Bart Dewaele
Action plan to improve security at Brussels South Station
At a press conference on Thursday the Federal Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Flemish liberal) announced that a permanently-manned police station will be installed in Brussels-South Railway Station. This is just one of a list of 22 measures included in an Action Plan designed to improve cleanliness, safety and security in and around the station.
The Plan drawn up by the National Security Council – in collaboration with the federal government, the Brussels regional government, the municipalities of Anderlecht and Saint-Gillis and the rail company NMBS – also aims to improve the station’s infrastructure in the short and medium term. The issue of the many homeless people that concentrate in the immediate vicinity of the station will also be tackled. The consumption of alcohol will be banned at the station.
On August 18, the CEO of the Belgian rail company Sophie Dutordoir sent a letter to the federal, regional and municipal authorities regarding what she described as the "dramatic situation at the Brussels South Station". Ms Dutordoir said that security and cleanliness issues at the station are particularly acute.
On August 18, the CEO of the Belgian rail company Sophie Dutordoir sent a letter to the federal, regional and municipal authorities regarding what she described as the "dramatic situation at the Brussels South Station". Ms Dutordoir said that security and cleanliness issues at the station are particularly acute.
Complaints about crime, increasing drug use and the concentration of homeless people at the station have also increased in recent weeks. To prevent the various authorities from blaming each other, the Federal Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s office announced that it intended to coordinate the efforts to tackle the issues that blight the capital’s largest railway station. The National Crisis Centre was to take charges of bringing together the various authorities and coordinating the approach to the problems that beset the station.
Since August 28, two major station clean up sessions have taken place in and around the station. However, to improve the situation in the long term, a 22-point Action Plan has been drafted by all the relevant authorities and stakeholders. The plan was unveiled on Thursday.
One of the 22 points in the plan is the opening of a police station inside the station or its immediate vicinity another is a ban on the consumption of alcohol. To fight crime, homelessness, drug dependency and the insanitary conditions around the station measures including increased police patrols, regular cleaning of the station, the removal of tags and graffiti, and the installation of CCTV cameras by the regional authority and the rail company NMBS with easy exchange of images between the two.
Better lighting will be provided in darker areas of the station and toilets will be proving for the homeless people that gather in and around the station.
Photonews
Drug abuse and unaccompanied minors
There will be better help for the many drug users that gather around the station. The issue of unaccompanied child migrants that sleep rough around the station will also be tackled. An easily accessible reception centre will be set up to accommodate and care for them. Other rough sleepers will be offered help from teams specialised in addiction issues, public health and housing problems. The former Brussel X sorting office that has stood empty for many years will soon become home to the headquarters of NMBS.
The National Crisis Centre will meet once a month to evaluate the progress on the implementation of the measures.
