Belgian Departures Screensaver
The Belgian Departures screensaver shows the live liveboard for a Belgian station from iRail, the volunteer-run key-less mirror of NMBS/SNCB data. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
Live preview
Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the Belgian Departures screensaver works
The saver reads the source described above and draws it on a canvas — no account, no tracking.
The live liveboard for a Belgian station from iRail, the volunteer-run key-less mirror of NMBS/SNCB data. Service codes carry meaning: IC is intercity, S is a city's suburban network, L is the stopping local that takes twice as long.
It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.
Colours and any options can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.
Reading a Belgian liveboard
Belgium's national railway is run by the NMBS in Dutch and the SNCB in French. iRail is an open-source project, licensed under the AGPL-3.0, that aims to make Belgian railway timetables easily available to anyone; it provides an HTTP API at api.irail.be, GTFS data dumps and a mobile-friendly timetable site. A liveboard is the list of upcoming departures from one station, with platform and delay information.
The train type code tells you how the service behaves. According to the Belgian railway's own description, an S train serves the area around a large city and stops at most stations; IC is an intercity that calls at larger stations, and L is a local train that stops at nearly every station and therefore takes noticeably longer. Each departure also carries a vehicle identifier for the particular service and a delay value.
The API can return station names in Dutch, French, English or German depending on its language setting, which is useful in a country with several official languages. Platforms are sometimes assigned or changed close to departure, so a platform shown early can move. For cancellations and late changes, the displays at the station remain the authoritative source.
A worked example
The live liveboard for a Belgian station from iRail, the volunteer-run key-less mirror of NMBS/SNCB data. Service codes carry meaning: IC is intercity, S is a city's suburban network, L is the stopping local that takes twice as long.
Settings & tips
- Accent and Background recolour the display.
- Every value on screen comes from the live source — nothing is simulated.
- Press ESC to leave fullscreen.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real data?
- Yes — it comes from the source named on this page and is refreshed on a schedule.
- Is a key needed?
- No. This source is fully key-less.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- What is the difference between IC, S and L trains?
- IC is an intercity calling at larger stations, S a suburban service around a large city that stops at most stations, and L a local train that stops at nearly every station.
- Can the station names appear in different languages?
- Yes. The iRail API accepts a language setting of Dutch, French, English or German for the text and names it returns, with English as the default.