Each year, I get invited to speak at the European Training Centre for Railways (ETCR) in the College of Europe in Brugge (Bruges). My remit is to talk to European railway middle managers (who are there on a 2-week course) about the aviation industry and air-rail intermodality. It's always a pleasure to meet these young and enthusiastic people.

It means I get to ride on the train between Brussels and Brugge. There is a half-hourly service, usually calling at Gand (Ghent) only. Sometimes - as on my outward journey - these are double-deck units: coming back, it was a single-deck train. Trains are up to 10 vehicles long - comfortable, spacious and reasonably quiet (although I have found, coming from Brussels on a sunny day, that they can be full of people off to the seaside!). They are usually push-pull units, and sometimes divide at Brugge. Sometimes the loco is in the centre of the train - something I've seen no-where else!

You can catch these trains at three stations in Brussels. This time, I used Central - the terminus of the bus from my hotel. It's a horrible place to wait - it's a busy 6-platform underground main-line station: particularly in the peak, there are lots of trains there. Most stop in Central but a few intercity ones do not. Many of the trains are going just one or two stops - to Midi in the south or Schaarbeek in the north. On the day I travelled this year, many were up to 10 minutes late.

The big departure indicator at central concourse level is good, but at platform level the most visible indicators only showed the next train from that platform - so if platforms were changed (because trains were running late!) it would be difficult to know! Yes, there are announcements - but not very audible because of the background noise and the low roof. And if you could hear them, could you understand them? They are in anything up to four languages, since Belgium is legally tri-lingual and English is also used when announcing long-distance trains.

Brussels Nord and Midi are both big stations, elevated above ground level, with a number of subways under all of the tracks. This can be confusing, especially at Midi where the main subway houses facilities like the Eurostar check-in and the main ticket office while others are really only for changing platfoms or leaving the station (although the Air France check-in is in the south subway).

Midi has clearly benefitted from the major investment occasioned by the arrival of Eurostar and the decision to make it the main international station. Nord, by comparison, can appear the poor relation: investment is coming to the area but fairly slowly, so it is still in a relatively scruffy part of the city.

The route to Brugge has been upgraded over recent years, with new canal bridges and new grade-separated junctions.

More noticeable, though, has been the upgrade of Brugge station. At platform level, there is much marble and glass: it looks good, but there are insufficient seats and it would be an unpleasant place to wait in wet windy weather. At subway level - ground level, because the tracks are elevated - there are some shops and tourist information kiosks. Just outside is a small supermarket, a large bus station and an enormous bike park.

Announcements at Brugge station are only in Flemish.

The station has 10 platforms and lots of trains of all sizes - including freight and direct trains to places like Lille.

The trains and infrastructure were in good condition. It is especially good that, if you buy a Eurostar ticket to Brussels, it takes you to any Belgian station.

One downside of my travel experience was my attempt - ultimately successful - to change my reservation to an earlier Eurostar.

Having found the right place, I was prompted by a screen for my preferred language and destination country and then given a numbered ticket for the queueing system.

The ticket number indicated my place in the queue - normally a good thing because you can wait somewhere comfortable until your number is called, rather than waiting in a snaking line of people! However, the number I'd got bore no relation to any sequence on any screen I could see. After a bit, the screens changed and my number came up - so I went and stood behind someone trying to get to Germany, in a place where I could see a number of desks staffed but where the occupants were doing nothing except studiously ignore anyone who came to them.

Eventually, the person at the position next to the one I'd been called to attended to me.

This was unimpressive. While it was probably necessitated by the number of train companies using it, it didn't seem very efficient.

So it seemed that, as so often, information and other soft issues - the difficult bits - could be improved.