Rail transport in Belgium

Rail Transport in Belgium

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Rail transport in Belgium

Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
has an extensive railroad network. On May 5, 1835 the first railway in continental Europe

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas....
opened between Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium....
-Groendreef/Allée verte and Mechelen

Mechelen

Mechelen is a Dutch-speaking city and municipality in the province of Antwerp , Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Mechelen proper, some quarters at its outskirts, the hamlets of Nekkerspoel and Battel , as well as the villages of Walem, Heffen, Leest, Hombeek, and Muizen....
. Some sort of railroad or canal

Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
had been envisaged as early as 1830. The feasibility of a railroad was investigated by engineers Pierre Simons and Gustave De Ridder. The first trains were Stephenson

George Stephenson

George Stephenson was an England civil engineer and mechanical engineering who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam engine locomotives and is known as the "Father of Railways"....
engines imported from Great Britain. The engines were called Pijl meaning Arrow, Olifant meaning Elephant, and finally 'Stephenson' obviously named after his designer.

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Encyclopedia

Belgium

Continental Europe

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium....
-Groendreef/Allée verte and Mechelen

Mechelen

Canal

George Stephenson

Ghent

Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region, Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys River and became in the Middle Ages one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe....
, Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, Ostend

Ostend

||-||-||}Ostend is a Belgium city and Municipalities in Belgium located in the Flemish Region Provinces of Belgium of West Flanders....
, Antwerp

Antwerp

||-||-||-||}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....
, Mechelen, Brussels and Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flanders, Belgium. It is located about 30 kilometers east of Brussels, with as other neighbouring cities Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre....
were connected. The lines that had to reach Liège

Liège (city)

Li?ge is a major Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium in Belgium located in the Provinces of Belgium of Li?ge , of which it is the administrative capital....
, Mons

Mons

Mons is a Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium located in the Belgium Provinces of Belgium of Hainaut , of which it is the capital....
and Kortrijk

Kortrijk

Kortrijk is a Belgium city and Municipalities in Belgium located in the Flemish Region Provinces of Belgium West Flanders. The wider municipality comprises the city of Kortrijk proper and the towns of Aalbeke, Bellegem, Bissegem, Heule, Kooigem, Marke , and Rollegem....
were partially completed. In 1843, when the major East-West/North-South axes were complete, private companies were allowed to construct and use their own railroad systems. These were crucial in the industrialisation of the country.

In 1870, the Belgian state owned 863 km of rail lines, while the private enterprises owned 2,231 km. From 1870 to 1882, the railways were gradually nationalised. In 1912, 5,000 km were state property compared to 300 km private lines. Full nationalisation was considered at the time, but was never enacted until 1926 when the NMBS/SNCB

NMBS/SNCB

File:Treinen_te_AC.JPGThe National Railway Company of Belgium, also known as Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen or Soci?t? Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges is the Belgium national Rail transport operator....
was started. It was named the NMBS

NMBS/SNCB

SNCF

SNCF is a France public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance as well as signalling of rail infrastructure owned by R?seau Ferr? de France ....
). In 1958 the network was fully state-owned. On 5 May 1935 the NMBS/SNCB started with electrification on the line Brussel-Noord/Bruxelles-Nord to Antwerpen-Centraal, 44 km.

The UIC Country Code

UIC Country Code

The UIC Country Code is a two digit number used to identify member countries of the International Union of Railways . The UIC has issued numbering systems for rolling stock and train stations that both contain the UIC Country Code....
for the railway system of Belgium is 88.

Infrastructure

In 2003 the network constituted 3,518 km of railways, all of which were standard gauge: 1.435 m gauge. Of all of those railways, 2,631 km were also electrified. Most electrified Belgian lines use a 3,000 volt

Volt

The volt is the SI SI derived unit of electric potential difference or electromotive force, commonly known as voltage. It is named in honor of the Lombard physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery ....
DC

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as battery , thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type....
overhead power supply, but the high speed-lines (Brussels-Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Urban Community of Lille M?tropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille....
, Brussels-Liège-Köln and Brussels - Antwerp - Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country....
) are electrified at 25,000 volts AC

Alternating current

In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. An electric charge would for instance move forward, then backward, then forward, then backward, over and over again....
, as are recent electrifications in the south of the country (Rivage

Sprimont

Sprimont is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Liege . On January 1 2006 Sprimont had a total population of 12,782....
- Gouvy

Gouvy

Gouvy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Luxembourg .On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers 165.11 km?, had 4,780 inhabitants, giving a population density of 29 inhabitants per km?....
and Dinant

Dinant

||-||-||}Dinant is a Wallonia city and Municipalities in Belgium located on the River Meuse in the Belgium Provinces of Belgium of Namur , Belgium....
- Athus

Athus

Athus is a town in the Aubange Municipalities of Belgium of the Luxembourg , in south-eastern Belgium. It is located in the far south of the country, near the borders with France and Luxembourg....
lines).

Trains in Belgium normally run on the left hand track. This is in contrast to road vehicles, which drive on the right hand side of the road and is evidence of the British involvement in building the rail network in the 19th century.

The railway network is controlled and maintained by Infrabel

Infrabel

Infrabel is the Infrastructure Company which manages Belgian railway lines. It is a subsidiary of National Railway Company of Belgium, with approximately 14,500 employees ....
, a subsidiary of SNCB/NMBS Holding.

Policy

Belgium operates a policy of cheap rail travel. Citizens in Belgium, especially student

Student

The word student is etymology derived through Middle English from the Latin Latin conjugation#Principal parts for the active voice Grammatical conjugation verb "studere", Meaning "to direct one's zeal at"; hence a student could be described as 'one who directs zeal at a subject'....
s and older citizens

Old age

Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human biological life cycle. Euphemisms and terms for old people include seniors ? chiefly an American usage ? or elderly....
, are offered incentives and cheaper fares in order to alleviate congestion on the nation's roads. Public sector employees are entitled to a free or heavily subsidised season ticket for commuting by rail. Many private sector employers will make a contribution to the cost of a season ticket. Smoking

Tobacco smoking

Tobacco smoking is the inhalation of smoke from burned dried or cured leaves of the tobacco plant, most often in the form of a cigarette. People may smoke casually for pleasure, habitually to satisfy an addiction to the nicotine present in tobacco and to the act of smoking, or in response to social pressure....
is prohibited in all train station

Train station

|}A train station, railway station, railroad station, or station yard is a facility at which passengers may board and alight from trains and/or rail-transported freight may be loaded or unloaded....
s (including platforms) and passenger cars.

Rail transport in Belgium

Infrastructure

Policy

See also