We left the house in a group of 4 and met another friend at our departure station. After successfully getting 13 kids taken care of, out of the house, to the station, tickets bought, it was 5:28 and our train was at 5:29. As we were running I looked up to the sign and saw our train was delayed almost a half an hour. Grr! All that effort for nothing! We took a different train a few minute later instead. It was going to stop where we needed to go.
5 minutes into our journey, a bell rang and we received the disturbing news that there was a bomb threat at our destination station, so we would all have to exit at the next stop.
Here is an English article about the situation:
Antwerp Central Station was cleared for a while on Friday afternoon after a suspect case was discovered in the central concourse. All rail services in and out of the station were halted while the suspect case was investigated.
The Belgian army's bomb disposal squad DOVO attended the scene deploying a robot and a specially trained dog. Around 6:30 pm DOVO shot the case to pieces. It was found to be harmless, but the impact on rail services was enormous. All services were stopped at Antwerpen-Berchem Station, while the situation was clarified. Buses were used between Berchem and the Central Station.
The Flemish local transport company De Lijn halted all tram traffic in the pre-metro.
Fons Bastiaenssens of Antwerp police later told newsmen that the case mainly contained personal items and that the case's owner was now being identified on the basis of what remained of case and belongings.
Shortly before 7 pm the bomb alert was called off and rail and tram traffic were allowed to resume.
Rail services experienced delays all evening.
Of the one evening in the year, probably more like 10 years, that we take the train, we choose THIS evening. All I can say is that I am so glad I was not alone. It would have been awful. It seemed like hundreds of people were in the next station. Most people blindly followed others out to the busses, without having a clue of which one to take. Hubby's cousin called her hubby and he looked online and told us which bus to take towards Antwerp. It came and the driver was shocked how many people wanted to get on. He had no idea of the situation (yes, I plan to file a complaint to the railways about several things, I want my train and bus ticket reimbursed). Thankfully we got on that bus. We and 100 other people.
The bus ride was about an hour-standing! I had been sick the whole week, so I was so worried of needing a toilet during the ride. I was trying to figure how I would deal with it. Thankfully everything was ok until I arrived at the hotel a few hours later. Once we got off the bus, we found out another friend was on the one behind, so we waited for her.
Of course, her bus arrived just a few minutes after the connection had left. Some nice man advised us to go down and take the tram. So glad he knew what he was talking about. AND our bus tickets worked on the tram! 4 stops later we were at the Opera to catch the following bus. It was 7:37 and the bus must have been on time and came at 7:35. Next one was at 8:05. Did I mention it was cold and a bit rainy? Or that I was hungry?
We had a 10 or so minute final bus ride (the original bus tickets worked here also) and then the same amount of walk to the hotel, so 2.5 hours late we found the birthday girl.
The Flemish local transport company De Lijn halted all tram traffic in the pre-metro.
Fons Bastiaenssens of Antwerp police later told newsmen that the case mainly contained personal items and that the case's owner was now being identified on the basis of what remained of case and belongings.
Shortly before 7 pm the bomb alert was called off and rail and tram traffic were allowed to resume.
Rail services experienced delays all evening.
Of the one evening in the year, probably more like 10 years, that we take the train, we choose THIS evening. All I can say is that I am so glad I was not alone. It would have been awful. It seemed like hundreds of people were in the next station. Most people blindly followed others out to the busses, without having a clue of which one to take. Hubby's cousin called her hubby and he looked online and told us which bus to take towards Antwerp. It came and the driver was shocked how many people wanted to get on. He had no idea of the situation (yes, I plan to file a complaint to the railways about several things, I want my train and bus ticket reimbursed). Thankfully we got on that bus. We and 100 other people.
The bus ride was about an hour-standing! I had been sick the whole week, so I was so worried of needing a toilet during the ride. I was trying to figure how I would deal with it. Thankfully everything was ok until I arrived at the hotel a few hours later. Once we got off the bus, we found out another friend was on the one behind, so we waited for her.
Of course, her bus arrived just a few minutes after the connection had left. Some nice man advised us to go down and take the tram. So glad he knew what he was talking about. AND our bus tickets worked on the tram! 4 stops later we were at the Opera to catch the following bus. It was 7:37 and the bus must have been on time and came at 7:35. Next one was at 8:05. Did I mention it was cold and a bit rainy? Or that I was hungry?
We had a 10 or so minute final bus ride (the original bus tickets worked here also) and then the same amount of walk to the hotel, so 2.5 hours late we found the birthday girl.
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