Antwerp-Central Station Layout

Antwerp-Central Station Layout (Gare d'Anvers-Central)

The station has four levels and 14 tracks arranged as follows:

• Level +1: The original station, six terminating tracks, arranged as two groups of three and separated by a central opening allowing views of the lower levels
• Level 0: Houses ticketing facilities and commercial space
• Level −1: 7 m below street level, four terminating tracks, arranged in two pairs separated by the central opening.
• Level −2: 18 m below street level, four through tracks, leading to the two tracks of the tunnel under the city (used by high-speed trains and domestic services towards the north).

Antwerp-Central Architecture

The station is widely regarded as the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium, although the extraordinary eclecticism of the influences on Delacenserie's design had led to a difficulty in assigning it to a particular architectural style. In W. G. Sebald's novel Austerlitz an ability to appreciate the full range of the styles that might have influenced Delacenserie is used to illustrate the brilliance of the fictional architectural historian who is the novel's protagonist. Owing to the vast dome above the waiting room hall, the building became colloquially known as the spoorwegkathedraal ("railroad cathedral").

The originally iron and glass train hall (185 metres long and 44 metres or 43 metres high) was designed by Clément Van Bogaert, an engineer, and covers an area of 12,000 square metres. The height of the station was necessary for dissipating the smoke of steam locomotives. The roof of the train hall was originally made of steel.

In 2009, the American magazine Newsweek judged Antwerp-Central the world's fourth greatest train station. In 2014, the British-American magazine Mashable awarded Antwerp-Central the first place for the most beautiful railway station in the world.

Antwerp-Central In Popular Culture

A staged "flash mob"-like event at the station in early 2009, featuring the song "Do-Re-Mi" from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music, became a viral video. It was performed by 200 dancers of various ages, along with several dozen waiting passengers who just jumped in and joined the dance themselves. The video was produced to publicize Op zoek naar Maria, the Belgian TV version of the BBC talent competition programme How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, about the search for an actress to play the lead role in a stage revival of The Sound of Music.

The station is used in Agatha Christie's Poirot episode "The Chocolate Box" to represent a station in Brussels.

The beginning of Austerlitz, the final novel of the German writer W. G. Sebald is set in the station.

Antwerp-Central Railway Station Overview

Antwerp-Central Location:
Koningin Astridplein,
2018 Antwerp
Belgium
Antwerp-Central Coordinates: 51°13′02″N 4°25′16″E
Antwerp-Central Owned By: NMBS/SNCB
Antwerp-Central Operated By: NMBS/SNCB
Antwerp-Central Line(s): 12, 25, 27, 59
Antwerp-Central Platforms: 8 (24)
Antwerp-Central Tracks: 14
Antwerp-Central Platform Levels: 4
Antwerp-Central Station Code: ANTC
Antwerp-Central IATA Code: ZWE
Antwerp-Central Opened: 11 August 1905