In the Brussels municipality of Ukkel/Uccle, the new Carsoel Bridge over the Schaerbeek-Halle railway line has officially been put into service. The new bridge at Sint-Job station looks like a small square and is set to become a central intermodal hub, designed to promote sustainable transport.

The revamped mobility project at the station, which welcomes nearly 20,000 passengers by train, tram, and bus every week, comes with a price tag of 10.8 million euros.

Four times wider bridge

The structure of the Carsoel Bridge, originally built in 1928, had become worn down by years of heavy (freight) traffic, trams, and buses, and replacement had become necessary to ensure safety.

After two years of work by railway infrastructure manager Infrabel, the bridge has now been widened to 45.8 meters. This allows various modes of transport (train, tram, bus, car, bicycle, etc.) to use the junction.

At the same time, more space has been provided for pedestrians. Finally, a bicycle parking facility and two lifts were added to the bridge. There are also plans to build a bicycle highway along the railway line.

Diagonal route instead of double S-bend

The double S-bend of the original bridge was also replaced with a diagonal route to allow trams (line 92) and MIVB/STIB buses to run more smoothly. “We save about 30 seconds on the route,” says Brieuc de Meeüs, CEO of the Brussels public transport company. “If you multiply that by the number of trams that pass every day, we save three hours a day.”

Thanks to the new configuration, bus and tram stops could also be built in a straight line, making them accessible to people with reduced mobility.

Better train services

The commissioning of the new bridge also means that train traffic can resume in full. During the works, only one track was available at any given time, which limited capacity on the axes between Brussels-Luxembourg and Nivelles, and between Hal/Enghien and Nivelles.

From December 15, the train service will be expanded even further. On weekdays, Sint-Job station will be served by almost 190 S-trains, or 6 trains per hour and per direction, instead of the current 5. The works cost almost 11 million euros. The European Union co-financed the project through the RRF Fund.

However, there is still one sticking point: several neighborhood committees note that their appeal to annul the bridge permit is still pending before the Council of State. “As long as the court has not issued a ruling, the building permit can still be revoked.”

The committees have several criticisms of the project, including concerns about the safety of cyclists and pedestrians and the flow of traffic.