains, booking opens much earlier. This means that ski trains (Thalys Snow, Treski) can be booked as soon as sales open (at the end of the summer) for journeys right up to the end of the skiing season.
- When timetables are being altered, the opening of sales may be delayed due to the necessary changes in the central computer systems. In this case, we try to keep you informed by means of appropriate messages.

Check-in time for the Eurostar is 30 minutes before the scheduled time of departure if you have your tickets, or at least 45 minutes before the scheduled departure if you still have to pick up your tickets. Business Premier travellers and holders of a Eurostar Carte Blanche can use the express check-in up to 10 minutes before the train leaves.

There is no check-in time for all other trains, although we recommend that you should be there 20 minutes before your train leaves.

• At the ticket dispenser

When you buy your tickets online (www.sncb-europe.com) or by phone through the Contact Center and you have paid with a credit card, you can collect the tickets at one of the ticket dispensers available at the station, with your booking reference (DNR). You will have to introduce the credit card in the machine. This is possible at the following stations:

Antwerp-Central

Brussels-Midi

Brussels-Central

Liège-Guillemins

• At the ticket desk

Credit card data are always requested when you opt to pick up your tickets at the station. This is done exclusively for security purposes– no payment will be made with your card.  For the same reason, only the owner of the credit card can pick up the tickets at the station.

Payment online takes place in full over the secure server of Ogone, the trusted partner of banks and credit institutions. It is Ogone which handles the data exchange between customer and bank. This means that SNCB Europe at no time holds payment details on its customers (credit card number, available balance, limit on use, etc.).

So if this arises, SNCB Europe will ask you to contact your bank or credit institution to find out the precise reasons for a payment refusal.

All we can do is tell you the most frequent reasons for refusal:
- the credit card number, validity date or CVC code entered is incorrect (check with your bank);
- the available balance on the card is insufficient (check with your bank);
- a pop-up blocker has been activated in your browser, which prevents payment using certain types of credit card or certain Home Banking applications (check the browser settings on your computer);
- in the case of American Express payments only: the address entered does not match the invoicing address (check with American Express)

In addition, to ensure maximum security of your payment transactions on its site, SNCB Europe uses advanced multi-criteria anti-fraud techniques. In spite of the work put into optimising the security procedures set up, it sometimes happens that attempts are incorrectly blocked, as they do not pass SNCB Europe’s security filter criteria set up by SNCB Europe.

Here we would point out that if the credit card used has been issued in a country not covered by the Atos Worldline “3D Secure” guarantee, there will be a greater likelihood of the transaction being refused. The “3D Secure” countries are the countries of Western Europe for Visa, or all countries of Europe in the case of Mastercard.

If you have any doubts regarding a specific transaction, please consult the SNCB Europe Contact Center.

If you make the same reservation twice by mistake, you must contact the Internet Support Team immediately. You can reach us by telephone at +32 (0)70 79 79 79 option 5 (€ 0.30 per minute) or by e-mail, indicating the reference number of your reservation.

To change your seats, you must contact your original point of purchase.

If you made your reservation on the website of SNCB Europe, please contact us at +32 (0)70 79 79 79 (€ 0.30/minute). You can of course also go to the train manager who can assign you other seats just before or immediately after departure (depending on availability).

A Eurostar ticket without a "Toute gare belge" supplement is only valid from Brussels-Midi.

Eurostar tickets with a TGB supplement (6 € for 2nd class and 8 € for 1st class) are valid from any Belgian station. You no longer need a separate train ticket to make the connecting trip within Belgium to/from Brussels-Midi on ordinary SNCB trains. Your tickets are not valid on Thalys or ICE trains. Your connecting trip within Belgium has to take place 24 hours before or after your Eurostar journey. You have to travel in the same class as in the Eurostar train.

Depending on the time of your trip, you will receive a second ticketless confirmation e-mail from Thalys.  If you are to travel on the day of the reservation, you will receive this e-mail on that day itself.  If you are to travel at a later time, however, you will receive this confirmation e-mail from Thalys only on the day after the reservation.

It could happen that you do not receive an email from Thalys confirming your reservation.  In such a case, we advise you to check in the “Block sender” or “Spam” folder of your e-mail programme.  If you do not find your reservation in this folder, you can still travel without qualms. You print out the SNCB confirmation e-mail, and show it together with your identity card to the train manager when the tickets are checked.

