Trains to and from Brussels Airport will become more expensive from 1 February, Belga News Agency has reported.
According to railway network operator Infrabel, the rate increase is a consequence of the fact that the Brussels Airport Supplement, or the surcharge that train passengers pay for each trip to and from Brussels Airport, will increase from €6.20 to €6.40 .
The Brussels Airport Supplement is automatically included in most rail fares to and from Brussels Airport; thus, most tickets to and from the airport will become €0.20 more expensive. (The list of people exempted from paying the supplement can be found here.)
Introduced in 2009, the supplement is used to finance the construction of the so-called Diabolo project, an underground railway connection between Brussels Airport and the Schaerbeek-Mechelen railway line. It is paid to NV Northern Diabolo, the private company involved in the connection's construction.
An Infrabel spokesman noted that Diabolo had formally requested the rate increase, which was subsequently approved by the Belgian Federal Government due to certain "contractual conditions" being met.
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Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) elaborated that Diabolo contractually "has the right to request an increase in the Diabolo surcharge... in the event of a significant decrease in the number of travellers."
However, MPs from both the left and right expressed dismay at Gilkinet's explanation.
"I find it particularly questionable that a contract is concluded for a very long term, for which the taxpayer is allowed to pay, but is not given any information about it and there is no transparency about it," said Frank Troosters (Vlaams Belang).
Troosters' words were echoed by Maria Vindevoghel (PVDA-PTB), who advocated revising the contract with Diabolo "so that the trains to the airport become cheap again for many working people and travellers".
