page_title: History of rail transport in Belgium
section_title: Ownership, nationalisation and electrification
hierarchical_section_title: History of rail transport in Belgium / Rail networks and railways / Ownership, nationalisation and electrification
caption_attribution_description: English: Bloktrain leaving Brussels North in the 1920's Nederlands: Bloktrein die Brussel Noord verlaat in de jaren 1920
context_page_description: Belgium was heavily involved in the early development of railway transport. Belgium was the second country in Europe, after Great Britain, to open a railway and produce locomotives. The first line, between the cities of Brussels and Mechelen opened in 1835. Belgium was the first state in Europe to create a national railway network and the first to possess a nationalised railway system. The network expanded fast as Belgium industrialised, and by the early 20th century was increasingly under state-control. The nationalised railways, under the umbrella organisation National Railway Company of Belgium, retained their monopoly until liberalisation in the 2000s.
context_section_description: The Belgian government resisted attempts by foreign companies to buy up railway assets in Belgium. In the winter of 1868, against a background of French threats to Belgium and Luxembourg under the rule of Napoleon III, the French Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est attempted to buy up numerous railway lines situated in southern and eastern Belgium in the provinces of Liège, Limburg and Luxembourg. The Belgian state, under Leopold II, felt that the takeover presented a military and political threat and intervened to stop the sale in 1869. The decision outraged the French, and Napoleon III considered invasion, but the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and his subsequent overthrow, prevented war.
  In 1870, the Belgian state owned 863 kilometres (536 mi) of rail lines, while the private enterprises owned 2,231 kilometres (1,386 mi). From 1870 to 1882, the railways were gradually nationalised. In 1912, 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) were state property compared to 300 kilometres (190 mi) of private lines. Full nationalisation was considered at the time, but was not enacted until 1926 when the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB-NMBS) was started, replacing the earlier Chemins de fer de l'État belge. By 1958 the network was fully state-owned. 
  The SNCB-NMBS first introduced electrification on the 44 kilometres (27 mi) Brussels North to Antwerp Central line in May 1935. The system adopted was 3 kV DC
  During the German occupation in World War II, the SNCB-NMBS was forced to participate in the deportation of Belgian Jews to camps in Eastern Europe as part of The Holocaust.
caption: A train to Antwerp leaving the Brussels-North station in the 1920s
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