The Diabolo project created a new railway line serving

Brussels National Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Brus ...

. It is so called because of its shape, resembling a

Chinese yo-yo The diabolo ( ; commonly misspelled ''diablo'') is a juggling or circus prop consisting of an axle () and two cups (hourglass/egg timer shaped) or discs derived from the Chinese yo-yo. This object is spun using a string attached to two hand s ...

: the line forms a chord between the Brussels-Leuven line 36 going east and the new Brussels-Antwerp line 25N going north, and connects with them via a triangular junction at each end. Its addition to the network permits a much more flexible airport railway service to be provided: as well as mainline trains going north and east, future high-speed services between

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

could call there. This would make Brussels National Airport a fully-fledged international railway station on the model of Amsterdam's

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

or Paris'

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

. Before the project, the airport had another station, a terminus, linked only to the Brussels-Leuven line with a single track and only connecting to/from Brussels. The outline of track can still be seen on maps and satellite images, it entered the airport terminal from the west. It was constructed (with the rest of the terminal) for the 1958 world exposition. Haren 25N I 2

The connection from the airport station to the new line was built by ''SA Diabolo'' in a

Public Private Partnership In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. SA Diabolo will maintain and rent the infrastructure to Infrabel for 35 years. In 2045 it will sell to Infrabel for 1 Euro. The three platforms of the existing railway station were extended to allow Intercity trains. Just under 3 km of line runs with

slab track A ballastless track or slab track is a type of railway track infrastructure in which the traditional elastic combination of ties/sleepers and ballast is replaced by a rigid construction of concrete or asphalt. Characteristics In ballastless ...

through a combination of cut and cover double track and single bore tunnels connecting to the 25N line in both directions at a flyover junction. The 25N line was built by Infrabel along the exceptionally broad (40m) central reservation of the A1/E19 motorway from Schaerbeek/Schaarbeek to the new

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

station. It was built for 220 km/h operation and equipped with TBL1+ and

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...

level 1 signaling. The

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

span connecting it to the existing line at the northern end was placed in May 2009 and the

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

into the airport at the southern end has been dug. The line was officially opened as planned on Friday, 8 June 2012 by King Albert. The first train from Mechelen to the airport ran on 10 June 2012{{cite web , url= http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=dmf20110614_104, title= Eerste rechtstreekse trein van Mechelen naar luchthaven op 10 juni 2012, author= , date= 14 June 2011, language= Dutch, publisher= Nieuwsblad, accessdate=12 February 2012 with a journey time of 8 minutes in place of the previously required 40 minutes. The completion of the Diabolo project and the

Schuman-Josaphat tunnel The Schuman-Josaphat tunnel is a double track rail tunnel in Brussels, which entered into service on 4 April 2016. It links line 161 (Brussels-Namur) just after Meiser station and line 26 (Halle-Vilvoorde) at the Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark tunne ...

are key infrastructure components needed for the rationalization of Brussels suburban rail services into the Brussels GEN/RER, whose stepwise inauguration is planned between 2015 and 2025. To fund the project and the operation of the line, a surcharge (currently €5.50) is charged on most train tickets to and from Brussels Airport station. Ticket gates at the station require a 2D barcode to be scanned to permit entrance or exit. In the

Infrabel Infrabel is a Belgian government-owned public limited company. It builds, owns, maintains and upgrades the Belgian railway network, makes its capacity available to railway operator companies, and handles train traffic control. Infrabel was creat ...

inventory, the line is called 36C, making it a dependency of line 36.

References

External links

Detailed documentary on construction techniques. In dutch, the english version only shows the architecturePictures of 25N construction, late 2011
Railway lines in Belgium