International Train Services from Belgium

In contrast to train travel within Belgium, on which both discounted tickets and reservations aren't available, different terms and conditions apply to MOST of the international train services that operate to/from Belgium.

And the FIVE things that are good to know about taking a train from Belgium are:

(1) Tickets will be cheaper if booked in advance for journeys by the high speed trains - the Eurostar, ICE, Eurostar (formerly Thalys) trains, and the TGV Bruxelles-France trains and for journeys by the IC train service to The Netherlands.
(2) Reservations are compulsory (and included on the ticket) on Eurostar, Thalys and TGB (TGV) trains.
(3) Reservations are available, but not compulsory on the ICE trains to/from Germany.
(4) In contrast to the high speed trains, discounted tickets and reservations are NOT available on the IC trains between Belgium and Luxembourg, or between Belgium and Lille in France.
(5) There are now overnight trains to/from Belgium:

• on three nights per week a Nightjet train travels from Bruxelles to Innsbruck via Munich and to Vienna - and it calls in Leuven and Liege.
• on three nights per week a another Nightjet train travels from Bruxelles to Berlin - and it calls in Leuven and Liege
• the 'European Sleeper' service links Bruxelles to Berlin on a route via The Netherlands.

These trains operate on these four routes:
(1) Bruxelles Midi/Zuid– Antwerpen – Rotterdam – Schiphol - Amsterdam Centraal
(2) Bruxelles Midi/Zuid - Paris Gare du Nord
(3) Bruxelles Midi/Zuid – Liege – Aachen – Koln – Essen – Dusseldorf – Dortmund
(4) Antwerpen - Bruxelles Midi/Zuid - Marne La Vallée for Disneyland Paris

Note that tickets can't be purchased either online or at the station for journeys by Thalys train between Bruxelles and both Antwerpen and Liege.

These trains operate on this route:
Bruxelles Midi/Zuid – Bruxelles Nord - Liege – Aachen – Koln Hbf – Frankfurt Flughafen/Airport – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf.
(Note that The ICE trains call at Bruxelles Nord station, but the Thalys trains don’t call there).

For rail pass users the ICE trains are a much better option than the Thalys trains for journeys between Belgium and Germany.

If you won’t be travelling with a rail pass then you have a choice of Thalys or ICE trains for direct journeys between Brussels/Bruxelles* or Liege and Koln/Cologne or Aachen.
Choose whatever departure time/price suits you – both Thalys and ICE trains are sold on B-Europe, the ICE trains can be cheaper than the Thalys trains and vice versa.

Note that tickets can't be purchased either online at the station for journeys by ICE train between Bruxelles and Liege.

Hourly trains typically operate in both directions on a Spa - Verviers - Welkenraedt - Aachen route.
They are now the only regularly scheduled trains which operate over the Belgian/German border, on what was the main line, before the opening of the high speed route between Liege and Aachen, which the ICE and Thalys trains typically use.

At Aachen Hbf connections are available to/from RE trains which link Aachen with Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Essen Koln/Cologne, Monchengladbach and Wuppertal.
So an alternative to the ICE and Thalys trains for a Bruxelles to Koln/Cologne journey, when the direct high-speed trains aren't available, or if you will be using rail passes and what to avoid the Thalys trains and don't want to wait for an ICE train, is to use these connections.

To Koln/Cologne

1. Bruxelles Midi, Central and Nord → Verviers Central by typically hourly IC trains, which will be terminating in Eupen.
2. Connect in Verviers Central for Aachen; the journey planners will suggest connecting in Welkenraedt, but seats will be easier to find on what is usually a two-car local train if you make the transfer at Verviers instead; doing so won't make any difference to how you can use a ticket, or the overall end-to-end journey time.
3. On arrival in Aachen there will be a typically connection of around 20 mins into a Regio (RB train) on to Koln hbf; the train will be heading to Siegen.
   When these connections are available, the end-to-end journey time from Bruxelles-Midi to Koln Hbf will be around 3hr 20min.

