Key Railway Links in Operation in Antwerp

Key railway links in operation in Antwerp

BRUSSELS, March 23 (Xinhua) — An underground railway tunnel that links the north and the south of Antwerp in eastern Belgium was inaugurated on Friday, marking a major step forward for the completion of the high-speed train link between Antwerp and the Netherlands.

It took nine years and 765 million euros to build the tunnel, the so-called Antwerp North-South connection, which is nearly four kilometers long and 18 meters deep.

The tunnel changes the Antwerp Central Station from a terminal into a transit station and is expected to be a key boost for railway traffic in and around Antwerp.

Passenger trains will start using the tunnel on Monday. In the initial stage, some 70 trains run through the tunnel a day, but the number of passing trains will increase considerably at the end of the year with the introduction of a new train timetable.

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