BELGIUM | Railways

[an-148]

if you don't understand French, the pictures will speak by themselves !!!!!!!!!! :
http://www.proxiliege.net/index.php?...=2461&idrub=25

[Encore]

A new topic about the railwaycathedral of Antwerp (Flanders, Belgium). First some information about the building:

Antwerpen-Centraal (Antwerp Central) is the name of the main railway station in the Belgian city of Antwerp. The original station building was constructed between 1895 and 1905. The stone clad terminus buildings, with a vast dome above the waiting room hall were designed by Louis Delacenserie and the vast (185 metres long and 44 metres high) iron and glass trainshed by Clement van Bogaert. The station is widely regarded as the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium.

Project:
Since 1998 large-scale reconstruction work has been under way to convert the station from a terminus to a through station. A new tunnel has been excavated between Berchem station in the south of the city and Antwerpen-Dam station in the north, passing under Central station, with platforms on two underground levels. This will allow HSL 4 and HSL-Zuid high-speed trains to travel through Antwerp Central without the need to turn around (the previous layout obliged Amsterdam-Brussels trains to call only at Berchem or reverse at Central). The station now has four levels and 14 tracks.






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Building a second station entrance:

[Looks]

Nice

[EuroMaster]

I love the station! It's really impressive.

[taboe]

[Shezan]

my favourite railway station restyling

[Xabi]

This station is really impressive!

[Encore]

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[De Snor]

Recently it got said that the works have a delay of 7 months !!

Originally Posted by De Snor

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


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[Zibou]

Is the station going to be served by any kind of mass transit system, besides the eventual rail commuter services and international / national trains ?
I heard a subway was eventually planned years ago for Liège, and that even a section of tunnel had been build... What happened to this project ? What about a tramway network ?
Beautiful station by the way... reminds me of some to be seen in a foreseeable future on the TAV network in Italy...

[pietje01]

here is a link to the mistery of the Liège subway
have fun

[Encore]

Opening of the renovated dome:





Building a second station entrance:


Actually this station is as big as a airport if you want to see it all!

[X38]

Very good job Encore!

[Anekdote]

Old meets new, an example for cities who wants to redesign their main old stations.

[X38]

Can you believe in the seventies/eighties there were concrete plans to demolish it and replace it by some concrete monster?

[Quente]

Very beautiful building!

Two questions:
1. You showed pictures of a second station entrance under construction. When will all the work be completed?
2. My wife and I travelled to Antwerp from Paris on the Eurostar in the late 1990's - this definately was not the station that we arrived in. What is the name of that station that looks like it belongs in an Eastern Bloc country from the 1950's? As I recall, it was pretty ugly!

[X38]

Originally Posted by Quente

Very beautiful building!

Two questions:
1. You showed pictures of a second station entrance under construction. When will all the work be completed?
2. My wife and I travelled to Antwerp from Paris on the Eurostar in the late 1990's - this definately was not the station that we arrived in. What is the name of that station that looks like it belongs in an Eastern Bloc country from the 1950's? As I recall, it was pretty ugly!

That was Antwerpen-Berchem.
Some pics of the "nice" side:


One of the platforms:

Some pics of the former station, it was destroyed in the seventies.


Here's a speciefied thread about it (in Dutch).
So you and your wife went bij Eurostar?
That's not possible. Probably you went by Thalys (unless it was so at the end of the nineties, but that should wonder me).

[Quente]

Originally Posted by X38

That was Antwerpen-Berchem.
Some pics of the "nice" side:

Well that's an improvement. It's a shame they tore down that beautiful building to put up such a monstrosity - I thought that kind of stupidity was only done in the U.S.?!?

Originally Posted by X38

So you and your wife went bij Eurostar?
That's not possible. Probably you went by Thalys (unless it was so at the end of the nineties, but that should wonder me).

Oops - my mistake - it was Thalys from Paris. So if you come from Paris now would you stop at Centraal?

[Glodenox]

Yes, a couple of months ago that change was made.

Now the Thalys (as well as the Benelux trains) goes underneath this station and a big part of the city in a tunnel. The trains also no longer call at Antwerpen-Berchem. I really hope they will make the platforms a lot nicer in Antwerpen-Berchem. Especially seeing the role it used to have, it was extremely ugly.

Greetings,
Glodenox

[X38]

Hi Glodenox, I'm glad to see you on SSC again.

Yes, indeed Glodenox, Station Berchem has fullfilled the role of international stations for many years. Fortunatly, the internatioals don't staop anymore in Berchem.
The square in front of the station has been a construction site for multiple years. Disgusting!

And @Quente: Here in Belgium, the people suffered the "demolitionitis' or 'demolishion sickness', especially in the sixties, seventies and eighties.