The finishing touches have been put to large-scale infrastructure works on the railways in the Brussels-Capital Region which, once finalised, will result in both passenger and goods train traffic running more smoothly through the capital.
Throughout the summer holidays, railway infrastructure manager Infrabel renewed 22 railroad switches – the largest number of such renewals in recent years in Brussels – 250 metres of track, 6 km of overhead lines and 16 km of signalling cables in Schaerbeek to improve access to a key location for passenger and goods transport across the country.
"To run more trains, we also need a more efficient rail network without bottlenecks. This huge construction site solves this problem for the Schaerbeek rail hub, one of the main hubs of our railway network," Georges Gilkinet, Federal Minister for Mobility, said.
The works, which required an investment of €10 million, were carried out at the so-called "branch line Carwash," situated along the railway line Brussels-Antwerp at the station of Schaerbeek, which is one of the key points on the Belgian railway map.
Credit: Infrabel
In the morning and evening rush hours, dozens of passenger trains pass through the zone; the yard will also facilitate freight traffic around the Brussels-Capital Region, while all peak-hour trains from East and West Flanders and Hainaut arrive at these hubs.
Transportation by train
The branch line is also being redesigned and simplified to make it easier to send goods trains through it, which will help in the "modal shift" towards more freight being transported by train. Belgium's train vision aims to double the volume of freight transported by train by the end of this decennia.
"It is our job to do everything we can to facilitate the modal shift. More trains, for both freight and passenger traffic, means less congestion on the roads and is therefore good for our environment," Benoît Gilson, CEO of Infrabel, said
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"A project like the one we are realising here with the construction of a real freight corridor in the Brussels Capital Region will encourage our customers to further expand their rail transport activities."
In the coming years, Infrabel will work to tackle as many bottlenecks on its network as possible.
