Transport in Belgium

Transport in Belgium is facilitated with well-developed road, air, rail and water networks.

[2] There is also a well-developed urban rail network in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Charleroi.

HSL 1 runs from just south of Brussels to the French border, where it continues to Lille, and from there to Paris or London.

HSL 4 runs from Antwerp to Rotterdam by meeting HSL-Zuid at the border with Netherlands.

An urban commuter rail network, Brussels RER (French: Réseau express régional Bruxellois, Dutch: Gewestelijk ExpresNet), is operational in the Brussels-Capital Region and surrounding areas.

In Belgium an extensive system of tram-like local railways called vicinal or buurtspoor lines crossed the country in the first half of the 20th century, and had a greater route length than the main-line railway system.

Some heavy metro infrastructures were built in Brussels, Antwerp and the Charleroi area, but these are currently used by light rail vehicles, and their conversion to full metro is not envisaged at present due to lack of funds.

Belgian road numbering evolved during the middle decades of the twentieth century, in a relatively inconsistent way.

[Out of date] Government policy provides an important clue as to one reason for the relative newness of the national car parc.

[clarification needed] Despite recent high-profile plant closures by Ford and Renault, Belgium remains an important centre for automobile component and passenger car production, with important plants operated by Volvo and Audi, and this is reflected in a relatively benign taxation environment whereby company cars are a still a popular and relatively tax efficient element in many remuneration packages.

The region of Brussels only managed 14 km of waterways from the Anderlecht lock to the Vilvoorde bridge.

According to the 2009 CIA World Factbook[Out of date], there are a total of 43 airports in Belgium, 27 of which have paved runways.

This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook (2025 ed.).