ICE Reaches Antwerpen and Brussels Airport
Deutsche Bahn has extended its ICE network in Belgium, with a new direct service between Köln and Antwerpen starting today, September 7. The trains also provide the first direct ICE connection to Brussels Airport.
Two trains a day operate in each direction between Köln and Antwerpen, calling at Aachen, Liège-Guillemins, Leuven and Brussels Airport. The journey between Köln and Antwerpen takes around two hours twenty minutes, while Köln–Brussels Airport takes less than two hours. The service operates daily.
The new service gives both Antwerpen and Leuven a direct connection to the German ICE network, with Leuven gaining its first permanent direct high-speed connection with Germany.
The new route is operated with ICE 3neo trains, which can carry around 400 passengers and reach speeds of up to 300 km/h.
The new service comes as demand for rail travel between Germany and Belgium continues to grow. DB and SNCB say passenger numbers on their cross-border ICE services increased by around 18% between 2019 and 2025.
For Brussels Airport, the new service also restores a direct high-speed rail connection after more than ten years. Passengers travelling with Brussels Airlines can also use a combined train-and-flight ticket through the existing Lufthansa Express Rail codeshare arrangement, which has been extended to the new Köln–Brussels Airport service.
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Image courtesy and copyright of Deutsche Bahn AG / Michael Neuhaus.
