Review of one of the oldest and unrefurbished Belgian regional trains
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2019
- Hi everyone, welcome to this trip report bound to Antwerpen, the most beautiful station in the world.
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- TRIP INFORMATION -
Railway company : SNCB
Train type : AM75
From : Brussels to Antwerpen (Belgium)
Duration : 46 min
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I love how you are so enthousiastic and appreciative about things Belgians complain about on a daily basis.
yeah the EU
@@swellerbunion8867 Maybe also what people say when they complain?
Belgium has a great train service, always on time, cheap especially at weekends,brilliant stations especially antwerp
@@declanburke3746 trains being on time is a joke.
In Belgium you're obligated to complain about every inconvenience and to shut up about everything good
I feel sorry for everyone that has to take this train on a daily, the AM75 is nice for special occasions, but hot in the summer and not so comfortable for long distance
Reminds me of the old style Class 207 I rode on at the Spa Valley Railway... that didn't even have inter-carriage gangways!
But from Brussel Centraal you can take better trains till Antwerpen ...
Ksandur cuz they dont have air conditioning
I thought they stopped with this train before 2019! I regularly take trains to Brussels, Gent, Brugge , Antwerpen! Didnt see such trains past year.
Dépends on what time, there are still old trains that go to antwerpen
Haha your opinion on the soap dispenser at 6:48 made me laugh 😆
it's true though. I've been on a lot of trains of NMBS/SNCB and they don't maintain the toilets very well.
Agree
Yep
@@TheBelgianCE NO
@@SimplyRailway - I do feel for you, even the short BRU-ANR journey on this lump of scrap metal is reason enough to file for a massive compensation for emotional pain and suffering from the DB, but let me tell you that your AM75 has been an exceptionally well-maintained one. I once changed from an NS Sprinter to an SNCB IC towards Liege in Maastricht and lost the will to live for quite a bit (and the will to return to Liege forever, but then the city's logo is inspired by the hand gesture that started this thread...)
The line you mentioned at the end of the video, will be the last piece of railway to complete the full HSL project in Belgium. It will diverge from L25N (The line from the airport and Brussels North, used by Thalys) to by-pass Mechelen station at 160 km/h instead of the current 100 km/h through the current platforms 7 and 10. It will connect to L25 (The Brussels - Antwerp line) at Mechelen-Nekkerspoel and so on to Antwerp. They’re also building platforms 11-12 on the by-pass in order to smoothen out the train patterns in order to decrease the likeness of delays around the Mechelen area!
Nowadays, the IC’s have to wait for awhile at platforms 8-9 or on a relief line before the station to give a Thalys the priority on the through line to Antwerp. It happens daily and most (Essen-) Antwerp-Brussels (- Charleroi-Sud) services through peak hours are usually delayed by 10-15 mins. This will dramatically increase reliability. Also, Mechelen Station will be completely rebuilt. (More info on both the by-pass and station: www.tucrail.be/fr/projects/nouvelles-infrastructures/rail-bypass-mechelen).
Who knows what the future may bring on L25(N), maybe a speed upgrade to 200 km/h between Mechelen and Hove or an extra IC service totalling to 5 tph. Keep up the good work with your videos, you’re doing an amazing job!
Kind regards, a member of staff from NMBS/SNCB.
For quite some time when waiting at platform 10 in Mechelen you could lean out of the window... into a terrifying canyon right next to your train (where they dug out the foundations for the extra platforms). Made you not want to move inside your train for fear of it falling off that cliff.
Belgium is just amazing... they've really gone far with their high speed plans.
Still not ready yet in mechelen, why does it take years?
In the Netherlands, we call the AM75 ''Varkensneus''.
Which translated means 'pigs nose'. You can see why at 2:35
Exactly! The Dutch speaking Belgians also do call this train the same!
The Dutch have a tendency to call trains after animals' heads: dogs, monkeys...
We have many names for it in Flanders. "Den 800", "De vierledige", "De Varkensneus", "het oud stuk schandalig kutmaterieel",..
@@Nicdehouwer Remember the other trains from the same era, the "Duikbril?"
