As Seen by TV

I took the train from Brussels to Antwerp, and was absolutely stunned by the recent renovations done to Antwerp Central Station.  I had always been meaning to go check it out (like when I was in Belgium over Christmas), but kept putting it off, and now I see I was quite wrong to do so.  Newsweek even put it at #4 of world’s greatest train stations, and rightly so!

Original construction began in 1895, and the station had long been a terminus station, meaning that trains arriving on its 6 tracks had to reverse back out (not the smoothest of designs, especially considering the Paris-Amsterdam line runs right past Antwerp).  Renovations began back in 1998 (while I was still living there), and the €1.6 billion project was finally finished in 2007.  The station now boasts 4 levels… with more terminus tracks and through tracks built underneath the original 6.  A massive tunnel was dug out under the city to allow the high-speed trains that service Amsterdam and Paris to also stop at Antwerp CS.   The images I took cannot convey the beauty that this station has managed to keep, modernizing a magnificent structure without creating clutter and damaging its original splendour.

ps- the only other station I have been to that made it on Newsweek’s list is New York’s Grand Central (#2), and although yes, the main hall is magnificent, everything else is sheer crap.  Antwerp Central Station makes Grand Central look like a bus stop.  Visit it if you ever get the chance, they also do tours, which I now will make sure to do next time I’m there.