Because of the wide range of fares, the number of places per fare is limited, especially for lower fares.  Unnecessary seat reservations are avoided by confirming seats immediately with a credit card.  Collecting the tickets is now also a little easier and faster:  you can pick up the tickets immediately or print them out yourself at home, with no further financial transaction involved.

To benefit from the ABS supplement, please enter your real departure station instead of the high speed departure station. For your domestic journey in Belgium, we suggest a ticket with "Any Belgian Station" supplement. Since your "Any Belgian Station" allows you to travel on any train of the Belgian domestic service, you can make this part of the journey at another moment as well. If you do not need this "Any Belgian Station" supplement, please replace your Belgian departure/arrival station by the station where the high speed train will actually depart or arrive.

You do not need to reserve a ticket for a child under four years of age.  The child does not get a seat, but travels on the lap of a parent or accompanying adult. Only one child per parent or accompanying adult maximum is authorised.  If you want to make sure that your child has a seat, then you must reserve a ticket (child fare).  Remember to bring along an identity card with a photo for the child (for information, contact your municipality).

If you book international tickets online or over the phone, you can (depending on the type of train you’re taking and when you make your booking), choose to:

- pick them up at the station:
When booking, you can always opt to pick up your tickets at the international counters of 108 stations in Belgium. All you have to do at the counter is hand over the 7-letter code you receive when your booking is complete. You can pick the tickets up at the station from the moment your booking is confirmed until just a few minutes before your train leaves. If you pay by credit card, you must also show your ID card and the credit card you used to make the payment.
At Brussels Midi, Brussels Central, Liège Guillemins and Antwerp Central stations, you can also pick up your tickets from the SNCB Europe automatic ticket machines by entering your booking code and your credit card (if you paid by credit card) or the 4-figure pickup code you were given on completion of the payment (if you paid online by Bancontact/Mister Cash card or by Home Banking).

- Digital Homeprint
You can print out your tickets for Thalys, Eurostar, ICE, the traditional trains to the Benelux countries and Lille, and the Prem’s TGV fares.
If you selected Digital Homeprint when making your booking, you can print out your tickets at home or in your office on a plain sheet of A4 paper. How does it work? The confirmation screen (if you’re booking online) and the confirmation e-mail you receive when your purchase is complete display a link to a PDF file which contains your tickets for printing out. Click on this link to open the PDF file, and just print it out. Now you’re ready to board the train, without queuing at the counter!

- By post
If you book at latest 10 days before your departure date, you can ask to have your tickets sent by post to any address in Belgium or the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (NB: no PO box numbers). However, an additional €10 will be charged to cover postal costs in this case.

The time when bookings open depends on the type of train you’re taking.

For most international trains, bookings can be made 3 months before the travel date. This applies to Thalys, TGV, ICE, and the traditional international trains. In the case of return journeys, you can book the entire trip 3 months before the return date (e.g. a return journey to Paris by Thalys, outbound 15 October, returning 17 October, can be booked from 17 July).

Exceptions:
- Eurostar bookings can be made from 120 days before the departure date.
- For certain seasonal trains, booking opens much earlier. This means that ski trains (Thalys Snow, Treski) can be booked as soon as sales open (at the end of the summer) for journeys right up to the end of the skiing season.
- When timetables are being altered, the opening of sales may be delayed due to the necessary changes in the central computer systems. In this case, we try to keep you informed by means of appropriate messages.

The tickets remain the responsibility of the traveller. There is no procedure for duplicate tickets for conventional trains, Thalys, HST or ICE. We advise you to opt for Digital Home print, which is now available for most carriers (This does not apply for ICE and HST). If you opted for “Digital Home print” when reserving for a conventional train (only to Lille), Thalys or Eurostar, simply print out a new set of tickets.

ATTENTION: The following applies only for Eurostar: If you have opted for conventional tickets, then go to the ticket desk in the Eurostar terminal at least one hour before departure with your reservation reference and the credit card you used to pay for the tickets. You will be charged €23 for this service.

The SNCB Europe Contact Centre +32 (0) 70 79 79 79 can send your confirmation yet again to one or more e-mail addresses of your choice. You can also consult your previous bookings in My Train, with all the relevant details.

