Rail strike brings services to a standstill in Belgium

Railway unions in Belgium staged a one-day nation-wide strike on Thursday which disrupted all international lines into France, Britain and the Netherlands. All French Thalys trains were cancelled and the Eurostar service was limited to Brussels - Lille in France. The unions say they are concerned that the planned restructuring of the railway cargo unit of the state-owned NMBS-SNCB will lead to the loss of some 3,000 jobs. As a result of the strike, a total of 185 kilometres of traffic jam were registered on Belgian roads on Thursday morning.