Belgian travellers and local residents can order fresh, locally produced fruit and vegetables online, only to collect them from SNCB train stations once a week. By 21 May, the pilot projects will be launched at the Gent-Sint-Pieters station, in Flanders, and in the Liège-Guillemins, Ottignies and Braine-le-Comte train stations in Wallonia.
Brusselstimes.com quoted Georges Gilkinet, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Mobility as saying: “Lively stations: that is what I want as a minister and also as a commuter. With fresh, local and high-quality products that you can collect at your station, SNCB travellers can now combine the useful with the pleasant. This is good for the traveller, for the local producer and for the environment.”
Travellers can pre-order products –mainly fruit and vegetables– online, to then pick them up from stations, for example after work on their way home. Through this project, SNCB wants to encourage local projects that have an eye for the new consumer habits and environmental challenges as at least 70% of the food products are sourced locally and are produced within a maximum radius of 30 km.
The project will run for one year - initially - and may be extended or even expanded to other stations, depending on its success.
Photo source: Dreamstime.com