To Bruxelles

1. There are usually two Regio trains per hour from Koln Hbf to Aachen, but the trains which typically depart at around 45 mins past the hour, will have a 20 min (ish) connection into an onward cross-border local train, which will be heading to Spa-Géronstère.
2. Connect in Welkenraedt for Bruxelles; the journey planners will suggest connecting in Verviers instead, but seats will be easier to find at Welkenraedt and it won't make any difference to how you can use a ticket, or the overall end-to-end journey time.
3. There will typically be a 7 minute connection into an hourly Belgian IC train which will call at Bruxelles Nord, Centraal and Bruxelles-Midi, its final destination will be Oostende.
   When these connections are available, the end-to-end journey time from Koln Hbf to Bruxelles-Midi will be around 3hr 15min.

They operate on these routes:

• Bruxelles Midi / Brussel Zuid – Lille Europe – London St Pancras International.
• Bruxelles Midi / Brussel Zuid - Rotterdam - Schiphol Airport - Amsterdam Centraal

Most of the Eurostar services on the Bruxelles - London route are operated by e300 trains - pictured above
However, some services are now operated by e320 trains including all of the departures which travel beyond Bruxelles on route to and from Amsterdam.

These trains operate direct between Bruxelles Midi/Zuid and many cities in France.
So by taking these trains you can avoid the awkward transfers between stations in Paris.

Stations in France that have direct TGVs from Bruxelles Midi/Zuid include: Aeroport Charles De Gaulle, Aix-en-Provence TGV, Avignon TGV, Lyon Part Dieu, Marne La Vallée, Marseille St Charles, Montpellier, Nimes and Strasbourg.

(A few years ago the direct TGV trains between Bruxelles and Antibes, Cannes, Nice, St Raphael and Toulon were discontinued - though connecting in Marseille and NOT Paris is an option).

A new hourly ECD service will be taking a Bruxelles-Midi - Antwerpen-Centraal - Rotterdam-Centraal - Schiphol Airport - Amsterdam Zuid route with some trains contining to/from Almere Centrum - Almere Buiten and Lelystad Centrum.

In effect these services are faster versions of the the conventional (was IC now EC) trains that now take a Bruxelles to Rotterdam route, they are not purpose-built high speed trains similar to the Eurostars, take the same route from Belgium to The Netherlands.

They have been branded Eurocity Direct (ECD) services partially because they don't divert off the direct route; and similarly to the EC services, neither seat reservations or on board catering is available.
The lack of seat reservations results in these ECD services being a much cheaper option for rail pass users than taking the Eurostar services.

These ECD services do not serve Amsterdam-Centraal station, but for a journey to Amsterdam city center a combination of ECD trains to Amsterdam Zuid + Metro has a similar end-to-end journey time as taking the Eurostar to Amsterdam-Centraal + the Metro.

Seats cannot be reserved on any these international IC trains and no on-board catering is available.

Non-high speed IC (Intercity) trains on operate on these four routes from/to Belgium:
(1) Antwerpen/Anvers – Gent – Kortrijk – Lille Flandres (change of train many be required at Kortrijk)
(2) Mons – Tournai - Lille Flandres (change of train may be required at Tournai)
(3) Bruxelles Midi/Zuid – Bruxelles Central – Bruxelles Nord – Bruxelles Luxembourg – Namur – Arlon – Luxembourg
The trains used on these three routes are Belgian IC trains, pictured above, which happen to have their journeys extended over the borders.

(4) Bruxelles Midi/Zuid – Bruxelles Central – Bruxelles Nord – Bruxelles Aeroport – Mechelen – Antwerpen – Breda – Rotterdam
Note that these services are now turned around in Rotterdam and will no longer be serving Amsterdam - and they have been re-branded as Eurocity (EC) services.

For rail journeys between Belgium and The Netherlands they're a slower alternative to the Eurostar (formerly Thalys) trains and ECD trains, as they're not high speed trains.
Although when the most heavily discounted tickets for the Eurostar (formerly Thalys) trains have sold out, they're (much) cheaper.

In recent years Belgium has been restored to the European night train network.

1. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, there is a Nightjet train to Linz and Wien/Vienna from Bruxelles and Liege.

2. The European Sleeper train to Berlin and Praha; this train from Bruxelles also calls in Antwerpen.

3. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday a Nightjet service now departs Bruxelles for Berlin; this train also calls in Liege.

The night train to Berlin conveys seats and it is typically scheduled to call at Bonn (22:24); Koblenz (23:22) and Mainz (00:22).