Belgium’s NMBS/SNCB signed a framework contract in 2015 for the supply of up to 1,362 Alstom (then Bombardier) M7 double deck train cars, built in Bruges, based on the 492 M6 cars, that came from 2001 till 2011. The concept of the M7 cars contains either trains formed of several middle cars and one or two motorised double-decker Bmx motor cars (90 ordered) with two small rooms with a total of 52 seats and electrical equipment, in operation since October 2022, or push–pull trains with conventional locomotives. This formula has the advantage - compared to a towed train - of allowing the use of the entire useful length of the platforms for boarding passengers, while retaining the possibility of changing the composition of the trains according to needs. The fact that these power cars are more specialized than classic electric locomotives is no longer really an issue since freight and passenger activities are operated by separate companies.

With their air-sprung bogies, M7 motor cars have 3000 kW of power, which should be enough to move a four-car train @ 200 km/h or a six-car train @ 160 km/h. They have a 63 cm entrance for level boarding, intermediate between the standard low platform of 55 cm and the mid-high platform of 76 cm. The push-pull double deck end control cars include a door accessible directly from a platform of 55 cm, while the entrance of the middle cars is above the bogies. The BD car is a multifunctional and autonomously accessible second class car, also suitable for wheelchair users (entrance door at platform height of 76 cm) to enter service at the end of 2024.