Benelux Railways

The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are three separate European countries that have their own railway systems, with much integration between each other. They are united by all running regular passenger train services, mostly hourly or more frequent, within each country and beyond. Nederlandse Spoorwegen supplies the principal rail service within the Netherlands, supplemented by other operators such as Arriva and Syntus, who run a few local lines. All the passenger services within Belgium are operated by NMBS/SNCB (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen or Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges), uniting the Flemish and Wallonian parts of the country. CFL (correctly called Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois) has a surprisingly large rail network, with frequent internal services and innumerable cross-border operations, including those from Germany and France.

John Law has been visiting the railways of this part of Europe since the early 1970s and has travelled on nearly all the lines opened to passenger traffic. He has photographed the changing scene over the years and has compiled a huge number of images, the best of which are within these pages.