NMBS

NMBS-Groep/Groupe SNCB

Type	Government-owned corporation
Industry	Rail Transport
Founded	1926
Headquarters	Avenue de la Porte de Hal/Hallepoortlaan 40, 1060 Brussels, Belgium
Products	Rail Transport
Revenue	€ 2.296.6 billion (2012)
Operating income	€ 6.306,5 million (2012)
Net income	€ -152.3 million (2012)
Number of employees	18688 (2005)
Subsidiaries	NMBS/SNCB Logistics Publifer Syntigo and more
Website	www.belgianrail.be www.b-europe.com

SNCB/NMBS (Dutch: Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen,French: Société nationale des chemins de fer belges, German: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen) is the national railway company of Belgium. The company formally styles itself using the Dutch and French abbreviations NMBS/SNCB, however it is commonly referred to in English and internationally using just the French abbreviation SNCB. The corporate logo designed in 1936 by Henry van de Velde consists of the linguistically neutral letter B in a horizontal oval.

NMBS/SNCB is an autonomous government company, formed in 1926 as successor to the Belgian State Railways. In 2005, the company was split up into three parts: Infrabel, which manages the railway infrastructure, network operations and network access, the public railway operator NMBS/SNCB itself to manage the freight (B-Cargo) and passenger services, and NMBS/SNCB-Holding, which owns both public companies and supervises the collaboration between them. Essentially, this was a move to facilitate future liberalisation of railway freight and passenger services in agreement with European regulations. Several freight operators have since received access permissions for the Belgian network. In February 2011, NMBS/SNCB Logistics began operating as a separate business.

Faced with rising losses, in June 2012, the Belgian transport minister announced further reform: NMBS/SNCB Holding would be split up, so NMBS/SNCB (the train operator) would be separate from Infrabel (the infrastructure owner). Unions oppose the reform.

In 2008 NMBS/SNCB carried 207 million passengers a total of 8,676 million passenger-kilometres over a network of 3,536 kilometres (of which 2,950 km are electrified, mainly at 3000 V DC and 351 km at 25 kV 50 Hz AC).