Antwerpen-Centraal railway station

Antwerp-Central
Railway Station
Location	Koningin Astridplein, Antwerp
Coordinates
Owned by	National Railway Company of Belgium
Line(s)	4, 12, 25, 27
Platforms	14
Construction
Platform levels	4
Other information
Station code	ANTC
History
Opened	11 August 1905

Entrance hall

The different levels

Antwerpen-Centraal (Antwerp Central) is the name of the main railway station in the Belgian city of Antwerp. The station is operated by the national railway company NMBS.

History and architecture

The clock at the upper level

The original station building was constructed between 1895 and 1905 as a replacement for the original terminus of the Brussels-Mechelen-Antwerp Railway. The stone clad terminus buildings, with a vast dome above the waiting room hall were designed by Louis Delacenserie and the vast (185 metres long and 44 metres high) iron and glass trainshed by Clement van Bogaert. The viaduct into the station is also a notable structure designed by local architect Jan Van Asperen.

The station is now widely regarded as the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium, although the extraordinary eclecticism of the influences on Delacenserie's design had led to a difficulty in assigning it to a particular architectural style. In W. G. Sebald's novel Austerlitz an ability to appreciate the full range of the styles that might have influenced Delacensiere is used to demonstrate the brilliance of the fictional architectural historian who is the novel's protagonist.

In 2009 the American magazine Newsweek judged Antwerpen-Centraal the world's fourth greatest train station. In 2014 the British-American magazine Mashable awarded Antwerpen-Centraal the first place for the most beautiful railway station in the world.

Expansion for high-speed trains

In 1998 large-scale reconstruction work began to convert the station from a terminus to a through station. A new tunnel has been excavated between Berchem station in the south of the city and Antwerpen-Dam station in the north, passing under Central station, with platforms on two underground levels. This allows Thalys, HSL 4 and HSL-Zuid high-speed trains to travel through Antwerp Central without the need to turn around (the previous layout obliged Amsterdam-Brussels trains to call only at Berchem or reverse at Central).

The major elements of the construction project were completed in 2007, and the first through trains ran on 25 March 2007.

This complete project has cost approximately €1.6 billion.

The station was awarded a Grand Prix at the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards in 2011.

Station layout

Station atrium showing the four levels

The station has four levels and 14 tracks arranged as follows:

• Level +1: The original station, 6 terminating tracks, arranged as two groups of three and separated by a central opening allowing views of the lower levels
• Level 0: Houses ticketing facilities and commercial space
• Level −1: 7 m below street level, 4 terminating tracks, arranged in two pairs, also featuring the world-famous twin level escalators that start off at a gradient, then become level, then resume a gradient again.
• Level −2: 18 m below street level, 4 through tracks, leading to the two tracks of the tunnel under the city (used by high-speed trains and fast domestic InterCity services).

Train services

The station is served by the following services:

Tramway in front of the station

• High speed services (Thalys) Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels - Paris
• High speed services (Thalys) Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels - Lille
• High speed services (Thalys) Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels - Chambéry - Bourg-Saint-Maurice (in winter)
• High speed services (Thalys) Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels - Avignon - Marseille (in summer)
• Intercity services Amsterdam - The Hague - Rotterdam - Roosendaal - Antwerp - Brussels Airport - Brussels
• Intercity services (IC-02) Antwerp - Sint-Niklaas - Gent - Bruges - Ostend
• Intercity services (IC-04) Antwerp - Sint-Niklaas - Gent - Kortrijk - Poperinge/Lille
• Intercity services (IC-05) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Nivelles - Charleroi (weekdays)
• Intercity services (IC-08) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels Airport - Leuven - Hasselt
• Intercity services (IC-09) Antwerp - Lier - Aarschot - Leuven (weekdays)
• Intercity services (IC-09) Antwerp - Lier - Aarschot - Hasselt - Liège (weekends)
• Intercity services (IC-10) Antwerp - Mol - Hamont/Hasselt
• Intercity services (IC-15) Noorderkempen - Antwerp
• Intercity services (IC-22) Essen - Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekdays)
• Intercity services (IC-22) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Halle - Braine-le-Comte - Binche (weekends)
• Intercity services (IC-28) Antwerp - Sint-Niklaas - Gent (weekdays)
• Intercity services (IC-30) Antwerp - Herentals - Turnhout
• Intercity services (IC-31) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Nivelles - Charleroi (weekends)
• Local services (L-22) Roosendaal - Essen - Antwerp - Puurs (weekdays)
• Local services (L-22) Roosendaal - Essen - Antwerp (weekends)
• Local services (L-23) Antwerp - Aarschot - Leuven
• Local services (L-24) Antwerp - Herentals - Mol (weekdays)
• Local services (L-30) Antwerp - Sint-Niklaas - Lokeren
• Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Waterloo - Nivelles (weekdays)
• Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekends)

Preceding station		NMBS		Following station
Brussels-South toward Paris-Nord		Thalys		Rotterdam Centraal toward Amsterdam Centraal
Rotterdam Centraal toward Amsterdam Centraal		Thalys		Brussels-South toward Lille Europe
Brussels-South toward Bourg-Saint-Maurice		Thalys (winter)		Rotterdam Centraal toward Amsterdam Centraal
Brussels-South toward Marseille-Saint-Charles		Thalys (summer)		Rotterdam Centraal toward Amsterdam Centraal
Roosendaal toward Amsterdam Centraal		NS International 9200		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Brussels-South
Terminus		IC 02		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Oostende
Terminus		IC 04		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Lille and Poperinge
Terminus		IC 05		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Charleroi-Sud
Terminus		IC 08		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Hasselt
Terminus		IC 09		Antwerpen-Berchem From Monday to Friday, except holidays toward Leuven
Terminus				Antwerpen-Berchem On weekends and holidays toward Liège-Guillemins
Terminus		IC 10		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Hamont and Hasselt
Antwerpen-Luchtbal toward Noorderkempen		IC 15		Terminus
Ekeren From Monday to Friday, except holidays toward Essen		IC 22		Antwerpen-Berchem From Monday to Friday, except holidays toward Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid
Terminus				Antwerpen-Berchem On weekends and holidays toward Binche
Terminus		IC 28 weekends		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Gent-Sint-Pieters
Terminus		IC 30		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Turnhout
Terminus		IC 31 weekdays		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid
Terminus		IC 31 weekends		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Charleroi-Sud
Antwerpen-Luchtbal toward Roosendaal		L 22		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Puurs
Terminus		L 23		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Leuven
Terminus		L 24 weekdays		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Mol
Terminus		L 30		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Lokeren
Terminus		S 1 weekdays		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Nivelles
Terminus		S 1 weekends		Antwerpen-Berchem toward Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid

In popular culture

A staged "flash mob"-like event at the station in early 2009, featuring the song "Do-Re-Mi" from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music, became a viral video. It was performed by 200 dancers of various ages, along with several dozen waiting passengers who just jumped in and joined the dance themselves. The video was produced to publicize Op zoek naar Maria, the Belgian TV version of the BBC talent competition programme How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, about the search for an actress to play the lead role in a stage revival of The Sound of Music.

The station is used in Agatha Christie's Poirot episode "The Chocolate Box" to represent a station in Brussels.

The beginning of Austerlitz, the final novel of the German writer W. G. Sebald is set in the station.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Official station page at the NMBS website
• 360 panorama of station