Kortrijk railway station ( nl, Station Kortrijk, french: Gare de Courtrai), officially Kortrijk, is the main
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 prep ...
in
Kortrijk
Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders.
It is the capital and large ...
,
West Flanders
)
, settlement_type = Province of Belgium
, image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg
, flag_size =
, image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg
, shield_size =
, image_map ...
, Belgium. The station was first inaugurated on 22 September 1839. With around 10,000 passengers per day,
NMBS Reizigerstellingen 2007 (in Dutch/French)
/ref> Kortrijk is the fifteenth-busiest railway station in Belgium, and the second in West Flanders.
The following railway lines converge in this station: line 66 (Bruges - Kortrijk) and line 75 (Ghent - Moeskroen). Railway lines 69 (Kortrijk - Ieper - Poperinge) and 89 (Denderleeuw - Kortrijk) begin just outside the station. Several national Intercity-trains, Interregio-trains and local trains also stop there, as do international trains like the Intercity-train to Lille-Flandres station
Lille-Flandres station ( French: ''Gare de Lille-Flandres'', Dutch: ''Rijsel Vlaanderen'') is the main railway station of Lille, capital of French Flanders. It is a terminus for SNCF Intercity and regional trains. It opened in 1842 as the ''Gare ...
in Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...
, France.
History
The first railway line, connecting Kortrijk to Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
, was inaugurated on 22 September 1838 by King Leopold I
* nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik
* en, Leopold George Christian Frederick
, image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg
, caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856
, reign = 21 July 1831 –
, predecessor = Erasme Lou ...
and Queen Louise-Marie. The first railway station on this site was inaugurated in 1839.
The building itself was enlarged several times. The second building opened in 1857 and was enlarged in 1876. This monumental building originally included a glass and iron construction covering the platforms and rails. This construction and the original building were severely damaged during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
After the war, a brand new station was inaugurated on 7 July 1956. The structure covering the platforms and rails was demolished and replaced by awnings covering the platforms.
Train services
The station is served by the following services:
*Intercity services (IC-04) Lille/Poperinge - Kortrijk - Ghent - Sint-Niklaas - Antwerp
*Intercity services (IC-12) Kortrijk - Ghent - Brussels - Leuven - Liege - Welkenraedt (weekdays)
*Intercity services (IC-12) Kortrijk - Ghent (weekends)
*Intercity services (IC-23) Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
- Bruges - Kortrijk - Zottegem - Brussels - Brussels Airport
*Intercity services (IC-26) Kortrijk - Tournai - Halle - Brussels - Dendermonde - Lokeren - Sint Niklaas (weekdays)
*Intercity services (IC-32) Bruges - Roeselare - Kortrijk
*Local services (L-05) Kortrijk - Oudenaarde - Ghent - Eeklo (weekdays)
Railway stations in Kortrijk
Other railway stations in Kortrijk are:
* Kortrijk-Vorming railway station (previously called ''Congostatie'')
* Bissegem railway station
Former railway stations in Kortrijk are:
* Aalbeke railway station
* Heule railway station
* Heule-Leiaarde railway station
* Kortrijk-Weide railway station
* Kortrijk-West railway station
* Marke railway station
* Sint-Katerine railway station
See also
* List of railway stations in Belgium
This is a list of the busiest railway stations in Belgium sorted by the average number of passengers boarding daily on weekdays in 2014. The province is also listed, unless the station lies within the Brussels-Capital Region and therefore does not ...
References
{{Commons category, Kortrijk train station
Railway stations in Belgium
Railway stations in West Flanders
Buildings and structures in Kortrijk
Railway stations in Belgium opened in 1839