The first time I travelled on a Belgian train ( 2nd class) the seats were wooden slats. First class looked like it was covered in green carpet
The line you saw isn't in use yet. It's going to be a high speed line to connect Malines and Brussels And so that these high speed trains can pass through the station at higher speeds on newer tracks
Indeed, it's a new bypass of the train station in Mechelen. It will allow a speed of 160 km/h instead of 100 km/h when passing through the station: infrabel.be/fr/projet/bypass-malines
Just a note: what the two of you call "Malines" and "Mechelen" is called "Mechlin" in English.
@@jovada Den dag dat de trein met 100 per uur door een station rijdt, eet ik mijn klak op
@@yagi3925 It's simply called Mechelen in English nowadays. Just like Leuven, Kortrijk, Roeselare and all those other places that were known by their French names a century ago. Brugge is still known as Bruges to most Brits but they are trying to stamp out that name too. If Mumbai and Beijing can do it, then so can Brugge. ;)
@@ixlnxs _Yangon/Rangoon, Bengaluru/Bangalore & Odisha/Orissa have entered the chat too?_
I took those trains everyday to school 22 years ago , it's like travelling back in time. Nice work. Greetings from Belgium
That train reminds me of uk trains that haven’t been used since the 90s. Very retro. Love it! All it needs is slam doors
I miss slam door trains. When I was younger I went on holiday with my family and we all preferred the one slam door train we went on over the Virgin train pendolinos we were on! It was just wider and easier to deal with the suitcases we had. My mum swore we were never doing it by train again, it was always coaches from then on. (Oxford to Portsmouth, we had to change once on the way and once back, I still remember seeing a train that had exhaust pipes on all the carriages, I've never seen one like that since!)
@@sapphireseptember I used to travel on them a lot. The big benches could be surprisingly comfortable but in winter the slam doors were draughty as well. They were also poor in an accident as Clapham demonstrated.
I took this train hundreds of times, until about three years ago these were the standard trains on my line. Now you just see them once in a while. They’re fine as long as it isn’t summer.
I love them in summer because you can open those slide windows and feel the breeze. But hey I live in Vietnam so hot and humid is no issue for me ;)
2:48 it sounds like and old IVA rolling stock from Bucharest subway ('78- '89)
Loved the video. If you have time for a review, i highly recommend the line from Oostende to Eupen in Belgium.
Several years ago I got on a train from Rozendaal to Antwerpen and this was the rolling stock. I just couldn't believe what a blast from the past it was
Very nice video. I forgot to mention in last one but the upgrades to the equipment does show quite well on the quality of the final video. Keep it up.
That line you asked about, it goes from mechelen to the airport zaventem. ( i know because i am a machinist my self 😁)
In English, Mechlin.
Mechelen in English.
Amazing trains. This one specific (838) was the first train I drove myself. It's high comfort for IC trains but is mostly used as S/L (city/local) trains. First class is really worth it in these trains. Also called the pig nose (varkensneus) or simply "an 800". Really enjoy your videos! I learn stuff about certain material that I didn't even know yet.
Hai,
There is a website called beluxtrains.net where you can find what train stock you will ride.(Belgium and Luxemburg but also international trains departing in the BeLux) Just enter the train number.
Edit: you must try the I6 stock, its really nice! He drive between Luxemburg and Brussels!
Another tip: The station of Liège-Guillemins is fantastic tooooooo!
Damn I live in Luxembourg, didnt know that! Most of the time you already know which train stock you get here though.
I rode this train a couple time from Antwerp to Roosendal ND. Very warm and cosy
00:50
The big stations maybe, but the ticket offices in the smaller stations are all being cut, or have adysmal opening hours.
Even few small stations are disappearing, cutting costs !
Another great report. I've travelled on these AM75 trains many times.... I quite like the older stock, feels solid and rides comfortably. However, the standard class seats are not best suited for longer journeys. I'm not sure why so many trains are covered in graffiti in Belgium... they obviously have poor security in their holding depots, which is worrying in many other ways.
Wow, old stock on main line??? On Intercity???
I love Belgium 😅😍
It's not fun when it's 40°C out there.
