The Benelux Parliament is calling for better train services between Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to improve cross-border travel for its citizens and to boost local economies.
During a recent plenary session in Brussels, the Parliament adopted a recommendation advising the three countries to exert pressure on national train operators to better co-ordinate their services.
The Parliament says that large differences regarding safety, tariffs, infrastructure and equipment exist between the services of the three countries and cause unnecessary delays and confusion.
It argues that good rail links are essential not just for travellers but also for the economy in the border regions.
The Parliament is calling for the creation of a Benelux rail agenda, containing a number of concrete initiatives to improve the eastern and western railway connections between the Netherlands and Belgium and the Brussels-Luxembourg route.
The Benelux Parliament, an institute of the Benelux Economic Union, was created in 1955. It makes recommendations to the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It consists of a total of 49 members: 21 ministers from Belgium and the Netherlands and seven from Luxembourg.
