Belgian railway line 26

The Belgian railway line 26 is a railway line connecting Brussels to Halle in Belgium. It first opened on July 19, 1926, between Schaarbeek and Watermael railway stations. The line was completed on January 3, 1930.[1] It was conceived as a circumvention of Brussels before the North–South connection existed, which opened only in 1952.

Belgian railway line 26
An MS/AM86 train at Diesdelle/Vivier d'Oie station in 2020
Overview
Status	Operational
Locale	Belgium
Termini	Schaarbeek railway station Halle railway station
Service
Operator(s)	National Railway Company of Belgium
History
Opened	1926-1930
Technical
Line length	28 km (17 mi)
Number of tracks	double track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	3 kV DC
Route map Line from Brussels-North 0.0 Schaarbeek Line to Leuven Line to Antwerp from Vilvoorde Line Brussels–Leuven 4.0 Haren 4.7 Bordet 6.1 Evere 8.6 Meiser 9.9 Merode 11.2 Delta Line Brussels–Namur 14.7 Boondael 15.3 Vivier d'Oie 16.2 Saint-Job Line Brussels–Charleroi 19.7 Moensberg 21.4 Beersel 24.6 Huizingen Line from Brussels 28.6 Halle Line to Mons

Today all passenger trains using the line travel from Vilvoorde on a branch line called 26/1 and not from Schaarbeek, to various destinations South of Brussels. The line carries (parts of) several services of the GEN/RER: S4, S5, S7, S9. Some of these use the Schuman-Josaphat tunnel, which branches off just South of Meiser station.

The line serves the following stations:

• Schaarbeek
• Haren
• Bordet
• Evere
• Schaarbeek-Josaphat
• Meiser
• Merode
• Etterbeek-Cinquantenaire
• Delta
• Boondael
• Vivier d’Oie / Diesdelle
• Saint-Job
• Moensberg
• Beersel
• Huizingen
• Halle

Schaarbeek-Josaphat is no longer an operational station, it was a freight yard very near the present Evere railway station. Etterbeek-Cinquantenaire was also a freight station, it is now closed and (mostly) filled in.

References

1. "Ligne 26: Schaerbeek - Halle". BelRail.be.