2023-11-23 05:37:00
Will the Walloons one day see the RER which should make their travel to Brussels smoother? This old, essential issue in terms of mobility has poisoned Belgian political life for a long time. The Federal Minister of Mobility, Georges Gilkinet (Eco) is on the verge of success. However, there are still three pitfalls on his way. The first concerns a permit which must be granted by the Flemish government and which targets the territory of Linkebeek where the Brussels-Nivelles line passes. “There is historic local opposition to four-tracking the line. The decision on this matter will be taken by the Flemish government on December 2,” explains Georges Gilkinet.
The federal minister hopes that, in this matter, “the general interest will take precedence and that we will also be able to reassure local residents and the municipality”. “I also hope that if the Flemish government agrees, there will be no appeal.”
The second pitfall in achieving the commissioning of the RER on the Walloon side (let us point out that it is already completed in Flanders) concerns the granting of a permit by the Walloon government. “This is the permit for the upgrading of Ottignies station to four tracks”. “This is important because this way IC trains and local trains will be able to run in parallel, there will no longer be competition between them for entry into the station,” professes the federal minister. Here, the ball is in the court of the Walloon Minister in charge of Regional Planning, Willy Borsus (MR). Georges Gilkinet cannot believe that the Liberal minister who must give his response before the end of this year will not grant the permit. If this were to be the case, the deadline for putting the RER into service on the Walloon side will once again be extended. “There is work to be done and the time to do it is now.”
A first RER section is now in service in Wallonia
A loan
Finally, the third thing that should allow the work to move forward is financial. The minister specifies that he has done everything possible to allow Infrabel to borrow an amount of one billion euros to carry out the work. “This concerns the RER but also other infrastructures such as those of the port of Antwerp in particular”. The minister believes that things are going in the right direction. “But I will only be completely reassured when Infrabel has concluded the loan.”
Georges Gilkinet is quite proud to say that “in three years, we have put the RER back on track”. However, he deplores that twenty years before, “the railway in Belgium was the budgetary adjustment variable for governments when they produced their budgets”. For his part, he believes that the actions he has carried out with his cabinet have made it possible to go further than in the past. “The implementation of a 10-year investment plan finally allowed Infrabel to see things clearly. In the past, plans were made on an annual basis. There is finally a long-term vision.”
We must add to this the fact that the resources granted to rail operators have been increased by the federal government. The environmental minister also specifies that everything that has already been done in terms of other infrastructure linked to the RER is not being put aside while waiting for the latter to come into service. “As soon as a piece is finished, we exploit it: it’s also a way of making things irreversible.”
Georges Gilkinet, however, remains very cautious. “I will believe in the RER when I see it but I repeat: everything is now on the table to move forward. I understand people’s skepticism because we’ve been hearing about the RER for years and years. Today it exists at 75%.”
What if the next federal government decided to revisit this issue? Gilkinet knows that any decision can be questioned. However, he considers that this commitment has the force of law. “A law can be changed. But we have put a very large number of locks on it. Rail must be the backbone of mobility,” concludes the federal minister.
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