True
In ghent it was 43 and in my home i was 46
We still have 5 of them running
Soon they're gonna be off rails 😪😥
Tags are vandalism.
In my country there'd be a criminal investigation, due to concerns that the presence of graffiti signifies that train security is too lax, possibly allowing more nefarious actions e.g. brake tampering
i once got on an even older one. The seats were mostly in woodwork and you had enclosed cabinets. so you had a little cabinet with 4 seats in it and a door. (and a table) I got put here during a 3 hour delay so it was most likely the only spare train they had. It drove kind of wobbly but it was the coolest ride i ever did.
Your video report is very interesting I love it! Congratulation ! So I’m from the south of Belgium and I usually take the SNCB train but your train is very special. The color red is very amazing. When I take the train from Namur to Brussels or from Brussels to Ostend I always have a white one and a new ! Yes I know it’s impossible to understand SNCB ahahah. By the way I have to go to Antwerp!
It's interesting that you're French and you use the name "Brussel Zuid", not "Bruxelles Midi"
Hummus That’s awful yes...
But he does use the French version SNCB rather than the Flemish NMBS name for the rail.
In Frankrijk zeggen we Bruxelles midi omdat Brussels Zuid niet klopt . And Bruxelles = Brussels
Well, Brussels is geographically in Flanders a bit, so yeah.
@@remirms2239 Geographically, yes. But Brussels is... well.. it's Brussels. It's a bit of an outlier. Not really either Walloon or Flemish, but both, and more.
Au vu de la qualité de la vidéo, j'ai hâte de voir un comparatif avec ces mêmes AM modernisée !
Big up d'un conducteur de train qui assure souvent les IC de Bruxelles à Anvers !
Ah, the abandoned industrial zone between France and The Netherlands, Belgium
you mean wallonia?
@@izedawidka lol
Thank you for the review - it looks like a trip down memory lane :)
02:39 I'm surprised to see they're still around. I definitely rode in several of these back when I was living in Belgium in the 80s. Wow!
Thank you for another enjoyable video
when he said antwerpen station in the most beautiful station in the world i fell in love
Ik just saw your video. Refirbishing and modernize the am75(vierledige) is my daily job. Drilling, grinding, welding,.....
Awesome video dude! Sad you couldn't go to Aachen. See you next time! :)
The line at 7:15 is the "high speed trains by-pass" of Mechelen. It is essentially the 25N from Brussels Airport being extended to Mechelen and beyond instead of connecting to the 25. This connexion to the 25 was causing delays as the trains on the 25 always had to stop to allow the priority international trains to the Netherlands go first. -Sébastien, train driver for SNCB
The ladies at your back were talking in Hungarian, arguing where should they get off.
Vannak még itt magyarok, látom :D
Én is felkaptam rá a fejem 😄
i miss those old trains, the way they were brings me back to the late 2000s and early 2010s
The bad old days lol
J'adore ce train complètement dans son jus d'origine ! très belle vidéo
Amazing train, you have earned a subscriber
The new line under construction is part of a big reconstruction around Mechelen station. It is an extra line from the station to Brussels Airport you see in 7.00
Greetings from the Netherlands (!) by Arie Bert Verteeg. Antwerpen Centraal is very very beautifyul; you are right!! :-)
Excellent ! Thank you for sharing !!! :):):)
i live in Aachen and i really love belgian train travel... good service, superb prices, always on time in comparison to the german Bundesbahn
Chouette vidéo ;) Cela fait comique d'avoir quelqu'un qui ne se plaint pas de nos vieux "nez-de-cochons" (c'est comme ça qu'on les appelle entre cheminots) :)
Et j'ai beau aller très souvent à Antwerpen Centraal, je m'émerveille toujours devant cette magnifique gare n_n
Great video. Can't believe that SNCB/NMBS are still using AM75 stock on InterCity services!
They'll be out of service next year, except for the few refurbished ones
I think the trains, when refurbished would still be great working, and spacious. It would still be good for short distance stop train. Only urgent need is a stronger airconditioning for in the summer, and a nice makeover of toliets!
