{"id":47194,"date":"2026-03-24T11:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/47194\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:20:07","slug":"train-traffic-in-belgium-back-to-normal-as-brussels-midi-station-reopens-following-bomb-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/47194\/","title":{"rendered":"Train traffic in Belgium back to normal as Brussels-Midi station reopens following bomb scare"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Train traffic in Belgium has resumed its normal course after a bomb scare in the Brussels-Midi station on Monday, 23 March 2026, which caused heavy disruptions. Once the suspicious packages found at the station turned out to be harmless, train traffic resumed gradually.<\/p>\n<p>Around 5:20 pm on Monday, 23 March 2026, Belgian police evacuated the entire Brussel-Midi train station as well as its metro station. Two separate suspicious packages were reported, one on a train on platform 20 and one on platform 18. Later on, a third package was reportedly found.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea Belgique : La gare de Bruxelles-Midi a \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9vacu\u00e9e vers 17h30 apr\u00e8s la d\u00e9couverte de plusieurs colis suspects (dont un dans un train \u00e0 la voie 20 et un sur le quai 18). Sc\u00e8nes de panique parmi les voyageurs. <\/p>\n<p>L\u2019alerte a \u00e9t\u00e9 lev\u00e9e vers 20h apr\u00e8s v\u00e9rification par le SEDEE : les\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7pQYCMYgpe\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/7pQYCMYgpe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Geocrises FR (@geocrises) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/geocrises\/status\/2036178835989794866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 23, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The packages were found by personnel from Belgium\u2019s national rail operator SNCB. One of them was interviewed by the news agency VRT NWS, describing the bag as cylindrical. A phone was positioned on the bag, with wires attached to it. The package is also mentioned to be \u2018explosive\u2019 and \u2018corrosive\u2019. Given the suspicious circumstances, he decided to contact the police.<\/p>\n<p>Once the stations were evacuated, federal police officers and Belgium\u2019s defence ministry worked together to search the entire building. DOVO, the ministry\u2019s bomb disposal unit, analysed the packages and concluded they were harmless.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">Alerte \u00e0 la bombe \u00e0 la gare du midi de Bruxelles en Belgique <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jvgXsDiIPv\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/jvgXsDiIPv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 GENGIS KHAN \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 \ud83c\udf3f (@GENGIS9999) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GENGIS9999\/status\/2036141515295068482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 23, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The discoveries not only led to a total evacuation of the two stations but also meant that a big part of Belgium\u2019s train traffic came to a standstill. For about 1.5 hours, no trains were allowed to pass through the station. Afterwards, trains could travel through the station on platforms 3 to 13 and from approximately 8:00 pm, trains were once again allowed to depart from and stop at the station \u2013 only platforms 19 and 20 remained closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Brussels-Midi station has been reopened after a thorough inspection of suspicious packages. During the evening rush hour, the station was evacuated as a precaution and commuters were cleared out,\u201d Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said on social media platform X.<\/p>\n<p>With approximately one third of all Belgian trains going through the Brussels-Midi \u2013 Brussels-North axis, the incident led to many delays and cancellations. Moreover, Brussels-Midi functions as an important international hub for trains going to London, Amsterdam, Paris, and other European cities.<\/p>\n<p>Ten years later<\/p>\n<p>The timing of the bomb scare was particularly sensitive as the suspicious packages were found exactly ten years and one day after coordinated bomb attacks carried out by Islamic State militants killed 32 people at Brussels Airport and at the Maalbeek metro station, while survivors continue to live with the physical and psychological consequences of the events. On Sunday, 22 March 2026, Belgian King Philippe and some of the country\u2019s top authorities were present during a ceremony at the metro station and the airport.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Train traffic in Belgium has resumed its normal course after a bomb scare in the Brussels-Midi station on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[104],"tags":[211,26621,26619,210,26622,26620,26618,9839,2443,2973,13172],"class_list":["post-47194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-belgium","tag-belgium-train-station-evacuation","tag-bomb-threat-evacuation","tag-brussels","tag-brussels-train-disruptions","tag-brussels-midi-bomb-scare-2026","tag-brussels-midi-station","tag-rail","tag-safety","tag-trains","tag-travel-disruption"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116283888455632865","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}