Brussels National Airport railway station

Brussels Airport - Zaventem
Railway Station

Tunnel to the railway station (south of airport)
Location Brussels Airport (Level -1)
Belgium
Coordinates 50°53′50″N 4°29′05″E / 50.89722°N 4.48472°E / 50.89722; 4.48472Coordinates: 50°53′50″N 4°29′05″E / 50.89722°N 4.48472°E / 50.89722; 4.48472
Owned by NMBS
Line(s) 25N, 36C
Platforms 3
Tracks 5
Construction
Structure type Underground
Bicycle facilities No
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code BNAT, FBNL
History
Opened 1958
Rebuilt 1998, then in 2012
Electrified Yes
Airport railway station interior

Brussels Airport - Zaventem is a railway station located beneath Brussels Airport, Flemish Brabant, Belgium. The station opened in 1958 on the Lines 36C and Lines 25N. The train services are operated by National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB).

Overview

The station was opened in 1958 in the old airport building, mainly for the universal exposition in Brussels. With the opening of a new airport terminal in 1994, the railway station was moved in 1998 to a new location inside the new building. Following the opening of the new Diabolo project, the station was extended in June 2012 to enhance the comfort and passengers experience. The trains arrive and leave from level -2, with ticket desks on level -1. Passengers can go to the different floors in the airport and railway station by using a set of escalators and elevators, a couple of meters away of the platforms.

There is no dedicated car park but Brussels Airport carparks are available a short walk away, without any discount for rail customers.

The railway station connects the airport directly to the main Brussels stations, including the international Brussels-South and centrally-located Brussels-Central stations. The railway stations of Leuven and Mechelen can also be directly reached from the airport. From all these stations, one can easily travel to every city of Belgium; there are direct trains to the cities of Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Halle or Mons.

Since December 2014, the Benelux train allows passengers to travel directly to Rotterdam, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Amsterdam[1]

After the bomb attacks of 22 March 2016 the station was closed and all trains were either deviated or cancelled until further notice. Shuttle bus services were put in place between Zaventem station and the airport. The airport station itself was undamaged, but it is connected to a part of the airport building that was severely damaged during the attacks.

With the Schuman-Josaphat tunnel entering into service on 4 April 2016, a new connection was established to connect Brussels Airport directly to the stations of the EU quarter—Brussels-Schuman and Brussels-Luxembourg.[2] This brought the travel time between the Airport and the EU quarter to about 15 minutes.[3][4][5] The tunnel was originally scheduled to open on 12 December 2015, but it was delayed due to the Brussels lockdown. When it eventually opened in April 2016, it could not yet be used to its full potential as the airport station remained closed following the Brussels bombings.

Train service to the airport station resumed on 22 April 2016, temporarily using the entrance/exit of the old airport station. On 8 June 2016, service via the regular station resumed.[6]

Train services

The station has direct services to most major Belgian cities, as well as a regular service to the Netherlands. The only major town that hasn't got a direct line to the airport yet is Liège. Passengers traveling to Liège can connect at Leuven station.

The station is served by the following services:

Preceding station   NMBS/SNCB   Following station
NS International 9200
TerminusIC 06
Zaventem
toward Tournai
IC 06A
toward Mons
IC 08
toward Hasselt
TerminusIC 17
weekdays
toward Dinant
TerminusIC 23
toward Oostende
IC 23A
toward Brugge
TerminusIC 27
weekdays
toward De Panne
IC 29
toward Landen

References

  1. ↑ "Hop on and head for the Netherlands". National Railway Company of Belgium. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  2. ↑ "Brochure Schuman-Josafat (2008)" (in French). Infrabel. 13 August 2009. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  3. ↑ "The Regional Express Network". Infrabel. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  4. ↑ "Hourly News" (in French). Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "Germoir and Thurn Stations & Taxis will open on Sunday". Brussel Deze Week. 11 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Treinstation Zaventem weer in gebruik vanaf woensdag". deredactie.be. 7 June 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.