The Tramways vicinaux or Buurtspoorwegen were a system of narrow-gauge tramways or local railways in Belgium, which covered the whole country and had a greater route length than the mainline railway system. They were gauge and included electrified city lines and rural lines using steam locomotives and diesel railcars; half the system was electrified. The company gradually switched to buses and dismantled the tram tracks. Only the coastal line, the Charleroi metro and the short line to the caves at Han-sur-Lesse are still in commercial use; four museums hold significant collections of rolling stock, including the museum at Schepdaal and the ASVi museum in Thuin. The longest and oldest tourist tramway is the Tramway Touristique de l'Aisne, or 'TTA', between Erezée and. A sponsoring group called 'Tramania' has supported various tramway preservation initiatives for 13 years, in particular financing construction of the Thuin museum and car restoration for TTA.
NMVB / SNCV
Legislation allowing the construction of rural tramways was passed in 1875, followed by a new law in 1885. The result was the creation of the national Vicinal tramway company – Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen in Dutch, Société nationale des chemins de fer vicinaux in French. The majority of lines were, although until 1921 many in the Antwerp area were gauge, later re-gauged. Many lines were built alongside roads, and carried considerable quantities of freight as well as passengers. World War I and World War II saw greatly increased trafficdespite some wartime damage. The non-electric network reached a peak of approximately in 1925, but soon parts started to close as usage of buses, lorries and electric trams increased. Starting from 1924, the NMVB / SNCV started to operate buses. At this time, the electric tramway network was already in length. In 1939, the NMVB / SNCV operated 161 regular bus lines amounting to. After World War II lorries, buses and cars deprived the trams of much of their business. The electric network reached a peak of in 1950. The whole network was still approximately in length, but by 1960 had been reduced to only. On several rural lines, passenger tramways were replaced by buses but NMVB / SNCV kept running freight trams until it wasn't profitable anymore. In 1977, the buses of the Belgian railways were transferred to SNCV/NMVB. The tramways from Brussels to Wemmel, and Grimbergenclosed in 1978. Political federalism within Belgium from 1980 onwards saw the splitting of many national institutions into separate bodies for Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region. SNCV/NMVB was broken up in 1991 into De Lijn and TEC, both companies were now primarily operating buses. De Lijn inherited the tram systems in Ghent and Antwerp, operated previously by local companies MIVG and MIVA respectively, and the coastal tramway. TEC operates the Charleroi Pre-metro, which includes sections of Vicinal track. STIB/MIVB operates the Brussels Metro, tram and bus network.
