Brussels-South railway station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Midi, nl, Station Brussel-Zuid,

IATA code IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations (referred to as unigrams, digrams, trigrams, or tetragrams, respect ...

: ZYR), officially Brussels-South (french: Bruxelles-Midi, link=no, nl, Brussel-Zuid, link=no), is a major

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. Geographically, it is located in Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis on the border with the adjacent municipality of Anderlecht and just south of the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

. Brussels-South is one of over a dozen railway stations in Brussels, and one of the three principal rail stations in the heart of the city, the two others being Brussels-Central and Brussels-North. The station, which was a terminus when it was inaugurated in 1869, became a transit station with the opening of the

North–South connection The North–South connection (french: Jonction Nord-Midi, nl, Noord-Zuidverbinding) is a railway link of national and international importance through central Brussels, Belgium, that connects the major railway stations in the city. It is line ...

in 1952. Nowadays, it is the busiest station in Belgium, and is the only Brussels stop for international

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

services:

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

Thalys Thalys (French: ) is a French-Belgian high-speed rail, high-speed train operator originally built around the LGV Nord high-speed line between Gare du Nord, Paris and Brussels-South railway station, Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar tr ...

and

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

. Underneath Brussels-South is the

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...

/ station on lines 2, 3, 4 and 6 of the

Brussels Metro The Brussels Metro (french: Métro de Bruxelles, nl, Brusselse metro) is a rapid transit system serving a large part of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of four conventional metro lines and three ''premetro'' lines. The me ...

and ''

premetro A premetro is a tramway or light railway which includes segments built to rapid transit standards, generally as part of a process of conversion to a metro-standards railway usually by the construction of tunnels in the central city area. Hist ...

'' (underground tram) systems, which serves as an important node of the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company ( STIB/MIVB).

Naming

The station was named after ''Le Midi'', the French name of the region of

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

, as trains departing from this station in the 19th century had that region as their final destination. The term derives from ('middle') and ('day') in

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

, comparable to the term to indicate Southern Italy or which is a synonym for South in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

. The name , as the Dutch "translation" of , was only introduced after the equality law of 1898.focusonbelgium.be
/ref> The Brussels-Capital Region is bilingual; hence, both the French and Dutch names of the station— and —are official. Outside Belgium, this often leads to the use of combined shorthands; for example in the '' Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable'', Brussels-South is designated as '' /''; NS (Dutch Railways) announce the station as ''Brussel Zuid/Midi''.

History

First station (1839–1869)

A first station known as Bogards' railway station (french: Gare des Bogards, link=no, nl, Bogaardenstation, link=no) had existed, since 1839, near the Place Rouppe/Rouppeplein in the southern part of the

, so-called for the former

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

of the Bogards'

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

whose site it was built on, and to which the / is nowadays the only reference. This station, which quickly took the name "South Station" (french: Gare du Midi, link=no, nl, Zuidstation, link=no), served as the six-track terminus of the South Line, a southbound railway line linking Brussels to the industrial towns of

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

and La Louvière, at the heart of the '' Sillon industriel'' in Hainaut, Belgium, before crossing the French border (near

Quiévrain Quiévrain (; pcd, Kievrin) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006, the municipality had 6,559 inhabitants. The total area is 21.22 km2, giving a population density of 309 inhabitants p ...

), where a connecting line could reach

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

, in northern France. The former presence of a station at this location also explains the unusual width of the current /, which goes up from the Place Rouppe to the

Small Ring The Small Ring (french: Petite Ceinture, nl, Kleine Ring) inner ring road, formally R20 and N0 is a series of roadways in central Brussels, Belgium, surrounding the historic city centre. The city centre is usually defined as the area within t ...

(Brussels' inner ring road), a reminder of the train tracks that used to run in its middle.

Second station (1869–1949)

The Belgian railway network grew rapidly during the second half of the 19th century, becoming the densest in

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

. By then, Brussels-North and Brussels-South had become the primary railway stations in Brussels (Brussels-North slowly supplanted the original / railway station near the same site). However, they were joined only by an inadequate single track running along what is today the Small Ring. Many proposals were put forward to link the two stations more substantially. A law was finally passed in 1909 mandating a direct connection; however, the final project would not be completed until nearly half a century later. Around 1860, the South Station had reached saturation point and its location too close to the city centre began to cause problems, so the authorities decided to demolish it. A new monumental station, designed by the architect Auguste Payen in neoclassical style, opened in 1869, a short distance south from the original site, on the territory of the municipality of Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis. The entrance was shaped like a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

, richly decorated with sculptures by Joseph Ducaju. In 1880, an

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

statue of

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

, the

Greek goddess A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of d ...

