On 7 September, the first ICE high-speed train (HST) from Cologne arrived at Brussels Airport station. This means the airport is, for the first time since 2015, directly connected again to the international high-speed rail network. As of today, travellers from western Germany flying with Brussels Airlines can combine their flight and train journey in a single booking, thanks to a partnership between the airline and Deutsche Bahn.

“The arrival of this high-speed rail service marks an important step in the further development of Brussels Airport as an intermodal hub. We want to offer travellers a range of sustainable options to travel efficiently to and from the airport, across national borders. Thanks to the connection to the high-speed rail network, passengers can already complete part of their journey by train and enjoy seamless access to the more than 180 destinations in our network. This new connection is a great example of how, together with various partners, we are enabling future-oriented mobility.”
​- Arnaud Feist, Chief Executive Officer, Brussels Airport.

Since the partnership between Brussels Airlines and Deutsche Bahn was announced in February, more than one thousand tickets have already been sold, allowing travellers to complete part of their journey by train with a single ticket that combines rail and air travel. New York (United States), Accra (Ghana) and Alicante (Spain) are the most popular destinations for this intermodal product.

“Direct to Antwerp, direct to Brussels Airport, and all on our state-of-the-art trains: this is how we’re making international rail travel even easier and more appealing for passengers. We’re connecting two key transport hubs via the ICE service: Cologne, as a hub for cross-border long-distance travel, and Brussels Airport, as an international hub for onward journeys by air.”
​- Dr. Michael Peterson, DB Board Member for Long Distance Passenger Transport, Deutsche Bahn.

There are two return services every day between Cologne and Antwerp. The trains from Cologne arrive at the airport station at 8:29 a.m. and 4:28 p.m. The trains in the other direction, from Antwerp to Cologne, call at Brussels Airport at 11:29 a.m. and 2:29 p.m. Deutsche Bahn’s ICE high-speed trains operate in cooperation with NMBS, which provides the drivers for this connection.