Noorderkempen 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 prep ...

near the town of

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, Antwerp province,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The station opened on 15 June 2009 on the

HSL 4 The HSL 4 ( nl, Hogesnelheidslijn 4, french: Ligne à Grande Vitesse 4, en, High-Speed Line 4) is a Belgian high-speed rail line part of the 87 kilometres (54 miles) axis which connects Antwerp to the Dutch border. It is 40 kilometres l ...

high speed line between the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and Belgium. The train services are operated by

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 o ...

(NMBS) and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS). The station makes the Northern Kempen region connected to the rail network via the

route and is the only true high-speed station in Belgium. However, it is not served by any true high-speed train, functioning rather as a

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...

for Antwerp and to a lesser extent Breda. The Thalys services (300km/h) skip the station as the IC services (160km/h - 200km/h) serve the station.

History

The station was due to open in September 2007 but this and several other deadlines were not met. The main reason given for this was the ECTS signalling not being approved for use. The station was opened in 2009 and is served by shuttle services between the station and Antwerp. International services to the Netherlands have started calling at this station in April 2018. Services are timetabled to depart at the same time in each direction (1 minute past the hour), to facilitate bus connections.

Train services

The following services currently the serve the station: *Intercity services (IC-15) Noorderkempen - Antwerp *Intercity Direct International 9200 Brussels-Midi - Amsterdam Centraal

References

External links

* Railway stations opened in 2009 Railway stations in Belgium Railway stations in Antwerp Province Brecht, Belgium {{Belgium-railstation-stub