Despite not carrying out rail freight services in their most traditional definition, the Belgian infrastructure manager Infrabel will get at least 300 new open box wagons, which will be delivered in 2026. “We will use the new wagons, mainly, to transport granulates that we need on different rail construction sites across Belgium. This can be anything from track ballast, gravel or soil”, a spokesperson from Infrabel told RailFreight.com.
The wagons will be manufactured by Millet AFR, a French company based in Douai, not too far from the Belgian border. Other than the confirmed order for 300 wagons, the deal between Infrabel and Millet AFR entails the possibility of getting 100 more every year between 2026 and 2028, for a total of 600.
The 600 wagons will be deployed to replace the current fleet of wagons used by Infrabel for rail construction projects. “Replacing the old rolling stock is beneficial for the infrastructure manager because the maintenance cost for the new fleet is significantly lower. Furthermore we need less open box wagons in order to transport the same amount/mass then when we would use the old flat wagons”, the spokesperson added.