of victory riding a chariot, by the sculptor Louis Samain, was placed on the roof of the station as a tribute to railway engineering. In front of the station, a large public square, known as the / ("Constitution Square"), was created, acting as an entry to the city for its many commuters. File:Bruxelles Midi 1920s.jpg, The second Brussels-South railway station (1869), pictured in 1927 File:Bruxelles, Ancienne Gare de Midi 08.jpg, The second station's main facade and

, File:Ancienne gare du Midi et place de la Constitution.jpg, The / in front of the second station

Current station (1949–present)

Payen's terminal station was itself demolished in 1949, as part of the

project, and replaced by a transit station on its present site along the Avenue Fonsny/Fonsnylaan. Most of the current buildings were erected between 1939 and 1954, in post-war functionalist style, from plans by architects Adrien and Yvan Blomme and Fernand Petit. Work on the connection also led to the station's immediate surroundings to be reorganised. The railway tracks were raised and extended unto a viaduct towards the city centre, with shops under it and a covered street; the / (formerly the /), along which trams run. Since the 1990s, the South Station and the district adjacent to it have undergone profound transformation. The rear part of the station, designed in 1992 by the architect Marc De Vreese, and built in front of the /, serves as a terminal for

high-speed train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

s. On Saint-Gilles' side, expropriation plans have led, since 2012, to the creation of modern office blocks constituting a tertiary economic sector along the Avenue Fonsny, as well as extensions of the station along the /, the two arteries that surround the station. This business centre located a stone's throw from the city centre, is intended, in the spirit of the public authorities, to mirror the Northern Quarter

business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " city ...

(also called ''Little Manhattan''), located near the North Station, on the opposite side of the city centre. File:Brussels-South railway station - panoramio.jpg, The third (current) Brussels-South station (1952) on Avenue Fonsny/Fonsnylaan File:Bruxelles-Midi Brussel - Zuid - panoramio.jpg, Terminal building (1992) on Victor Horta Square File:Station Brussel-Zuid Gebouw.jpg, Brussels-South railway station entrance File:Station Brussel-Zuid Perron 6.jpg, View of the South Station's platforms and tracks

Features

The station is surrounded by the Avenue Fonsny/Fonsnylaan to the east, the / to the west, the / to the north and the / to the south. In the 1990s, the

terminal was added on the Rue de France's side. This part contains two bay platforms with no onward northbound connection. A tripartite agreement was signed by Belgium, France and the UK on 15 May 1993, which permitted British officials to carry out pre-embarkation immigration controls for passengers travelling on direct

train services from Brussels to London and Belgian officials to carry out pre-embarkation immigration controls at

London Waterloo International Waterloo International station was the London terminus of the Eurostar international rail service from its opening on 14 November 1994 to its closure on 13 November 2007, when it was replaced by London St Pancras International as the terminal ...

(and subsequently St Pancras International) station for passengers travelling in the other direction. As a result of this agreement,

juxtaposed controls Juxtaposed controls (in french: link=no, bureaux à contrôles nationaux juxtaposés, or ; in nl, link=no, kantoren waar de nationale controles van beide landen naast elkaar geschieden) are a reciprocal arrangement between Belgium, France, the ...

were set up in the station. On 1 October 2004, an administrative arrangement was signed by Belgium, France and the UK to extend juxtaposed controls to Eurostar services between London and Brussels which make a stop in Lille. Eurostar passengers travelling to the UK clear exit checks from the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

(carried out by the Belgian Federal Police) as well as UK entry checks (conducted by the

UK Border Force Border Force (BF) is a law-enforcement command within the Home Office, responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in the United Kingdom. The force was part of the now defunct UK Border Agency from its estab ...

) in the station before boarding their train. On the other hand, Eurostar passengers travelling to Lille Europe or Calais-Fréthun remain within the Schengen Area and are therefore not subject to border checks. Accordingly, they go through a different departure area in the station (bypassing the juxtaposed controls for passengers heading to the UK) and travel in a separate designated coach (available in standard class only) controlled by security guards, who ensure that all of these passengers disembark at Lille/Calais before the train continues to the UK.

Train services

The station is served by the following services: *High speed services (''

'') London - Lille - Brussels *High speed services (''Eurostar'') London - Brussels - Rotterdam - Amsterdam *High speed services (''

Intercity Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerl ...