We advise you to have a look in your 'My Train' account of the reservation application.  It contains an overview of all reservations that you have made up to that time.  If you have opted for Home print, you can even print your PDF ticket immediately!

You can change the travel dates and times if the ticket conditions so authorise and if seats are available on the new train you have selected.  The ticket conditions are set out clearly before you confirm your reservation online and later too in your e-mail confirmation.

Depending on your ticket, there may be costs for changing or cancelling your reservations.  If there are fewer seats available on the train you have selected, there is a difference in price at times between your ticket and the new ticket.  Reservations can also be changed by the SNCB Europe Contact Centre at +32 (0) 70 79 79 79.

Bear in mind that a change or reimbursement is possible only at the place where the reservation was originally made.  If you did not reserve your ticket directly with us, contact the agency that made the reservation for you.

Yes you can! When making a booking on this website, you can also gain Miles, that allow you to travel for free! Thalys TheCard is a package put specially together for you:  free tickets thanks to miles, exclusive offers, services to measure… Advantages that facilitate your travel and enhance your comfort.

• At the ticket dispenser

When you buy your tickets online (www.sncb-europe.com) or by phone through the Contact Center and you have paid with a credit card, you can collect the tickets at one of the ticket dispensers available at the station, with your booking reference (DNR). You will have to introduce the credit card in the machine. This is possible at the following stations:

Antwerp-Central

Brussels-Midi

Brussels-Central

Liège-Guillemins

• At the ticket desk

Credit card data are always requested when you opt to pick up your tickets at the station. This is done exclusively for security purposes– no payment will be made with your card.  For the same reason, only the owner of the credit card can pick up the tickets at the station.

Some travellers reserve a seat but do not show up when the train leaves. Seats considered fully booked by our reservation system thus become available. Some “overbooked” tickets are therefore offered by way of compensation. If you have an “overbooked” ticket, you can get on the train, but are not guaranteed a seat or catering in Comfort 1.

Such a ticket has no carriage number or seat number, and contains the wording “seat if available.” You must contact the train conductor on the platform. He will assign you a seat before departure.

Your Thalys, Eurostar or HST ticket contains the following indications:

In 1st class:

• Solo: A single seat by the window, without other seats next to it.
• Duo: Two seats next to each other, in the same direction.
• Club 2: Seats at a table for two facing each other. 
• Club 4: Seats at a table for four.

In 2nd class:

• Duo: Two seats next to each other, in the same direction.
• Carré: Seats at a table for four.
• Family: Seats at a table for four in the family room.

Please bear in mind that all seats depend on availability, and it is not always possible to satisfy your request. When you book online, you can choose the sort of seat you want; it is not possible, however, to request specific seats, as they are assigned automatically when you reserve. If you wish to make a reservation and request specific seats at the same time, you must contact the sales team at +32 (0)70 79 79 79 who will be pleased to reserve your seats over the telephone.

To change your seats, you must contact your original point of purchase.

If you made your reservation on the website of SNCB Europe, please contact us at +32 (0)70 79 79 79 (€ 0.30/minute). You can of course also go to the train manager who can assign you other seats just before or immediately after departure (depending on availability).

You can pay by telephone at the SNCB Europe Contact Centre with Visa, Mastercard and American Express. If you wish, you can already give your credit card number before you get an agent on the line, so as to save time. The credit card number is not kept, as an extra precaution against fraud.

Because of the wide range of fares, the number of places per fare is limited, especially for lower fares.  Unnecessary seat reservations are avoided by confirming seats immediately with a credit card.  Collecting the tickets is now also a little easier and faster:  you can pick up the tickets immediately or print them out yourself at home, with no further financial transaction involved.

Certainly! You can simply print your international train ticket for Thalys, Eurostar, TGV Brussels-France* or within the Benelux (+Lille) at home!  The confirmation e-mail you receive will contain the link to your PDF ticket, which enables you to print the ticket at home.  Your ticket is then scanned and “punched” digitally on the train – it’s as simple as that!

* Only the Prems-fare and most promotions.

The SNCB Europe site offers an integrated module where you can check the times of all trains in Europe and buy tickets to the most commonly requested destinations online.

This module lets you buy tickets online to the main destinations in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland and Austria (whether you travel on high speed trains or not). An online product range that grows month on month!

