Plans to link Charleroi Airport (BSCA) to the rail network have been removed from the latest government agreement.
One of many proposal leaks in the run-up to the new Federal Government's swearing in on Monday stated that "for Charleroi Airport, we plan access to the rail network."
The inclusion of this proposal in negotiation notes had elicited suprise. The airport is located 50 kilometres south of Brussels and is not well served by public transport.
However, this provision has now been omitted. Several media outlets reported the change on Wednesday morning and the latest version of the government agreement confirms its exclusion.
Brussels South Charleroi Airport. Credit: Belga / Virginie Lefour
The proposal was criticised as being extremely costly and difficult to justify. Building the necessary infrastructure has been dubbed an "unfeasible" and "utopian" project by opponents to the idea.
In 2021, Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés), then Walloon Minister in charge of Airports and now newly appointed Federal Mobility Minister for Mobility, reiterated this stance. A study by Schaerbeek-based consultancy agency Stratec supported this view, concluding that building a station was unwarranted.
BSCA is the second largest in Belgium and served 10.5 million passengers in 2024. It is reachable by the E42, A54 and E19 motorways. There is also a bus service from the Walloon city of Fleurus (the journey takes 15 minutes).
