Mechelen railway station

Mechelen is a railway station in the city of Mechelen, Antwerp, Belgium. The station opened on 5 May 1835 on the Lines 25, 27 and 53.

Mechelen
Railway Station
General information
LocationMechelen, Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Coordinates51°01′03″N 4°29′01″E
Owned byNational Railway Company of Belgium
Line(s)25, 27, 53
Platforms10
Tracks10
History
Opened5 May 1835

In 1835, the first public train journey on the European mainland arrived near the station. The train line stopped just south of the station, as there was no bridge over the canal until 1836. Lines were built in all directions from the station: North to Antwerp, south to Brussels and France, east to Leuven, Liège and Verviers and west to Dendermonde, Ghent, Bruges and Ostend.

To the east of the station is the large Mechelen Train Works, where trains receive maintenance and heavy works, such as refurbishment.

The station has 12 platforms, the 6 on the east side are a few metres higher than the others. In 2012 a new high-speed railway (Line 25N) opened between Mechelen and Schaerbeek, in the north of Brussels. This line also links Mechelen with Brussels Airport. Platforms 11 and 12 were added to the station in December 2020[1] to accommodate the additional trains from this line.

In 2013, major plans to modernise and rebuild the station started. This project is called "Mechelen in Beweging".[2] A 3-level underground car park has since been constructed. The current station buildings and tracks will be demolished and replaced. The building work is expected to take more than a decade as the work will need to be carried out platform by platform to retain enough capacity for the station.

Train services

The following services currently serve the station:

  • Intercity services (IC-05) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Nivelles - Charleroi
  • Intercity services (IC-08) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels Airport - Leuven - Hasselt
  • Intercity services (IC-11) Binche - Braine-le-Comte - Halle - Brussels - Mechelen - Turnhout (weekdays)
  • Intercity services (IC-21) Ghent - Dendermonde - Mechelen - Leuven
  • Intercity services (IC-22) Essen - Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekdays)
  • Intercity services (IC-22) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Halle - Braine-le-Comte - Binche (weekends)
  • Intercity services (IC-31) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekdays)
  • Intercity services (IC-31) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Nivelles - Charleroi (weekends)
  • Intercity services (IC-35) Amsterdam - The Hague - Rotterdam - Roosendaal - Antwerp - Brussels Airport - Brussels
  • Local services (L-02) Zeebrugge - Bruges – Ghent – Dendermonde – Mechelen (weekdays)
  • Local services (L-20) Sint-Niklaas – Mechelen – Leuven (weekdays)
  • Local services (L-20) Mechelen - Leuven (weekends)
  • Local services (L-27) Sint-Niklaas - Mechelen (weekends)
  • Local services (L-28) Ghent - Dendermonde - Mechelen (weekends)
  • Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels - Waterloo - Nivelles (weekdays)
  • Brussels RER services (S1) Antwerp - Mechelen - Brussels (weekends)
  • Brussels RER services (S5) Mechelen - Brussels-Luxembourg - Etterbeek - Halle - Enghien (- Geraardsbergen)
  • Brussels RER services (S7) Mechelen - Merode - Halle

References
  1. "Opening bijkomende spoorlijn en perrons 11&12" [Opening additional railway line and platforms 11&12] (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  2. "Mechelen in Beweging" [Mechelen on the move] (in Dutch).
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