Oostende railway station ( nl, Station Oostende, french: Gare d'Ostende,

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, respecti ...

: ZGJ), officially Oostende, is a

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 ...

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 ...

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. It is operated by the

National Railway Company of Belgium french: Société nationale des chemins de fer belgesgerman: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen , type = Statutory corporation , industry = Rail Transport , foundation = 1926 , founder = Government of ...

(NMBS/SNCB).

History

The first station in Ostend was opened in 1838 during the reign of

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 Loui ...

on the former Belgian railway line 62 to

Torhout Torhout (; french: Thourout; vls, Toeroet) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Torhout proper, the villages of Wijnendale and Sint-Henricus, and the hamlet of De Dri ...

and is now a supermarket. The current station was opened in 1913 during the reign of

King Albert I Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...

. It is designed to connect trains and ferries and is built with Scottish

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...

from

Soignies Soignies (; nl, Zinnik, ; pcd, Sougniye; wa, Sougniye) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It consists of the following districts: Casteau, Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Naast, Neufvilles, Soi ...

and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

from

Euville Euville () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Euville light railways *Communes of the Meuse department *Parc naturel régional de Lorraine Lorraine Regional Natural Park (French: ''Parc nat ...

. It is constructed in a neoclassical style inspired by the French 18th-century architect

François Mansart François Mansart (; 23 January 1598 – 23 September 1666) was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France. The '' Encyclopædia Britannica'' cites him as the most accomplished of 17th-century Fr ...

and the

Louis XVI style Louis XVI style, also called ''Louis Seize'', is a style of architecture, furniture, decoration and art which developed in France during the 19-year reign of Louis XVI (1774–1793), just before the French Revolution. It saw the final phase of t ...

. The station was served by a daily

Thalys Thalys (French: ) is a French-Belgian high-speed train operator originally built around the LGV Nord high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam to London via Li ...

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 ...

service to

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 ...

between 1998 and 31 March 2015.

Train services

Oostende railway station is a major hub on the

(NMBS/SNCB) network with frequent InterCity trains serving

Brugge railway station Brugge railway station ( nl, Station Brugge, french: Gare de Bruges), officially Brugge, is the main railway station in Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium. The station opened on 12 August 1838 on railway lines 50A, 51 and 66. The current buil ...

, Gent-Sint-Pieters, Brussels-South and Liège-Guillemins on

Belgian railway line 50A The Belgian railway line 50A is a railway line in Belgium connecting Brussels with Ostend through Ghent and Bruges. The section between Ghent and Ostend was completed in 1838. The section between Ghent and Brussels was opened between 1923 and 1933 ...

. Connecting InterCity trains run to

Antwerpen Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

and

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

. The station is served by the following services:Belgian railways timetable brochures
*Intercity services Ostend - Bruges - Gent - Brussels - Leuven - Liege - Eupen *Intercity services Ostend - Bruges - Gent - Sint-Niklaas - Antwerpen *Intercity services Ostend - Bruges - Kortrijk - Zottegem - Brussels - Brussels Airport

Kusttram

Ostend is a major hub on the

Kusttram The Coast Tram ( nl, Kusttram) is a public transport service connecting the cities and towns along the Belgian (West Flanders) coast between De Panne, near the French border, and Knokke-Heist, near the Dutch border. At in length, it is currently ...

which is the coastal tramway run by

De Lijn Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn (English: Flemish transport company ''De Lijn''), usually known as De Lijn (, "The Line"), is a company run by the Flemish government in Belgium to provide public transportation with about 2240 buses and 399 tr ...

Cycling

To encourage cycling the station has an extensive number of cycling racks.

Former ferries

Regie voor Maritiem Transport Regie voor Maritiem Transport (RMT) was the Belgian state-owned ferry service and operated ferries on the Ostend- Dover route under the name Oostende Lines. For the last few years until its demise in February 1997, the ferries from Ostend went ...

used to run services connecting to the

Port of Dover The Port of Dover is a cross-channel ferry, cruise terminal, maritime cargo and marina facility situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime pa ...

connecting with

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the netwo ...

trains from

Dover Western Docks Dover, Kent has had numerous railway stations due to the legacy of competition between the South Eastern Railway (UK), South Eastern Railway (SER) and London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) and the subsequent rationalisation attempts by their ...

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

and London Charing Cross stations. These ceased in 1994. In the past ferries operated to

Folkestone Harbour Folkestone Harbour is the main harbour of the town of Folkestone in Kent, England. History In 1541, King Henry VIII of England was about to wage a war against the French. A plan was made to use Folkestone as a port of embarkation to supplies an ...

connecting with

Folkestone Harbour station Folkestone Harbour station was one of four railway stations in Folkestone, Kent. It served Folkestone Harbour with connecting boat train services across the English Channel to Calais and Boulogne. The station was opened by the South Eas ...

boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat trains ...

s to London Victoria and London Charing Cross.

Gallery

File:La gare (Ostend station) (4738412348).jpg, Exterior File:56821 station oostende.jpg, Station interior File:Oostende 1.jpg, Train at station File:Oostende Sporen R01.jpg, Tracks near station

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline Railway stations in Belgium Railway stations in West Flanders Ostend Railway stations in Belgium opened in 1838