Brussels-Luxembourg railway station

Brussels-Luxembourg Railway Station
Station statistics
Coordinates	50°50′20″N 4°22′26″E / 50.83889°N 4.37389°E / 50.83889; 4.37389Coordinates: 50°50′20″N 4°22′26″E / 50.83889°N 4.37389°E / 50.83889; 4.37389
Platforms	6
Other information
Opened	1854
Station code	LX
Owned by	National Railway Company of Belgium

Brussels-Luxembourg railway station (Dutch: Station Brussel-Luxemburg, French: Gare de Bruxelles-Luxembourg) is a station in the European Quarter of Brussels under the Esplanade of the European Parliament (part of the European Parliament complex in Brussels).

History

The station was built between 1854 and 1855 by the Grande Compagnie de Luxembourg as part of the Brussels-Luxembourg railway line it was constructing.^[1] The lead architect was Gustave Saintenoy. He designed it in a neo-classical style in keeping with Place de Luxembourg which was designed at the same time. The station was Brussels' third, after those built in the Allée Verte and Rue des Bogards (which would eventually become Gare du Nord and Gare du Midi). It was however designed as an intermediate stop, rather than a full terminus as the other two stations. It was built to service the new Leopold Quarter, hence its original name Gare du Quartier Leopold.

During the 19th century the station was divided into sections to differentiate the three different classes of travel. The station was extended in 1899 and 1921 with single storey pavilions, which were then amalgamated in 1934, when the facade was standardised.^[1]

The old station entrance

Reconstruction

Prior to its reconstruction, the station was open air with its station building facing onto Luxembourg Square. It was redesigned as a subsurface station to make way for Parliament and a pedestrian link between Luxembourg Square and Leopold Park. The tracks were covered over and moved underground during the 1990s. The station's old building was partly demolished in 2004, with the central entrance building being incorporated into the Parliament's complex as an information office. The entrance to the station is now a few metres to the south, via stairs descending down from the esplanade or via a ground floor entrance through Parliament's József Antall building on Rue de Trèves.^[2]

The station, completed in 2009, is now entirely underground, although it has been designed to allow a maximum of natural light in. Stained glass windows from the original structure were incorporated in the new building.^[3] It now covers 16,000 square meters and is owned and operated by National Railway Company of Belgium. The same architect consortium responsible for the Parliament, Atelier Espace Léopold, were responsible for the station's redesign.

Future

Brussels-Luxembourg is scheduled to become an important hub on the new Brussels RER network. ^[3]

According to its 2004 planning document, STIB, the Brussels transportation authority, has long term plans to open a Brussels metro stop at the station. There is congestion along the main metro route running through the European quarter, and there are too many transfers being made at Arts-Loi station. To relieve this, a branch would be directed from Merode to Troon, via Brussels-Luxembourg station. There may be a further metro line running south-west from the station to serve Ixelles, Chaussee de Waterloo, and Vanderkindere. In this case, the station would become one of the major transfer points of the Brussels metro system. The plan also hopes to make the railway stations of the city more inter-connected, allowing for easier transfers from Gare du Midi, Schuman station, and Luxembourg.^[4]

Train Services

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bruxelles-Luxembourg station.

• information at belrail.be