Brussels-Midi Station Evacuated After Three Suspicious Packages Found on Platforms

Brussels-Midi station, Belgium's busiest railway hub, was evacuated Monday afternoon after three suspicious packages were discovered on its platforms and aboard trains, causing widespread disruption to rail, metro, tram, and bus services across the Belgian capital during the evening rush hour. Police received the initial alert around 5:20 p.m., when train conductor Patrick Jadoul spotted an abandoned bag during a routine security round aboard a train at the station. Jadoul opened the bag and found a black cylinder bearing the words "explosive and corrosive," along with a mobile phone and wires. Following established protocols, he halted the train, alerted staff, and evacuated all passengers. A second suspicious package was then discovered on platform 18, and a subsequent search revealed a third package aboard a locomotive that was already in motion, bound for Antwerp. The army's bomb disposal service deployed to the scene and examined all three packages, ultimately declaring them harmless, according to federal police.

Rush-hour chaos as metro, trams, and buses all halted The evacuation triggered a cascade of transport disruptions across Brussels during one of the busiest periods of the day. SNCB spokesperson Vincent Bayer told Reuters that no train had arrived at or departed from Midi station since approximately 5:30 p.m. The disruption extended well beyond the rail network: metro lines 2 and 6, tram lines 4, 10, 51, and 82, and bus lines 48, 49, 50, 73, and 78 were all interrupted or rerouted, according to reports citing the Brussels public transport company. Infrabel spokesperson Frédéric Sacré confirmed the discovery of the package on the Antwerp-bound train in an initial statement. Because Brussels-Midi sits at the heart of the country's north-south rail connection, the disruption rippled outward to affect train traffic across Belgium, with SNCB advising passengers to consult its route planner. A GB News reporter stranded at Rotterdam station described the atmosphere as calm but said passengers had been held for around 30 minutes with no information from rail staff. SNCB stated on its website that the duration of the disruption remained undetermined while it awaited further information from police.

Partial service resumes, but trains cannot yet stop at station Partial rail traffic resumed at 7:15 p.m., when trains were again permitted to travel on tracks 3 through 13, though they remained unable to stop at the station itself, Infrabel reported. The federal police announced shortly before 7:45 p.m. that all packages found had been declared harmless. SNCB warned passengers on its website that delays and cancellations could still persist as services gradually returned to normal. The station, which serves as the main high-speed hub for international connections between Brussels, Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Germany, handles a large volume of transit traffic that made the disruption particularly acute. „While doing my security round, I found an abandoned bag above the basket. I opened the bag and there was a black cylinder marked explosive and corrosive. I saw that there was a phone and wires. So obviously, as a procedure, I had the train stopped, I alerted everyone and we evacuated the train.” (While doing my security round, I found an abandoned bag above the basket. I opened the bag and there was a black cylinder marked explosive and corrosive. I saw that there was a phone and wires. So obviously, as a procedure, I had the train stopped, I alerted everyone and we evacuated the train.) — Patrick Jadoul via RTBF

Incident falls one day after tenth anniversary of 2016 attacks The evacuation came one day after Belgium marked the tenth anniversary of the March 22, 2016, coordinated terrorist bombings carried out by Islamic State militants. On March 22, 2016, suicide bombers detonated explosives at Brussels Airport in Zaventem and at Maalbeek metro station in Brussels, killing 32 people and injuring more than 300, according to reporting cited in source articles. Belgian King Philippe and senior authorities attended a commemoration ceremony on Sunday at the metro station and the airport to pay tribute to the victims. The 2016 attacks were among the deadliest terrorist incidents in Belgian history and prompted major reviews of security procedures at transport hubs across the country. Belgian authorities did not publicly link Monday's packages to any specific threat or individual, and police described the packages as harmless following the bomb disposal assessment. The alert level in Brussels remained at "serious," according to Digi24, citing Belgian authorities. The timing of the incident, arriving the day after the solemn anniversary commemorations, drew immediate attention from media and the public, though officials offered no indication of a deliberate connection.

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