Diabolo project
The Diabolo project was a plan to improve the accessibility of Brussels-Zaventem Airport by rail from the north and to relieve the Brussels – Antwerp railway line . The measures, implemented in the form of a public-private partnership , were fully operational on June 10, 2012.
To the prehistory
In 1955, Brussels Airport received its first rail link via a short branch line from the Brussels - Leuven - Liège line . Forty years later, today's underground station with three tracks was put into operation. Since 2005 it has also been possible to travel from Leuven train station to the airport without having to change trains; a connecting curve was created at Nossegem for this purpose. Antwerp , the most populous city in Belgium, could still only be reached via a detour via the Brussels North Railway Station , the journey took a good hour, and this situation was, among other things, determined that residents from Antwerp only contributed 10% of the airport's market share.
realization
financing
In September 2007 the public-private partnership agreement was signed between the project partner Northern Diabolo , consisting of HSH Nordbank and Babcock & Brown , and Infrabel , the Belgian rail network operator . The THV DIALINK consortium made up of CEI-De Meyer (BAM), MBG , Wayss & Freytag , VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Smet Tunneling carried out the construction. Northern Diabolo financed the northern connection and the tunnel construction itself, Infrabel financed the newly built 25N railway line, which runs between Mechelen and Machelen on the median of the 1 / E19 motorway. The total cost was 540 million euros, 250 million of which Infrabel had to bear itself. Northern Diabolo will cover its costs over a period of 35 years from a surcharge that every train traveler to and from the airport has to pay per trip, the so-called Diabolo surcharge of € 5.25 (March 2017) per trip. In addition, the company receives an annual inflation-adjusted payment of EUR 9 million from Infrabel (as of 2007). As a third financing component, 0.5% of domestic ticket income is transferred from the railway company.
Project overview
The previous terminus under the terminal has been converted into a through station using two drilled tunnels, each 1.1 kilometers in length . In addition, the client had the existing platforms extended by 100 meters to 425 meters. Another tunnel passes under the Brucargo freight area of the airport, after which the route in the area of the Vilvoorde motorway junction meets the newly built 25N route.
Second part of the project is the Infrabel self-funded new line ( line 25N ) from the station Mechelen to the station Schaerbeek / Schaarbeek , for the most part on the central strip of the A1 / E19 runs. Until then, this was an unused investment ruin. Line 25N branches off the existing Brussels - Antwerp line south of Mechelen station and follows the A1 / E19 to its end at the outer motorway ring of Brussels . Shortly before that, there are the Machelen -Noord and Machelen-Zuid branches , which allow journeys from the airport to Mechelen as well as to Schaerbeek / Schaarbeek (and vice versa). In the apron of the Schaerbeek / Schaarbeek station, the existing line is finally reached again. The new line enables speeds of up to 220 km / h and is equipped with the TBL1 + and ETCS Level 1 train control systems.
With the opening of the routes on June 10, 2012, the travel time from Mechelen to the airport has been reduced from 40 to eight minutes, and from Antwerp it has been roughly halved.
Since the opening of the Schuman-Josaphat tunnel on April 4, 2016, the airport can be reached in less than 15 minutes from Brussels' European quarter .
business
The following trains have been using the newly built 25N railway line on the southern, northern or the entire section since June 10, 2012:
Every day
| Thalys | Paris - Brussels - Antwerp - Rotterdam - Amsterdam | 10 times a day, total section |
| IR j | Quévy - Brussels - Brussels Airport | hourly, southern part |
Weekdays
| IC Q | Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels Airport - Leuven - Landen | hourly, northern part |
| IR i | De Panne - Ghent - Brussels - Brussels Airport - Mechelen | hourly, northern part |
On the weekend
| IR o | Brussels - Brussels Airport - Mechelen | hourly, northern part |
| L. | Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels Airport | hourly, northern part |
See also
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c Belgian Diabolo Project Opens On Schedule on ENR.com
- ^ Station Brussel-Nationaal-Luchthaven on the Dutch Wikipedia
- ↑ a b c Diabolo Project, Brussels, Belgium on railway-technologies.com
- ↑ a b Timetable query with the DB Timetable Information software for April 2012
- ↑ a b c Infrabel rondt financiële closing en ondertekening Diabolo af (PPS) ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Infrabel press release of September 28, 2007
- ↑ a b Eerste rechtsstreekse trein van Mechelen naar luchthaven op 10 June 2012 on Nieuwsblad.be
- ↑ Diabolo surcharge on the Belgian Railways website.
- ↑ a b detailed project maps from cei-de meyer / MBG ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.9 MB)
- ↑ Forum entry ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on opeenshadikhet.nl and timetables of the Belgian railways