Basic principle
Through this site, you can buy your tickets online for international journeys:

• Departing from or arriving in Belgium. Bookings between foreign countries or within the same foreign country are not offered online (apart from journeys within France).
• On daytime trains (high speed or otherwise. Not overnight trains, then).

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg
Online booking is now offered for departures or arrivals at over 300 stations in Belgium, 300 in the Netherlands and 70 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Very soon booking will even be possible for departure from all stations and all stopping points in Belgium! (over 500)

France
At present, online booking is possible to a hundred or so major destinations in France (those that are part of what the French railways consider as mainline stations). In the autumn of 2010 the number of French stations available online will double.

Germany
Online booking is available to about a hundred large destinations in Germany served by Thalys, ICE or IC train. At the end of 2010 about 70 additional German stations will be added to the number available online.

Great Britain
Online booking is possible for the 3 Eurostar station stops in England: London (St Pancras), Ebbsfleet and Ashford International.

Switzerland
Booking in Switzerland is available to about forty destinations in Switzerland. These are destinations served by the three direct Eurocity trains leaving Brussels or by Lyria TGV (via Paris).

Austria
Online booking is available to about fifty destinations in Austria. All these destinations are served by ICE via Cologne. At Christmas or Carnival time you can also book your tickets online for Treski, the direct ski train.

And beyond?
Booking online is possible towards Milan (with TGV Artesia via Paris and Turin), and will be also possible to Figueras (Spain) as from 3 November 2010 with the new Paris-Figueras TGV connection (to be extended to Barcelona).

For connections that are not available online the site gives you the number of the Contact Centre from which the trip can be booked. SNCB Europe therefore offers a solution for every trip!

If you book international tickets online or over the phone, you can (depending on the type of train you’re taking and when you make your booking), choose to:

- pick them up at the station:
When booking, you can always opt to pick up your tickets at the international counters of 108 stations in Belgium. All you have to do at the counter is hand over the 7-letter code you receive when your booking is complete. You can pick the tickets up at the station from the moment your booking is confirmed until just a few minutes before your train leaves. If you pay by credit card, you must also show your ID card and the credit card you used to make the payment.
At Brussels Midi, Brussels Central, Liège Guillemins and Antwerp Central stations, you can also pick up your tickets from the SNCB Europe automatic ticket machines by entering your booking code and your credit card (if you paid by credit card) or the 4-figure pickup code you were given on completion of the payment (if you paid online by Bancontact/Mister Cash card or by Home Banking).

- Digital Homeprint
You can print out your tickets for Thalys, Eurostar, ICE, the traditional trains to the Benelux countries and Lille, and the Prem’s TGV fares.
If you selected Digital Homeprint when making your booking, you can print out your tickets at home or in your office on a plain sheet of A4 paper. How does it work? The confirmation screen (if you’re booking online) and the confirmation e-mail you receive when your purchase is complete display a link to a PDF file which contains your tickets for printing out. Click on this link to open the PDF file, and just print it out. Now you’re ready to board the train, without queuing at the counter!

- By post
If you book at latest 10 days before your departure date, you can ask to have your tickets sent by post to any address in Belgium or the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (NB: no PO box numbers). However, an additional €10 will be charged to cover postal costs in this case.

Payment online takes place in full over the secure server of Ogone, the trusted partner of banks and credit institutions. It is Ogone which handles the data exchange between customer and bank. This means that SNCB Europe at no time holds payment details on its customers (credit card number, available balance, limit on use, etc.).

So if this arises, SNCB Europe will ask you to contact your bank or credit institution to find out the precise reasons for a payment refusal.

All we can do is tell you the most frequent reasons for refusal:
- the credit card number, validity date or CVC code entered is incorrect (check with your bank);
- the available balance on the card is insufficient (check with your bank);
- a pop-up blocker has been activated in your browser, which prevents payment using certain types of credit card or certain Home Banking applications (check the browser settings on your computer);
- in the case of American Express payments only: the address entered does not match the invoicing address (check with American Express)

In addition, to ensure maximum security of your payment transactions on its site, SNCB Europe uses advanced multi-criteria anti-fraud techniques. In spite of the work put into optimising the security procedures set up, it sometimes happens that attempts are incorrectly blocked, as they do not pass SNCB Europe’s security filter criteria set up by SNCB Europe.

