Brussels: main line flooded

[gysev]

A broken water mains caused chaos in Brussels yesterday, september 7. A large sinkhole appeared in the Chaussée de Louvain and several houses had to be evacuated. The railway tunnel between Brussels North and Brussels Schuman was flooded. Infrabel estimates that it will take a week to repair the line, provided there are no issues with the stability of the tunnel. Local trains are cancelled, IC's are rerouted Brussels - Leuven - Wavre - Ottignies.

SNCB shared some pictures on its Twitter account

https://twitter.com/NMBS/status/905729820792905728

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is that an old closed station in the pics?

 

[gysev]

Is that an old closed station in the pics?

that was the former station of Chaussée de Louvain, closed in 1924. The building is now a café.

 

[Bletchleyite]

that was the former station of Chaussée de Louvain, closed in 1924. The building is now a café.

Cheers.

 

[MarcVD]

Now expected to reopen 18 sept.
Apparently the tunnel is safe.
Re-routing costs 30 min.

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[ooo]

They appear to have drained the water away now

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[iknowyeah]

Will this affect NL bound Thalys services?

 

[MarcVD]

No. This is on the line from Brussels to Luxemburg.
Only impact that you may have is that the detours (There are now two, via Leuven
or via east belt line) add 20 to 30 minutes to each train to/from that direction so that train patterns in the heavily used link between Brussels Midi and Brussels North are disturbed.

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[Gerald Fiennes]

Remarkably fast recovery, given that so much ground equipment (signal cabinets, switches) will have been covered in what looks like sandy water (at best!), and I expect most of the low voltage electrical equipment will need to be replaced!:cry:

 

[MarcVD]

It's back to normal operation. A mile of track plus all signalling have been replaced in one week.

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[duesselmartin]

It's back to normal operation. A mile of track plus all signalling have been replaced in one week.

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That is good performance.