Brussels Central Station


Brussels Central Station is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, Belgium. It is the second busiest railway station in Belgium and one of three principal railway stations in Brussels, together with Brussels-South and Brussels-North. First completed in 1952 after protracted delays caused by economic difficulties and World War II, it is the newest of Brussels' main rail hubs.

History

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Brussels-North and Brussels-South were the primary railway stations in Brussels. However, they were joined only by an inadequate single track running along what is today the route of the Brussels inner ring road. Many proposals were put forward to link the two stations more substantially. A law was finally passed in 1909 mandating a direct connection.
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The famed architect Victor Horta was awarded the design of the Central Station building complex in 1910. He finished the initial version in 1912. Plans for the station originally featured a major urban redevelopment project, for which land was purchased and over 1,000 buildings demolished in the 1920s. The Putterie/Putterij district began to be razed to make way for the underground station and building complex. However, work was halted by the World War I. Financial constraints limited work after the war, and in 1927, the government suspended the project altogether. In 1935, a new office dedicated to the project was set up and work resumed. The Central Station was planned as a hub in the connection. However, World War II slowed construction again. The interruptions and delays to construction left large areas filled with debris and craters for decades.
Horta returned to work on the station after the end of the war. The building was completed according to Horta's plans by an architectural team led by Maxime Brunfaut, who expanded them by adding a new train line to the national airport and several underground passageways for pedestrians.
An Islamic jihadist attempted to detonate a bomb in the station in the June 2017 Brussels attack.

Railway station

The railway station has six tracks, served by three island platforms. These are underground, beneath the city blocks within Boulevard de l'Impératrice/Keizerinlaan, Rue de l'Infante Isabelle/Infante Isabellastraat, the Kantersteen and Rue de la Putterie/Putterijstraat. The main entrance and ticket office are at ground level on Boulevard de l'Impératrice, and there are several other entrances on the other streets.
The station was renovated between 2004 and 2010 in an attempt to better equip it to present levels of usage. Two new entrances were created on that occasion, and the main entrance was extensively renovated. The Carrefour de l'Europe/Europakruispunt, a pedestrianised square, was created in front of the station. Plans then came for the renovation of the tunnel which links the main station with the metro stop. It has been described as dilapidated, dirty, and permanently tinged by the smell of urine. An architectural firm had been retained in 2010 to implement the project designed to make the hallway a better "window" to Brussels for the many travellers who begin their journey there. The new tunnel with hops and a more luminous, graffiti resistant environment were completed in 2013.
Although Brussels' Central Station is at the very heart of the city, its capacity is not adapted to present usage levels, let alone future levels. The interior and the platforms have been renovated in recent years, but the main problem has not fundamentally been addressed. There have been suggestions to expand the station, but none of them has gained widespread acceptance. Today, at peak times, about 96 trains an hour use the six platforms of the station. With passenger growth expected to average 4% per year in the coming decade, Infrabel, the administrator of the Belgian rail network, has determined that an expansion of the rail capacity and of the Central Station will be necessary. The CEO of Infrabel has estimated the cost of an adequate expansion at least €1 billion, and has said it will be necessary to complete the project by 2020. However, the task of getting all relevant authorities to agree on a plan has so far proved difficult. Some credit a general taboo against discussions of expanding the North–South rail axis as a result of the history of extended delays and widespread destruction of neighbourhood blocks that the initial construction brought between 1911 and 1952.

Train services

The station is served by the following services:

Metro station

The metro station, also called Gare Centrale/Centraal Station, is located five minutes' walk from the railway station and can be accessed through a pedestrian tunnel. It is located under the Marché au bois/Houtmarkt. It first opened as a premetro station on 17 December 1969 on the tram line between De Brouckère and Schuman. This premetro line was upgraded to full metro status on 20 September 1976. Following the reorganisation of the Brussels metro on 4 April 2009, it now lies on the joint section of metro lines 1 and 5 which cross Brussels from east to west.