Here we would point out that if the credit card used has been issued in a country not covered by the Atos Worldline “3D Secure” guarantee, there will be a greater likelihood of the transaction being refused. The “3D Secure” countries are the countries of Western Europe for Visa, or all countries of Europe in the case of Mastercard.

If you have any doubts regarding a specific transaction, please consult the SNCB Europe Contact Center.

To guarantee maximum security for your payments, SNCB Europe has opted for a “3D-Secure” type trading licence from the credit card issuers.

With “3D Secure” certified transactions, many banks (e.g. BNP Paribas Fortis, Dexia, CBC, KBC, Fintro, etc.) require their customers to identify themselves using their card readers (known as Digipass, Card Reader, etc., depending on the bank).

This may seem restrictive, but you should remember that this is the most effective way of guaranteeing that your payments are secure. It guarantees that the credit card is being used by its legitimate owner.

If you wish to travel with a group of 6-14 people, you can reserve your trip through the SNCB Europe Contact Centre at +32 70 (0) 79 79 79.
As of 15 people, you constitute a group (school group, cultural association, incentive, works council, etc.). You are thus eligible for lower fares and attractive conditions of reservation.

For more information about these group rates you can also contact our group travel department at +32 70 79 79 81. When making a reservation, you can also send your travel request using a form available on the Web.

You do not need to reserve a ticket for a child under four years of age.  The child does not get a seat, but travels on the lap of a parent or accompanying adult. Only one child per parent or accompanying adult maximum is authorised.  If you want to make sure that your child has a seat, then you must reserve a ticket (child fare).  Remember to bring along an identity card with a photo for the child (for information, contact your municipality).

The general rule is: the earlier you reserve, the cheaper your ticket will be. Please note: there is a limited number of seats at the lowest fare for high speed trains, so you are advised to purchase your ticket as soon as the ticket counter opens. If you cannot find the desired fare immediately, you can reach your destination in a jiffy at a low price by adapting your departure time or even date!

The time when bookings open depends on the type of train you’re taking.

For most international trains, bookings can be made 3 months before the travel date. This applies to Thalys, TGV, ICE, and the traditional international trains. In the case of return journeys, you can book the entire trip 3 months before the return date (e.g. a return journey to Paris by Thalys, outbound 15 October, returning 17 October, can be booked from 17 July).

Exceptions:
- Eurostar bookings can be made from 120 days before the departure date.
- For certain seasonal trains, booking opens much earlier. This means that ski trains (Thalys Snow, Treski) can be booked as soon as sales open (at the end of the summer) for journeys right up to the end of the skiing season.
- When timetables are being altered, the opening of sales may be delayed due to the necessary changes in the central computer systems. In this case, we try to keep you informed by means of appropriate messages.

Order online and with peace of mind through this website.  The data pertaining to the methods of payment are secured by a coding system.  The payment is therefore fully secure.  The security is indicated by a padlock at the bottom of the page which means that entries of bank data are fully protected.

When you pay for your tickets, the addresses used begin with https:// (where the 's' stands for secure): the data are coded and thus protected before they are transmitted via the Internet.  This protocol is used by most banks and the leading companies that sell online.  It ensures optimal protection of credit card numbers sent via the Internet.  The credit card number is not kept, as an extra precaution against fraud.

On www.sncb-europe.com, you can identify yourself to MyTrain using your e-mail address and your password (this may be a password you have created yourself when setting up your own user account, or a password that was automatically allocated to you when you made your first booking). In your MyTrain space, you can check out the history of all the bookings you have made with SNCB Europe. In addition, for each booking, you can display your journey in detail as well as your booking code, and also re-print your Digital Homeprint tickets or cancel your booking (if your fare conditions permit).

If you can’t access MyTrain, you can also call our Contact Center on +32 (0)70 79 79 79 (€0.30/minute), where our operators can tell you your booking code.

The credit card holder must be present when picking up the tickets, so it is not possible to make a reservation for someone else if the card holder will not be available to pick up the tickets.

If the station has an automatic ticket machine (this is the case in Brussels Midi, Brussels Central, Antwerp Central and Liège Guilemins stations), you have to insert your credit card physically in the machine’s card reader.

