Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): Over 4,300 visitors attended the opening of the new Stalingradlaan metro station in Brussels, part of metro line 3. Laurent Vermeersch from MIVB emphasized community interest in the project.
A concrete structure under Stalingradlaan near Brussels-South station was opened for a special visit, and over 4,300 people came to see it. This station will be part of the new metro line 3, connecting Albert station in the south to Bordet in the north. The new metro line aims to accommodate more passengers using Brussels’ public transport, making it faster and easier to travel between important neighborhoods. This project is a big step in modernizing the city’s transit system.
What will the new Toots Thielemans station bring to Brussels’ metro?
It has been said that once finished, this station will be an important part of the metro network, helping to reduce crowding on current lines and giving commuters more travel choices. Metro line 3 is expected to help make travel in Brussels more eco-friendly by allowing passengers to move around the city more easily. The structure under Stalingradlaan is not just a great engineering achievement but also part of the city’s bigger plan for a better public transportation system.
In the first part of the project, they will change the metro between Albert and Noord station into a metro line. Most stations can be changed easily because they were made to become metro stations. But the Lemonier station, built in the 1950s, isn’t safe or accessible enough for a metro. So, they are building a new station called Toots Thielemans right next to it. Laurent Vermeersch from MIVB said that today people could see the underground work done so far. The new station will be a big space underground, and it looks good.
The construction that started in October 2020 has brought a lot of visitors. A site manager said it’s nice to see people interested in their work. They even found a mammoth bone, which was surprising because at first, he thought it was just a piece of wood. After the basic structure is done, they will finish the station and tunnels, put in tracks and electricity, and add walls and floors. If everything goes well with the permits, they plan to start taking down the South Palace next August, but some neighbors are not happy about the project.