They should install vandal-resistant surfaces on the refurbished ones
I remember taking this line during a heatwave in 2015 July. Not a pleasant journey. Regarding power sockets, only the really new coaches being implemented on the Eupen - Ostende weekend trains have power outlets at every seat. I frequently travel between Liege and Tournai during weekends and the long journeys are really boring with my now old laptop who's battery doesn't last longer than an hour and a half.
This stock is used for that line because it can handle the Dutch 1500V ( as opposed to Belgian 3000V) at limited speed. It can do that because it is electrically very simple.
Once I ment to travel with the double decker with my dad to the airport. This would have been my first ever double decker train ride, and then one of these came. I was 5 at the time.
At least the designers assumed that people travel with luggage. In modern trains it often is a problem where to leave it.
The tracks you didn’t know, are the new tracks at Mechelen. They will become platforms 11 & 12 on the line 25N from Mechelen-Nekkerspoel to the Airport (Zaventem).
La ligne que tu as vu (juste avant l’arrivée à Malines) vient d’être construite et sert au passage notamment des Thalys et intercity qui viennent de l’aéroport.
cool train i love it , i hope they keep like that
7:09: c'est le nouveau tronçon de la ligne 25N (tronçon actuel: Schaerbeek - Malines (bifurcation Abeelstraat), futur tronçon: bifurcation Abeelstraat - bifurcation Otterbeek).
@ 5:10 you've spotted Luckas Vander Taelen: a Belgian journalist, singer and former Member of the European Parliament.
I hope I'll be seeing this scene again soon, without any worry about some virus being spread.
Visited Brussels by train a number of times when my brother lived there.
Good times.
Cheers from Norway.
You probably won't be seeing this exact scene anymore, as most AM75s have been refurbished, only two or three left in this state, and they'll go soon.
There's still some wagons with seperated compartments on the line Brussels - Arlon ;)
Im gonna love this🙃
I love how you use the Dutch name for Brussels Midi, but use the French name of the train operator (SNCB, NMBS in Dutch)
I’ve never been on a train but after this I think I change my mind.
7:06, that's just the line 25 being refurbished around Vilvoorde and Mechelen, isn't it?
Damn, even our trains in Italy are better than this... (I've never thought I could say that)
Italy just bought some old belgian trains
In Northern Italy there are very good trains.
@@luxembourger yup
You do realise that particular train model is the oldest one still in use? Most are more modern.
@@AM-mr2fx Italy is building trains for northern countries, not the contrary dude
Every morning in my town there is this train stopping in the station
NMBS (as most Belgians would call it) is overall good value for money. I have a car in Belgium but use NMBS trains as much as I can when I'm there. And whenever I go from Antwerp to Brussels I try to use the slowest trains because they tend to be the oldest. Though of course this year I haven't been able to come over as I'm happy to live in a virtually corona-free country.
I think these arent used much ICE anymore. I occasionally have this AM75 because I live at an end station in Belgium, where its pretty remote so they give us the old trains.
You live next to Essen or Puurs?
Correction: Brussel-Zuid - Antwerpen = Dutch. The name of the railway company is NMBS in Dutch.
Bruxelles-Midi - Anvers = French. The name of the railway is SNCB in French.
There are different types of trains. I haven't seen one in years, so it is funny that you filmed one here.
Btw a lot of ticket offices are closed now or not open all day. You have to buy your tickets at the machines, which are very slowly and often broke. You just got lucky, because in Brussels, our capital, there are other opening hours.
If you want to buy your ticket on the train, you pay an extra 7€.
I've been taken the train on a daily basis since 18 years now. It's not bad, but lots of points to improve.
In Dutch is nationaal maatschappij Belgische spoorwegen 😏 thank me later I'm dutch
Jeez I work at SNCB and didn't even know we still had one of those old burgundy paint scheme AM75 with the old seats around xD
This must be like one of the last surviving ones.
We have plenty of "Quadruples" in Charleroi but all have been refurbished quite some time ago (They're even ETCS compliant and all)
Great video. The AM75 is it electric or diesel? I couldn't see the pantograph.
Electric... There are almost no diesel passenger units apart from the serie MW41 - nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/MW41
The first class thing is something you will find on every Belgian train, it's always empty, except for the train personell who all have free cards for the first class and chill there together
Hello,
I'm just surprised that you didn't share the fact that there is no beep before door closing and these door can really be a trap if you are not familiar with these train.
