New Brussels metro line to be ready by 2025

The new Brussels metro line linking North Station with the Bordet railway station in Evere should be ready by 2025, writes Het Laatste Nieuws. The permits will be requested next year for the construction of the 5km-long metro line, which will have seven new stations. Construction work for the project is expected to start in three years.

The new line 3 will also have a southern route, as the North-South axis tram tunnel running between Brussels North and the Albert premetro station will be transformed into a full-fledged metro line by 2022.

Plans for the northern leg of the project were presented yesterday in Brussels by public transport authority STIB together with minister-president Rudi Vervoort, mobility minister Pascal Smet and deputy prime minister Didier Reynders.

The new metro line comes in preparation for expected population growth in the north of Brussels, but also as a replacement for the current transport to that part of the region, which is saturated and sluggish. The new line will greatly increase capacity and better connect certain areas with the city centre.