The 15-kilometre link is scheduled to go into service this Monday, but the line was given a first lap on Saturday morning, with a special driver. King Philippe took the controls of the tram to inaugurate line 10 this Saturday alongside the Brussels authorities.
To serve Neder-Over-Heembeek, five kilometres of rails had to be installed between the Heembeek stop and the Military Hospital. Ten new stops were also created. The project, launched in 2018, took six years, but construction was completed in record time, as the new route was installed in less than two years.
After a first departure from the Military Hospital this Saturday morning, the tram stopped at Place Peter Benoit, where many local residents had gathered.We came to meet the king, we find it funny to see him arrive by public transport”explains Chantal, a resident of the neighborhood for many years.We are happy to see that Neder-Over-Heembeek has not been forgotten.”
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For Pierre, this line is synonymous with liberation.”Before, we had to walk to Heembeek or take several buses to get to the city. Now, the tram stops in front of my house and drops me off in the centre.”
Other local residents, however, do not share this opinion.The tram takes up all the space on the street. If it stops because of a problem, the whole neighborhood is stuck and we won’t be able to get to the city.” The STIB, however, wants to reassure residents.The bus lines will continue to run in Neder-Over-Heembeek and in the event of a tram stop for technical reasons, we will deploy T-Buses, as we do across the entire network if necessary.”assures Cindy Arents, spokesperson for the STIB.
On Place Peter Benoit, several shopkeepers were not jumping for joy when they saw the tram arrive, and did not join the crowd to try to shake King Philippe’s hand.This tram is the death of our businesses”underlines the manager of a bookstore.We’re going to see a loss of customers because they’ll be able to get to the centre quickly and easily. They had to remove some parking to run the line and that creates noise. We’ll have to see how it goes, but I’m not sure this tram is such a good idea.”
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