One story I have with these train was when mine got delayed by 25 minutes because someone got its hand stuck in the closing door. We had to wait for the ambulance in a stop point (with no employee).
To be honest at some point when I was student I was taking this type of train daily on a L relation and since I had 50 minutes travel + 40 minutes to wait inside the train before departure.
So I was always paying around 3€ to be able to sit in 1st class that were really comfortable.
I already traveled with a modernized one on the other part of the line you traveled and I think this is OK.
Seat are a little less comfortable but still OK and there are power outlet now. Also there is an alarm before door closing and if I remember right there are still place for luggage (not in the same configuration).
Hope that you will have the opportunity to test the refurbished one soon.
I remember the first time I went to Antwerp by train from The Netherlands and being a bit shocked by the fact that these things are still riding around 😂😂
You could just smell the old cigarette smoke in the cabin, it made so much noise and the outside was covered in graffiti. You're passing these big stations that just basically look abandoned.
Such a difference with The Netherlands... here it's rare to even see a train riding around covered in tags
Dat is juist het leuke eraan. Dat ouderwetse hier en daar.
@@mariemela5632 Ja, dat vind ik ook leuk. Maar het is ook veel achterstallig onderhoud en dat vind ik zonde...
7:32 Simply Railway just visit Prague's main train station and decide what is the most beautiful station in the world.
C'est bien que tu aies pris une AM75. Comme leur modernisation tourne mal (seules quelques unes le sont et elles tombent souvent en panne) et que les voitures M7 arrivent (d'ailleurs on peut croiser des trains de test assez facilement sur certaines lignes), ils ont décidé de déclasser les AM75 d'ici quelques mois, en janvier 2020 ! Seules les quelques AM75 modernisées resteront.
Yes these are old trains. They are loud and very very hot in summer. Most of these trains are dirty and old, but the seats are cool and comfy.
Thanks for the review - looks like SNCB forgot to refurbish these trains about a decade or two ago! Love the seats, I'm sure they were fine for 45 minutes. This train really seems more commuter than intercity though, in 2nd class at least.
Also, it has to be asked, do the Belgians have a problem with security of their trains? Last time I saw trains with this much tagging/graffiti was the 1980s New York City subway. It definitely does not make for a good impression, especially on their newer trains. Most train depots (yards in the US) have good security and CCTV now, I would think, to avoid this from happening.
Yea the cops don't do anything in this country and even serial killers only get 3 years of jail time
Reminds me off the classic Southern slam door stock old school real trains!
Hey, SNCB (NMBS) did said their 1st class weren't good enough.inreaded that on the internet also, but they also said that they will do more things in the 1st class on the new m7. They want to make the 1st class more comfortable.. If its correct what the internet said
It is, I saw pictures of the interior on test trains and they definitely improved it
you passed by my town: Mechelen
First class is very comfy on these ones ;)
Salut ! Petite suggestion ! Tu devrais faire un review plus "complet" des stations que tu visites 😉
Même si tu l'as déjà fait dans une station en particulier vu qu'il a toujours des nouveaux sur la chaîne, etc ...
Bien vu :)
u where in the approach to mechelen where u asked the network ;)
I really like old and noisy trains! It's the real railway experience, unfortunately disapearing more and more... Btw, if you ever come to Berlin you have to visit the Museum for Technology (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Museum_of_Technology )! Among other things it has a huge railway departement.
Its disappearing because your opinion is like in a 0.1% minority
@@eetuthereindeer6671 Your oppinion on my oppinion is a wrong one.
@@5mnz7fg i guess you only talk about it with train enthusiasts. But if asked by a regular passanger im pretty sure they all prefer they quietness :)
This train was my first ever impression of Belgium. I crossed the border from France and took the train from Erquelinnes. I couldn't believe my eyes what the hell am I travelling on. Few minutes into the ride, a ticket inspector came accompanied by a policeman and a soldier. At that moment I already thought I fell through some wormhole into the year 1945 or so 😂😂 (The presence of the police and army was later explained, it was due to recent terrorist attacks in France, it was in 2015).
