Brussels north-south connecting railway
| North-South connection | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Course of the north-south connecting railway (black)
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| Route number : | 0/1 to 0/6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book range : | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 3.8 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 3 kV = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 50 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Brussels North-South Railway connects the Brussels North Station (Brussel-Noord / Bruxelles-Nord) with the Brussels South Station (Brussel-Zuid / Bruxelles-Midi). With around 1200 trains per day, the underground, six-track line is the most heavily traveled railway tunnel in the world.
Operation and history
Brussels originally had three terminal stations: the South Station, the North Station and the Brussels-Luxembourg Station . This situation was very detrimental to rail operations and cost a lot of time for passengers traveling through Brussels.
From 1866, the Luxembourg train station was connected to the North Station via the Brussels – Namur railway line. A connection between the two Brussels main train stations, Brussels-North and Brussels-South, was still missing. When the Senne was being built over in Brussels in the 19th century, the idea arose of building the new rail link underground. After several discussions, the tunnel solution was decided in 1903, and construction work began in 1911. The new route was completed in the 1950s. The long construction time is due to the two world wars, which interrupted the construction work several times. The line was ceremoniously opened on October 4, 1952 by King Baudouin I and was fully operational with the completion of all tracks on May 23, 1954. A tunnel with a length of 1,948 m and three tubes, each with two tracks, is the backbone of the Brussels north-south connecting railway.
See also: Overview of the trains running on the connecting line using the example of the Bruxelles-Central / Brussel-Centraal station
stretch
Routes that leave the north-south connection at the north station:
- Brussels – Ghent railway line
- Brussels – Lokeren railway line
- Brussels – Antwerp railway line
- Brussels – Liège railway line
- Brussels – Namur railway line
Routes that leave the north-south connection at the Südbahnhof: