Oostende railway station

• 50A (Brussels - Ostend)

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The Ostend train station is the largest railway station of Ostend and considering its ridership one of the busiest in Belgium as well as the most important railway station in the Belgian North Sea coast. As a terminus it is line end and line end all incoming trains here. At the station there is bus transit traffic to the city and to Kusttram.

Location

The station building is located - situated at right angles to it - located about 1000 meters from the coast line looking in northeast-southwest direction directly on the north-east and north, so-called Voor harbor. The old town of Ostend is within walking distance to the northwest, just across the marina. The ferry port is within walking distance.

History

( Ostende -Ville French) opened near the city center and in 1838 the station was Ostend City. The station Ostend Quay was built later, this is located near the harbor and takes over the role as the main railway station in 1893. In 1950, the town's station was closed and demolished in 1956. The station building, the architects Otten et Franz Seulen built in the years 1907 to 1913, it replaced a timber of 1904. The architecture represents the Belle Époque and is from the work of French architect Francois Mansart, the classicism, inspired. The building also has some details in Louis XVI - on and Art Nouveau. . Two square towers are to the left and right of the glass structure.

The Ostend train station was also the end point of the 25 -kilometer railway line Ostend - Torhout, which had from 1864 to 1963 inventory. From Torhout consisted connection to further west and south running routes, via the international connections were such as offered by Lille.

The station was located, since the opening and into the 1960s, the Hôtel Terminus Maritime. The station building is included in the list of Commission royale des monuments et des sites of national conservation authority. The station was an important transfer point of the web on the ship, mainly to England.

Since the end of 2011 construction work to find better interaction between the different modes of transport instead. The project will cost 150 million euros and is to be completed in 2017.

Traffic

The Ostend train station served for decades alongside the inland transport to the North Sea coast, especially the transition between train and ferry across the English Channel. He was the starting point known international long-distance and luxury trains like the Ostend - Vienna Express, the Ostend - Cologne Pullman Express or the Tauern Express. About coaches there were also direct connections to Istanbul, Athens, Stockholm and Bucharest.

With the commissioning of umsteigefreien link through the Euro Tunnel of Ostende station lost its importance as a maritime station from 1994. The rail service is limited since, with few exceptions to intra- Belgian connections.

There are daily following lines, unless otherwise called every hour:

• Thalys once daily: Ostende - Bruges - Ghent - Brussels - Paris
• IC A: Ostend - Bruges - Ghent - Brussels - Liège - Eupen
• IC C: Ostend - Bruges - Kortrijk - (Lille -Flandres )
• IC G: Ostende - Ghent - Antwerp