Belgian trains are a pleasure to use – reasonably reliable, reasonably clean, quiet electric trains connect even the smallest towns. The schedule displays and ticket buying machines support most of the common languages, English included, but your best bet is to download and setup the SCNB app while still at home.
This way you can create and confirm an account as well as plug in a travel credit card (or Paypal account) for ticket purchases. The ticket itself is then just a QR code you display to the official when asked.
Beyond just buying tickets from point A to point B, few things stand out:
- A half-price weekend ticket starts out Friday night and ends Sunday evening. Not only it’s valid for trips to the destination (let’s say Brussels to Antwerp), but you can get off and explore the stops in-between (let’s say Mechelen) and board any of the later train. This way a Bruges half-off ticket gets you Ghent as a freebie for weekend exploration.
- 10-pack of tickets for 99 euros – available through app only. Rarely beats the deal on the weekend ticket, but useful for groups, since you can activate multiple tickets without having everyone download their own app.
- Holiday tickets for those under 26 year old – unlimited passes that can be bought either for a week or for a month. The week or the month have to coincide with Belgian school holidays, which is most of the summer.
The trains are comfortable and spacious, have 2-seat and 4-seat configurations. Some are double-leveled. Most of the regional trains, though, don’t have good space for a large luggage bag, so your choice is either to stick around by the entrance area or occupy a 4-seater.
All of the trains have space for overhead storage for smaller items like backpacks, tiny trash bins underneath the tables in 4-seat configurations, and a regular trash bin by the entrance. They generally have at least one restroom, although it happens that they’re out of service, or just plain unsanitary (I think they only get cleaned overnight).
Most of the cars have some kind of a display announcing the next stops and estimating your total time to destination. If you’re transferring at a larger station, connections typically are displayed prior to approaching a major stop.