Brussels-West station

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Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation metro station
General information
Location	Chaussée de Ninove / Ninoofse Steenweg 1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels-Capital Region Belgium
Coordinates	50°50′56″N 4°19′15″E / 50.84889°N 4.32083°E / 50.84889; 4.32083
Owned by	STIB/MIVB
Construction
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	6 October 1982; 41 years ago (1982-10-06)
Services
Preceding station Brussels Metro Following station Terminus Line 1 Beekkant towards Stockel/Stokkel Delacroix towards Elisabeth Line 2 Beekkant towards Simonis Jacques Brel towards Erasme/Erasmus Line 5 Beekkant towards Herrmann-Debroux Delacroix towards Elisabeth Line 6 Beekkant towards King Baudouin

Brussels-West
Railway Station
General information
Coordinates	50°50′56″N 4°19′15″E / 50.84889°N 4.32083°E / 50.84889; 4.32083
Owned by	National Railway Company of Belgium
Line(s)	28
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	FBOW
History
Opened	1872 (1872)
Closed	1984
Rebuilt	2009
Services
Preceding station NMBS/SNCB Following station Simonis towards Dendermonde S 10 Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid towards Aalst

Brussels-West Station (French: Gare de l'Ouest; Dutch: Weststation) is a multimodal transport hub located in the municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, in the western part of Brussels, Belgium.

The original railway station was opened in 1872 by the Belgian State Railways; it was closed for passengers in 1984. The current metro station opened on 6 October 1982 as part of the Brussels Metro's Beekkant–Saint Guidon/Sint-Guido extension of former east–west line 1B. Then, following the reorganisation of the Brussels Metro on 4 April 2009, it is served by lines 1, 2, 5 and 6.

The metro station runs parallel to a railway used for freight trains, and from 2010 again, as a suburban railway line of the future Brussels Regional Express Network (RER/GEN).^[1] Nowadays, the station is mainly used by commuters as there are few tourist sites nearby, although as an important junction between lines, many users of the metro network change trains there.

A train only station was initially put into service on 25 December 1872 on the western orbital railroad of Brussels, line 28. It used to be an extensive goods yard, with the station building located close to the current location of Beekkant metro station. In 1883, Delhaize Group moved to Molenbeek where it had a special platform at the station capable of handling 550 freight wagons per week.^[2] After the closure of the goods yard, the platforms were moved south. The train station was closed to passenger traffic on 3 June 1984, but reopened in December 2009 in the framework of the Brussels Regional Express Network (RER/GEN) project.

The metro station began service from 6 October 1982, served by the former line 1B of the Brussels Metro. With the completion of the loop of the line 2 and the reorganisation of the Brussels metro network in April 2009, all Brussels metro lines (1, 2, 5 and 6) now serve the station. The station also connects with tram and bus lines, and the new Jacques Brel bus and metro depot has been built nearby.

Since its rebuilding in 2009, Brussels-West has become a major multimodal transport hub in the western part of the city, in line with the Brussels RER/GEN development.

The station is served by the following service(s):^[1]

• Brussels RER/GEN services (S10) Dendermonde - Brussels - Denderleeuw - Aalst

On the metro network, the station is called Gare de l'Ouest in French and Weststation in Dutch. It is served by all metro lines (1-5 and 2-6). Changing between the two metro lines (1/5 and 2/6), is however, very cumbersome, requiring passengers to go up the escalator, leave the fare controlled area and cross the main railway line and down through a fare gate again. That change is better done at the next station, Beekkant.

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• 
  View of the West Station's platforms and tracks
• 
  Top-down view of the platforms and tracks
• 
  Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation metro station

• List of railway stations in Belgium
• Rail transport in Belgium
• Transport in Brussels
• History of Brussels

Media related to Weststation (Brussels) at Wikimedia Commons