Schaarbeek railway station

Schaerbeek railway station (French: Gare de Schaerbeek) or Schaarbeek railway station (Dutch: Station Schaarbeek)[a] is a railway station in the municipality of Schaerbeek in Brussels, Belgium, opened in 1887. The train services are operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB).

Schaerbeek

Schaarbeek
Railway Station
Schaerbeek/Schaarbeek railway station
General information
LocationPlace Princesse Elisabeth / Prinses Elisabethplein
1030 Schaerbeek, Brussels-Capital Region
Belgium
Coordinates50°52′41″N 4°22′46″E / 50.87806°N 4.37944°E / 50.87806; 4.37944
Owned bySNCB/NMBS
Operated bySNCB/NMBS
Line(s)25, 27, 28, 36, 161
Platforms13
Other information
Station codeSCHA
History
Opened1887; 137 years ago (1887)
Map
Location
Schaerbeek is located in Belgium
Schaerbeek
Schaerbeek
Location within Belgium
Schaerbeek is located in Europe
Schaerbeek
Schaerbeek
Schaerbeek (Europe)

Located to the north-east of Brussels, the station mainly serves trains travelling between central Brussels and Leuven, Antwerp or Brussels Airport-Zaventem. On these routes, it is the first station trains pass through after the North–South connection (Brussels-North, Brussels-Central and Brussels-South stations). Although only local trains stop at Schaerbeek, the station also serves as a terminus for a number of interregional and peak-hour services. As it connects both to the North–South connection and to line 28 through Brussels-West station, it is the point at which trains can be rerouted to reverse direction.

The square in front of the station serves as terminus for Brussels tram route 92, as well as bus route 69. Bus routes 58 and 59 also stop there.

History and building

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Ticket offices inside the station building in 2009 prior to its incorporation into Train World

The station building, in neo-Flemish Renaissance style, was designed by the architect Franz Seulen and built in two phases: the left wing around 1890 and the main (right) wing in 1913. The building was listed as a monument by the Brussels-Capital Region in 1994 and the facades have been restored. Before its closure in 2013, the building was largely disused though ticket counters were open for a limited time every weekday and concessions had been closed since the demise of the motorail services.[1] Nowadays, the station is unstaffed with ticket machines at the entrance.

The station is relatively large, with 13 platforms, numbered from 3 to 15. Tracks 1 and 2 were used in the past for motorail services carrying passenger cars to destinations mainly in Southern France. These were transferred to Denderleeuw railway station in 2000, and eventually discontinued in 2003. Schaerbeek station lies to the south-west of extensive railway grounds including a goods station and a traction workshop.

Train services

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The station is served by the following service(s):

  • Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Waterloo - Nivelles (weekdays)
  • Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekends)
  • Brussels RER services (S2) Leuven - Brussels - Halle - Braine-le-Comte
  • Brussels RER services (S6) Schaarbeek - Brussels - Halle - Geraardsbergen - Denderleeuw - Aalst
  • Brussels RER services (S81) Schaarbeek - Brussels-Luxembourg - Etterbeek - Ottignies (weekdays, peak hours only)
Preceding station   NMBS/SNCB Following station
Buda S 1
weekdays
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord
towards Nivelles
Vilvoorde S 1
weekends
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord
Haren-South
towards Leuven
S 2
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord
Terminus S 6
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord
towards Aalst
S 81
weekdays
Brussels-Schuman
towards Ottignies

Train World

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Train World, the national railway museum of Belgium, is located at Schaarbeek railway station, incorporating the station building, and was open to the public for the first time on 25 September 2015, having been formally opened the previous day by King Philippe.[2] Until then, €20.5 million had been invested into the project, which planned to attract 100,000 visitors per year from its third year of operations onwards.[3]

See also

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References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Officially Schaerbeek/Schaarbeek (French: Schaerbeek; Dutch: Schaarbeek)

Citations

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  1. ^ "Gerestaureerde gevels verhullen lege binnenkant". 5 January 2005. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  2. ^ "The Brussels Times - Flagship pieces of Belgian railway brought together in Schaerbeek". Archived from the original on 28 September 2015.
  3. ^ Robinson, Frances (19 March 2013). "Belgian Train Museum Had a Hard Time Getting on Track". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
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