However, it is now possible to select Digital Home-print during the reservation process (for Thalys, Eurostar and conventional trains in the Benelux) and print the ticket at home or send it to the traveller so that s/he can print the tickets at home.  In such a case, do not forget to enter the name of the traveller on the ticket.

In general, the SNCB is exempted from the obligation of issuing an invoice to travellers for a ticket.  The original tickets can serve as invoices.  If however you want an invoice for the services rendered, a simplified R 376 invoice can be drawn up at the station upon production of the original ticket.

Tickets purchased via SNCB Europe must be paid for immediately by credit card when the reservation is made.  Your card will be charged for the full amount when the reservation is made.

It’s at stage 2 of the booking – when selecting your travel package – that it’s most useful to know the prices. You make your choice on the basis of availability, conditions for exchange and reimbursement and the price of the various travel packages offered.

Unfortunately, we cannot always give you full price information at this stage.

The price information displayed at stage 2 of the online booking process originates from a local database managed by SNCB Europe. This database contains the prices submitted by the various companies (Thalys, Eurostar, TGV Bruxelles-France, ICE, etc.). In most cases, the companies send us the correct price information, which is then clearly presented at this stage of the booking.

However, some companies only send their price details in the event of a real booking. This means that for TGV journeys in France, the price of your journey will not be displayed until stage 4, after a booking request has actually been sent to the company’s central system. Not ideal, admittedly.

In these cases, it will be the conditions of exchange and reimbursement of the various rates which may give you an idea of their pricing. The less flexible a fare, the cheaper, and vice versa.

You can reserve your tickets on this website, in SNCB authorised travel agencies, in Belgian stations with international ticket counters, or via the SNCB Europe Contact Centre at 070 79 79 79. See here for more information.

Register to enjoy the extra services of MyTrain:

• Your travel options and personal details will be remembered. This means extra comfort and timesaving for every booking.
• Manage your bookings online (viewing, changing or cancelling).
• Personalized service in our stations and at our International Contact Center as well.

The use of Digital Home print and Ticketless is strictly personal.  These tickets may not be transferred to third parties.

If you make the same reservation twice by mistake, you must contact the Internet Support Team immediately. You can reach us by telephone at +32 (0)70 79 79 79 option 5 (€ 0.30 per minute) or by e-mail, indicating the reference number of your reservation.

All trains are equipped with a luggage compartment.  For extensive luggage, you can use the luggage room at the end of each carriage.  Three pieces of luggage at most are authorised per traveller (2 suitcases and 1 piece of hand luggage).

Once on board, you can store your luggage free of charge at your own responsibility, in:

• Luggage racks above the seats
• Luggage storage at the end of each carriage
• Free floor space between some seats which are installed back to back

The casing, volume and weight must be such that the traveller can carry the luggage and place them in the space intended for that purpose on the train, without hindering the movements of other travellers or of train personnel.  To comply with the regulations, luggage on board must bear an address card with the traveller’s forename and surname.

Check-in time for the Eurostar is 30 minutes before the scheduled time of departure if you have your tickets, or at least 45 minutes before the scheduled departure if you still have to pick up your tickets. Business Premier travellers and holders of a Eurostar Carte Blanche can use the express check-in up to 10 minutes before the train leaves.

There is no check-in time for all other trains, although we recommend that you should be there 20 minutes before your train leaves.

There are no restrictions for pregnant travellers.  If you are concerned about travelling, we advise you to consult your doctor.

For check-in and customs, all travellers, including children, need their identity card, passport and/or visa, including if you are travelling only between Brussels and Lille.

There are power outlets in first class on the conventional train to Amsterdam .  

In the Eurostar, there are British and European power outlets in all Business Premier and Leisure Select carriages so that you can for instance charge your mobile phone or save the batteries of your laptop.  There are also power outlets in the Standard carriages 5 and 14.  You can reserve in these latter carriages as you choose depending on availability.

The Thalys carriages are fitted with power outlets in carriage 2/12/22 and 3/13/23 .  Carriages 1/11/21 do not have power outlets. 

If you use conventional trains to e.g. Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Lille, etc.  you are free to take the train you want on the date mentioned on the home-print ticket.  There is no time indicated on your home-print ticket, just as there is no time mentioned on a “normal” ticket. 

In concrete terms, if you do not get the train to Amsterdam, for instance, you can take the following train on that day without the slightest adaptation to your ticket.