#5012· MS96
Belgian Railways Class 96
🇧🇪 Belgium ·built by ALSTOM Transportation Germany· from 1996· electric multiple-unit train
.jpg)
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. AM96 - Gentbrugge: Wester· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Antwerpen-Berchem NMBS 467 IC 2613 naar Hasselt (16957199940): Rob Dammers· CC BY 2.0
what is it?
The class 96 (MS96 in Dutch, AM96 in French) is an electric multiple unit constructed in 1996 for the National Railway Company of Belgium. They incorporate features from the DSB IC3da trainsets in order to enable passage from one set coach to another. When two or more units are coupled together in a single train, the entire front door folds away to give a wide passage, and the rubber diaphragms at the ends form a flush aerodynamic seal.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 30 years ago, in 1996.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- 1 MW is about 12 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- 26.4 m long: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 30 years.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1996
- in service from
- 1996
- status
- in service
- number built
- 120
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- builders
- ALSTOM Transportation Germany
- operators
- SNCB/NMBS
- top speed
- 160 km/h
- power
- 1 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 441–490: 3 kilovolt, kV DC; 25 kV AC, 501–570: 3 kilovolt, kV DC
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'Bo' + 2'2' + 2'2'
- formation
- Bx + B + ADx
- length
- 26.4 m
- Dutch name
- MS96
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q899793, Wikipedia: Belgian Railways Class 96 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.