Brussels Central Station

History

For a long time Brussels North and Brussels South were the primary railway stations in Brussels (Brussels North slowly supplanted the original Groendreef/Allée Verte Station near the same site). 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 before a law was passed in 1909 mandating a direct connection. Victor Horta was awarded the design of the Central Station building complex in 1910. He finished the initial version in 1912. The Putterie district began to be razed to make way for the underground station and building complex. However work was halted by the First World War. 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, the Second World War slowed construction again. The interruptions and delays to construction left large areas filled with debris and craters for decades. The station was finally completed in October 1952 based on a modified design by Victor Horta.

Railway station

The railway station has six tracks, served by three island platforms. These are underground, beneath the city blocks within the "Boulevard de l'Impératrice/Keizerinlaan" (Empress Avenue), "Rue de l'Infante Isabelle/Infante Isabella straat" (Princess Isabella St.), "Kantersteen" (square stone) and "Rue de la Putterie/Putterijstraat" (Puttery St.).

The main entrance and ticket office are at ground level on Keizerinlaan/Imperatrice, and there are several other entrances on the other streets. The station was renovated between 2004 and 2010 in an attempt to better equip the station to present levels of usage (which can reach 150,000 passengers/day on the busiest days). Two new entrances were created, and the main entrance was extensively renovated. The "Carrefour d'Europe", a pedestrianised square, was created in front of the station. Plans are underway 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. Shops and a more luminous, graffiti resistant environment were planned, pending final planning approval.

Although Brussels' central station is at the very heart of the city, its capacity is not adapted to present usage levels (ca. 70,000 passengers on a weekday), let alone future levels. The interior and the platforms have been renovated in recent years, but the main problem (i.e. lack of capacity) 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 a billion euros, 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

Five minutes' walk from the railway station through a pedestrian tunnel, there is a Brussels Metro station, also called Gare Centrale - Centraal Station. It is located under the "Marché au bois/Houtmarkt".

This was 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 and today lies on the joint section of lines 1 and 5 that cross Brussels from east to west.