General information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coordinates | 50°51′47″N4°19′50″E / 50.86306°N 4.33056°E | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | STIB/MIVB, Infrabel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operated by | STIB/MIVB, SNCB/NMBS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 1 island platform (Simonis metro) 2 side platforms (Elisabeth metro) 2 side platforms (SNCB/NMBS) 2 side platforms (tram 19) 1 side, 1 island platform (tram 9) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tracks | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Structure type | Underground | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Platform levels | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1982 (Simonis metro) 1986 (tram 19) 1988 (Elisabeth metro) 2009 (railway) 2019 (tram 9) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Simonis and Elisabeth are two interconnected stations on the Brussels Metro serving line 2 and line 6 on two different levels. Additionally Simonis is a railway station operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB) and a tram stop.
The station complex is situated at the end of the Boulevard Léopold II/Leopold II-laan in the municipality of Koekelberg, in the western part of Brussels, Belgium. Simonis was named after the Place Eugène Simonis/Eugène Simonisplein, itself named after the sculptor Eugène Simonis; while the nearby Elisabeth Park, named after Queen Elisabeth, gives Elisabeth its name.
Simonis metro station opened on 6 October 1982 and is a transit station in north–south direction situated in a cutting next to a railway line. It serves as a transit station on line 6 and a terminus of line 2. Elisabeth metro station is orthogonal to and one level below Simonis and is a terminal station located at the end of the Boulevard Léopold II in east–west direction. It opened on 2 October 1988 and is the terminus for lines 2 and 6.
Between its opening in 1988 and 2013, Elisabeth was also known as Simonis. Until 2009, Simonis was a simple interchange station between metro lines 1A and 2. When the Brussels Metro "loop" opened in 2009, the north-western part of metro line 1A was connected to the other end of metro line 2, making line 2 an imperfect circle line (since a true circular train service is not possible, as the tracks at Simonis/Elisabeth are not connected). This resulted in the current situation, whereby the station complex is served twice by lines 2 and 6. [1]
To differentiate between the two station parts, the north–south through platforms were given the name Simonis (Leopold II), while the east–west terminating platforms were known as Simonis (Elisabeth). However, this did not improve the clarity of passenger information and thus, on 3 November 2013, Simonis (Leopold II) was reverted to simply Simonis, while Simonis (Elisabeth) became Elisabeth. [2] [3] The adjacent bus, tram and railway stops have not been renamed, and are all still known as Simonis.
To the west of the stations, Brussels trams 9 and 19 call at underground platforms opened on 23 June 1986 (line 19) and 1 September 2018 (line 9), respectively.
To the east of and parallel to Simonis metro station, the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB) operates a local commuter station Simonis since December 2009. [4] It is served by the Brussels Regional Express Network (RER/GEN) service S10 between Dendermonde, Brussels, Denderleeuw and Aalst.
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The Brussels Metro is a rapid transit system serving a large part of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of four conventional metro lines and three premetro lines. The metro-grade lines are M1, M2, M5, and M6 with some shared sections, covering a total of 39.9 kilometres (24.8 mi), with 59 metro-only stations. The premetro network consists of three tram lines that partly travel over underground sections that were intended to be eventually converted into metro lines. Underground stations in the premetro network use the same design as metro stations. A few short underground tramway sections exist, so there is a total of 52.0 kilometres (32.3 mi) of underground metro and tram network. There are a total of 69 metro and premetro stations as of 2011.
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The tram route 19 in Brussels, Belgium, is a tram route operated by STIB/MIVB, which connects the Flemish town of Groot-Bijgaarden in the municipality of Dilbeek to the De Wand stop in Laeken in the City of Brussels.
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Line 2 on the Brussels Metro is a rapid transit line in Brussels, Belgium operated by STIB/MIVB. It exists in its current form since April 4, 2009, when the section between Delacroix metro station and Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation was opened, which allowed to close the loop from and to Simonis/Elisabeth. The configuration of the Simonis/Elisabeth metro station though does not allow trains on the line 2 to be able to perform the loop several consecutive times in the same direction, i.e. a train running clockwise from Elisabeth will have to run counterclockwise from Simonis. The two termini of line 2 have thus received different names: originally Simonis (Elisabeth) and Simonis , changed in November 2013 to Elisabeth and Simonis. Between the Yser/IJzer metro station and the Porte de Hal/Hallepoort station, the line runs under the small ring road of Brussels, which is itself built on the former Second walls of Brussels.
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Media related to Simonis metro station at Wikimedia Commons