Brussels-South railway station

Infobox Belgian railway station

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coordinates=coord|50.835161|4.335222|type:landmark_region:BE|display=inline,title|
opening=Start date|1952
telegraphiccode=FBMZ
lines=0 - 50A - 96 - 124
platforms=22
aricode=1000220

Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid (Brussels South) is a major railway station in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. The station's bilingual French-Dutch name is often shortened outside Belgium – for example, in the "Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable" – to the (tri-lingual) "Brussels Midi/Zuid". The International Air Transport Association (IATA) indexes it as "ZYR". The station is also served by a stop (Gare du Midi / Zuidstation) on the Brussels Metro system. There are daily more than 1000 trains between Brussels-South and Brussels-North.

The railway station

The railway station designed by Payen opened in 1869, though a former station known as "Station des Bogards"/"Bogaardenstation" existed since 1840 near the Place Rouppeplein in the southern part of the city. This station was demolished 29 years later as it was already too small. In 1949 the railway station was demolished and replaced by the actual yellow building with the clock tower because of the North-South connection project. The station is surrounded by the Avenue Fonsnylaan in the East, the Rue de France/Frankrijkstraat in the West, the Rue Couverte/Bedektestraat in the North and the Rue des Vétérinaires/Veeartsenstraat in the South. In the 1990s, the Eurostar/Thalys terminal was added along the Rue de France/Frankrijkstraat.

The metro and premetro station

The metro station, which is called "Gare du Midi - Zuidstation", is served by the line 2 opened in 1988 as the final stop of the new line from Simonis (The metro line has been extended beyond Brussels-South to Clemenceau in 1993 and to Delacroix in 2006). An extension to the Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation is in progress. It is located under the Rue Couverte/Overdektestraat. The premetro station opened in 1993 and the metro and premetro networks share those stations located at two different levels under the ground.

Places of interest

The tallest building in Belgium is located in front of the main way out of the station (the crossroad of Avenue Fonsnylaan and Rue Couverte/Overdekte straat) and is named the South Tower.

External links

*fr icon [http://www.b-rail.be/corp/F/history/stations/monuments/brussels/index.php] (SNCB)
*nl icon [http://www.b-rail.be/corp/N/history/notrain/monuments/brussels/index.php] (NMBS)