The interior looks good the train itself looks like some old British rail 1950s/60s especially the windows
It gives me strong Class 309 vibes (mostly because of the colour scheme).
@@paullbennett2923 There are no ferries to Ostende from Dover.
J'en avais souvent pour aller à l'école dans ma région, en hiver c'était le pied parce que ces trains sont hyper bien chauffés
Ces petites excursions sur le réseau SNCB sont vraiment plaisantes. Bon, un antique AM75, avec sa livrée toute aussi antique, rien d'anormal, tu es entré par le coté le moins moderne de BXL-Sud :-))
christophe77700 La Belgique est un vrai musée
Are these trains still in use? If you want old trains you could try the Italian Doppio Piano Casaralta from 1979 (double-decker, you find it in Lombardy) or the diesel trains ALN 668 or 663 from the 70s
The refurbished units are still in use but they're not that common.
Fantastic!
I did a commute from Brussels to Mechelen for a few months, and yeah it was alright but punctuality at rush hour is rarely achieved fair to say.
Wow, soo sad to see all those graffiti on trains... :(
I thought such things only happened in poorer southern European countries like mine, it's really depressing to see the beautiful Belgian trains vandalised like that too :/
There are thugs in all the countries you know, but apart from the AM75, which will be soon gone, trains are cleaned often
@@imaginox9 Lucky you! Trains in my country are so sadly decrepit that it's not worth using them anymore. Hopefully one day we would learn from you guys...
Belgium is a backwater country.
@@isakaldazwulfazizsunus7564 that is simply not true. Plenty of progress in certain areas. Not on all, but you don't need progress on something that is already finished and perfect. Don't fix what isn't broke
@@VlerkeDamne Yeah some parts of Flanders are fine I guess. Wallonia is a shithole though and Brussels isn't all that much better.
tbh the stations ticket booths are not open everywhere all day at my town their open from 7am to 1pm
There's a new livery of am75 if yall realised
Ye tje white yellow ones
I see evidence of refurbishment. Reupholstered and/or replaced seats and it looks like the interior has been worked on, but maybe not recently. In the U.S., though, that train would be considered state-of-the-art technology. :/
Power outlets are usually near the doors
The line you couldn't find anything about is from the diablo project I believe.
Could also be the new line the are going to be using for the renewed Mechelen staion. Wich I believe it is since the video is from august 2019 and the diablo project was completed somewhere in 2012 I believe.
7:07 You are on line 25 (Brussel-Noord to Antwerpen-Luchtbal). This line just next to line 25 and still under construction when you filmed is line 25N (Mechelen to Schaerbeek) and which goes through Brussels-Airport (Line 36c).
3:30 Hungarians having no idea where they are. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The inside of them is like old mk1 third rail emus in se England.
did you get the name from simply avaition
Now the trains AM75 are refurbished I took this train but i haven't try toilets because my trips are short
OMG, this old thing is still running? 38 years ago, I travelled with this train every day to go to university, even then it was already some years old.... They also used to have an odd smell, don't know if that is still the case today...
Houlalala, c'était pas le fleuron de la flotte hein :p Je suis pas spécialement passionné de trains, je n'aime pas spécialement les prendre, j'en ai pris bcp, mais j'aime regarder des vidéos de personnes de l'étranger (je suis belge) pour avoir leur regard extérieur. C'était intéressant comme vidéo du coup. Je les ai pris des années durant ces trains là... Un jour, il y a environ dix ans, j'ai vu arriver en gare un train dont les portes accordéons étaient manuelles, et tout l'intérieur était constitué de banquettes en bois. Je pense qu'il devait remonter à deux générations de trains avant celui de la vidéo... Il aurait été apprécié ici (il l'était moins des navetteurs vu le confort très relatif...). J'ai salué le contrôleur d'un "très bien entretenu votre musée". L'arrivée des désiro fut un graaaaand bond en avant, la sncb mettant parfois en service de trèèès vieux trains avant l'arrivée de ceux-ci.
i remember i already took those trains in the 80's .. they were painted in orange back then. Haha the inside hasn't much changed ;)