Bomb threat in North Station causes travel chaos
Several bomb threats were phone in yesterday, causing evacuations of two locations in Brussels, including North Station, putting the entire rail network into chaos
One-third of all trains delayed
Security evacuated the station at about 13.30 and stopped all rail traffic on the busy North-South line. The situation was resolved and passengers and traffic allowed back in by 14.45, but hour-long delays continued for the rest of the day and evening.
One in three trains on the country’s rail network pass through the bottleneck Brussels line, so any delay on that connection has a knock-on effect on trains everywhere else. The alert also affected public transport on MIVB and De Lijn, which also serve Brussels North. Buses and pre-metro were not allowed to access the station during the alert.
The threat came in via a mobile phone call, police said, which also said that a bomb had been planted in the offices of the Brussels prosecutor next to the Justice Palace. Personnel were evacuated and a search carried out.
Elsewhere, false bomb alerts were reported at Charleroi Airport and at the Charleroi-South station, which serves the airport. Nothing was found at any of the locations.
Photo: Thierry Roge/BELGA
