EuroCity from Brussels to Paris

Increasing both the frequency and capacity of cross-border trains is always a good thing, I’ve talked about this with the Drielandentrein between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany before. A train every hour that can be used by commuters between the cities of Luik, Maastricht, and Aachen. This was a route that previously required a transfer at Maastricht.

The EuroCity is a little different. For years the Eurostar was the only train connection between Brussel-Zuid and Paris Nord. The Eurostar runs 22 trains between Brussels and Paris (both the Eurostar-Eurostar and Eurostar-Thalys). Provided the tickets aren’t sold out they range between 49 to 121 euros for the 2nd class, and 76 to 124 euros for the 1st class. As of the week of 29 July, SNCB is running its own international train from Brussels to Paris via Mons, the EuroCity. Until 11 August, the EuroCity operates two round trips a day for those traveling for the Olympics and according to Treinenweb, during the week of the Paralympic Games, between 28 August and 8 September, only one EuroCity train runs each day.

The EuroCity is priced considerably lower at 25 euros for the 2nd class and 69 euros for the 1st class. With one intermediate stop at Mons, the total travel time is 2 hours and 51 minutes, almost an hour longer than the 1 hour 54 minute travel time of the Eurostar.

As usual, doc7austin was very early in uploading their video, filming the entire journey and the inauguration ceremony in Brussels and Mons. From the video, 8 I11 passenger carriages are used, 1 first class and 7 second class. The carriages are pulled by an HLE 18 locomotive capable of running in both Belgium and France.

The EuroCity name hasn’t been used between these two cities since the 1990s when the route was replaced by the high-speed Thalys. It’s good to see an alternative to the usually sold-out and expensive Eurostar connection, and let’s hope SNCB and SNCF make this permanent in the 2025 timetable.