Brussels public transport authority invests in automatic metros

Brussels public transport authority STIB/MIVB is investing €430 million in 43 new metro trains to make the lines 1 (Weststation – Stockel) and 5 (Erasmus – Hermann-Debroux) fully automatic, without the need for drivers.

The new phase of development will begin in 2019, when the metros will be automatically driven but with a human driver still present. The frequency of metro trains on the two lines will go up to one every two minutes. The process of automation will be complete by 2023, with human drivers no longer present, and frequency increased to one train every 90 seconds.

The transport authority says that the increase in frequency is required to keep up with the expected increase in capacity if passenger numbers grow as they have in recent years. Last year the total number of journeys went up by six million, to nearly 355 million trips.

Earlier this year, STIB/MIVB announced that it was constructing a test-line for driverless metro trains at the new depot planned at Erasmus, adjacent to the railway line Brussels-Ghent. The new line will be 1.2 kilometres long to allow the automatic trains space to accelerate and brake. The new test-line will cost some €50 million.

photo by Oxyman/Wikimedia