Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Vicinaux

Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Vicinaux (SNCV), known in Dutch as Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen (NMVB), the National Vicinal Tramway Company that built and later operated a network of secondary railways in Belgium. These were known as the Tramways Vicinaux, or Buurtspoorwegen, and were a system of narrow-gauge tramways and local railways that were cheaply built alongside existing roads in rural areas. These were constructed to metre gauge, although some were built using 3ft 6in and regauged at a later date, and were run using steam tram engines and simple rugged rolling stock. The lines themselves were constructed by SNCV, with finance coming from the state, which provided 50%, as well as the province and the public. The operation of the trains was initially undertaken by private transport companies as a series of concessions.

The company began operation in July 1885 and, as well as operating passenger services, it also hauled freight including timber and agricultural products. From 1894 some of the route were electrified although this was focused on the urban systems.

During the First World War the system underwent a great deal of strain as it was divided by the Western Front. The routes that ended up in the German occupied territory were often dismantled in order to provide equipment of the temporary railways laid to supply the trench system. It also provided an alternative method of transportation for the main railway system, which was mainly used by the German Army. As a result of this, and the heavy use on the Allied side of the front, by the end of the conflict 40% of the system had been dismantled and it required extensive rebuilding. Influenced by this was the ending of the system of operation by commercial transport companies and the return of operations to direct SNCV control.

Following the war investment continued to be made in the system as more routes were electrified, using a more powerful method than had previously used which allowed for more powerful engines to be brought into service. From 1923 the company took over the tram system in the former German territory that had been annexed by Belgium. As a result, it acquired the electric systems in Eupen, Herbesthal, Eynatten and Raeren. By 1938 1,500km of the network had been electrified and on routes that had not diesel trams were introduced from 1935.

During the Second World War the network saw a huge increase in traffic as the main railway network was used by the German Army and suffered from shortages of fuel and equipment. As a result, longer distance journeys were undertaken on the local railways and tramways operated by SNCV, so that by 1943 403 million passengers were carried on the network. Due to this and the lack of maintenance that was undertaken during the war by the end the system was extremely worn out and required a great deal of maintenance or temporary repairs to allow the system to return to operations.

Following the end of the conflict the system underwent a reduction as many of the non-electric routes were closed. The network would shrink from 4769km in 1945 to 4236km in 1950 and by 1960 it had decline to 978km. At this time the freight service on the system began to be either phased out or transferred to other operators and the public perception of the company shifted from that of a rural railway to a tramway operator. The rural lines also began to be replaced by buses and this became the focus of the company’s activities, although it still continued to some trams.

This situation continued until 1991 when the company was split into regional operations. The cause of the division was the Institutional Reform Act of 8th August 1988 which transferred responsibility for urban and regional transport to the regions and led to the legislation passed on 26th June 1990 which dissolved SNCV. Operations were taken over by two new entities Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn (Flemish transport company De Lijn) known as De Lijn (The Line) and Opérateur de transport de Wallonie (OTW) (Transport Operator of Wallonia), formerly Société Régionale Wallonne du Transport (SRWT) (Walloon Regional Transport Company) branded as TEC Transport En Commun" (Public Transport). Both of these were primarily bus operators but also operated trams in Ghent and Antwerp.