'') Brussels - Liège - Cologne - Frankfurt *High speed services (''

'') Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels - Paris *High speed services (''Thalys'') Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Liège - 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) *High speed services (''

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

'') Brussels - Lille - Aéroport CDG - Lyon - Avignon - Marseille *High speed services (''TGV'') Brussels - Lille - Aéroport CDG - Lyon - Nîmes - Montpellier - Perpignan *High speed services (''TGV'') Brussels - Lille - Aéroport CDG - Strasbourg *High speed services ( ICD-35) Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Breda - Antwerp - Brussels Airport - Brussels *Intercity services (IC-01) Ostend - Bruges - Ghent - Brussels - Leuven - Liège - Welkenraedt - Eupen *Intercity services (IC-03) Blankenberge - Bruges - Ghent - Brussels - Leuven - Hasselt - Genk *Intercity services (IC-16) Brussels - Namur - Arlon - Luxembourg *Intercity services (IC-05) Essen - Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Nivelles - Charleroi (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-06) Tournai - Ath - Halle - Brussels - Brussels Airport *Intercity services (IC-06A) Mons - Braine-le-Comte - Brussels - Brussels Airport *Intercity services (IC-07) Charleroi - Nivelles - Brussels - Antwerp (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-11) Binche - Braine-le-Comte - Halle - Brussels - Mechelen - Turnhout (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-11) Binche - Braine-le-Comte - Halle - Brussels - Scharbeek (weekends) *Intercity services (IC-12) Kortrijk - Ghent - Brussels - Leuven - Liège - Welkenraedt (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-13) Kortrijk - Denderleeuw - Brussels - Schaarbeek (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-14) Quiévrain - Mons - Braine-le-Comte - Brussels - Leuven - Liège (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-16/34) Brussels - Namur - Arlon - Luxembourg *Intercity services (IC-17) Brussels - Namur - Dinant (weekends) *Intercity services (IC-18) Brussels - Namur - Liège (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-20) Ghent - Aalst - Brussels - Hasselt - Tongeren (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-20) Ghent - Aalst - Brussels - Dendermonde - Lokeren (weekends) *Intercity services (IC-22) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels *Intercity services (IC-23) Ostend - Bruges - Kortrijk - Zottegem - Brussels - Brussels Airport *Intercity services (IC-23A) Knokke - Bruges - Ghent - Brussels - Brussels Airport *Intercity services (IC-26) Kortrijk - Tournai - Halle - Brussels - Dendermonde - Lokeren - Sint Niklaas (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-29) Gent - Aalst - Brussels - Brussels Airport - Leuven - Landen (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-29) De Panne - Gent - Aalst - Brussels - Brussels Airport - Leuven - Landen (weekends) *Intercity services (IC-31) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekdays) *Intercity services (IC-31) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Nivelles - Charleroi (weekends) *Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Waterloo - Nivelles (weekdays) *Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekends) *Brussels RER services (S1) Brussels - Waterloo - Nivelles (weekends) *Brussels RER services (S2) Leuven - Brussels - Halle - Braine-le-Comte *Brussels RER services (S3) Dendermonde - Brussels - Denderleeuw - Zottegem (weekdays) *Brussels RER services (S3) Schaarbeek - Brussels - Denderleeuw - Zottegem (weekends) *Brussels RER services (S6) Aalst - Denderleeuw - Geraardsbergen - Halle - Brussels - Schaarbeek (weekdays) *Brussels RER services (S6) Denderleeuw - Geraardsbergen - Halle - Brussels - Schaarbeek (weekends) *Brussels RER services (S8) Brussels - Etterbeek - Ottignies - Louvain-le-Neuve *Brussels RER services (S10) Dendermonde - Brussels - Denderleeuw - Aalst

Metro and ''premetro'' station

The

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

station, called /, opened on 2 October 1988 as (at that time) the terminus of metro line 2 from Simonis. Line 2 has since been extended beyond Brussels-South to Clemenceau in 1993,

Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...

in 2006, and Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation in 2009. Since 1993, the station also accommodates ''

'' (underground tram) services at separate platforms, with

cross-platform interchange A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines at a metro (or other railway) station. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the Uni ...

between metro and ''premetro'' in both directions.

Connections

International buses

Since 23 July 2012,

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

's international coach network, OUIBUS (taken over by

BlaBlaBus BlaBlaCar Bus, formerly BlaBlaBus, Ouibus or iDBUS, operates coach services in Europe. Currently, BlaBlaCar Bus serves Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Genoa, Lille, London, Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Nice, Paris, Paris Char ...

in 2018), has served Brussels-South. * Paris - Lille - Brussels * Amsterdam - Brussels (from 28 April 2014) * Amsterdam - Brussels - London (from 28 April 2014)

Other bus services

A shuttle service to Brussels South Charleroi Airport leaves from a stop located on the /.

Places of interest

The South Tower, the tallest building in Belgium, stands in front of the station's main exit (the crossroad of the Avenue Fonsny/Fonsnylaan and the /) and houses the Belgian Federal Pensions Service (FPS).

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid page at b-europe.com
{{Eurostar navbox Railway stations in Brussels Railway stations served by Eurostar Brussels metro stations located underground Railway stations opened in 1869 1869 establishments in Belgium Saint-Gilles, Belgium Juxtaposed border controls Railway stations opened in 1952