Simonis and Elisabeth are two interconnected stations on 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 ...

serving line 2 and line 6 on two different levels. Additionally Simonis is a railway station 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 o ...

(NMBS/SNCB) and a tram stop. The station complex is situated at the end of the / in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Koekelberg Koekelberg (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Ganshoren, Jette and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. In common with all ...

, in the western part of

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. ''Simonis'' was named after the /, itself named after the Belgian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Eugène Simonis Louis-Eugène Simonis (11 July 1810, in Liège – 11 July 1893, in Koekelberg) was a Belgian sculptor. Career Simonis studied under François-Joseph Dewandre at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Liège and at the age of nineteen went to I ...

; while the nearby Elisabeth Park, named after

Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium Elisabeth of Bavaria (Elisabeth Gabriele Valérie Marie; 25 July 187623 November 1965) was Queen of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 to 17 February 1934 as the spouse of King Albert I, and a duchess in Bavaria by birth. She was the mother ...

, gives ''Elisabeth'' its name. ''Simonis'' metro station opened on 6 October 1982 and is a transit station in north–south direction situated in a cutting next to a railway line. It is served as a transit station on line 6 and is a terminus of line 2. ''Elisabeth'' metro station is orthogonal to and one level below ''Simonis'' and is a terminal station located at the end of Boulevard Léopold II in east–west direction. It opened on 2 October 1988 and is the terminus for lines 2 and 6.

Naming

Between its opening in 1988 and 2013, ''Elisabeth'' was also known as ''Simonis''. Until 2009, ''Simonis'' was a simple interchange station between metro lines 1A and 2. When the Brussels Metro "loop" opened in 2009, the north-western part of metro line 1A was connected to the other end of metro line 2, making line 2 an imperfect circle line (since a true circular train service is not possible, as the tracks at ''Simonis''/''Elisabeth'' are not connected). This resulted in the current situation, whereby the station complex is served twice by lines 2 and 6. To differentiate between the two station parts, the north–south through platforms were given the name ''Simonis (Leopold II)'', while the east–west terminating platforms were known as ''Simonis (Elisabeth)''. However, this did not improve the clarity of passenger information and thus, on 3 November 2013, ''Simonis (Leopold II)'' was reverted to simply ''Simonis'', while ''Simonis (Elisabeth)'' became ''Elisabeth''. The adjacent bus, tram and railway stops have not been renamed, and are all still known as ''Simonis''.

Rail services

To the west of the stations, trams 9 and 19 call at underground platforms opened on 23 June 1986 (line 19) and 1 September 2018 (line 9), respectively. To the east of and parallel to ''Simonis'' metro station, the

(NMBS/SNCB) operates a local commuter station ''Simonis'' since December 2009. It is served by the

Brussels Regional Express Network The Brussels S-train, also known as the Brussels Regional Express Network (french: Réseau Express Régional Bruxellois or RER); ( nl, Gewestelijk ExpresNet or GEN) is a suburban rail system in the Brussels Capital Region. It will offer fast conne ...

service S10 between Dendermonde, Brussels,

Denderleeuw Denderleeuw () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek The Denderstreek or Denderland is a region in Belgium. It is named after the river Dender. Though the river stretches over three provinces, ...

and Aalst. File:Bruxelles - Brussel - Metro - Simonis-Elisabeth (12159974193).jpg, Simonis railway station File:Tramlijn 9 Brussel 2018 2.jpg, Tram 9 at Simonis

References

Notes

External links

Brussels metro stations located underground Railway stations opened in 1982 Koekelberg 1982 establishments in Belgium {{Brussels-metro-stub