Costs climb for major renovation of Brussels-Central metro station

While progress to renovate Brussels-Central metro station is on schedule, it is currently going to cost around €48 million, some €13 million more than expected.

That was the message from Brussels mobility minister Elke Van den Brandt (Groen), replying to a recent written question in parliament from MP Françoise Schepen (Mouvement Réformateur).

In 2022, work began on this station, one of the capital’s busiest, with 53,000 passengers a day, on the basis of a project validated in 2020.

Brussels public transport operator Stib said that the aim was to make the station, which dates back to 1969, more accessible, modern and welcoming.

“Passengers will benefit from a station that is more user-friendly, bigger, brighter and more accessible," Stib said.

"Works of art will embellish the station and the KIOSK sales point will be refurbished."

The surface area of the metro station is being doubled from 1,600m² to 3,500m² on level -1 and from 2,500m² to 4,300m² at platform level -2, which will allow room for more shops.

Each platform will be equipped with a lift for people with reduced mobility and two escalators. There will also be two lifts from the mezzanine level to the surface.

To achieve this, the project requires significant materials, including 590 tonnes of steel and 3,500m³ of concrete. The vast project is further complicated by the fact that the station must remain open and accessible to passengers throughout the renovation works.

“The steel used equates to roughly 36,000 Manneken Pis statues and 30,000 tonnes of earth have been excavated for the expansion, comparable to two-thirds of the Waterloo Lion monument,” Stib said.

But the bill has already risen by about 30% compared with the initial budget. For Stib, the reasons are “quite simple” – in other words the result of “considerable” inflation in the space of five years.

Notably, the price of materials has continued to soar in the wake of the war in Ukraine, at a rate of about 25% per year. The cost of the staff in charge of the work also plays a role in the balance sheet, given repeated salary indexations.

Other factors include the cost of accompanying measures, not only in terms of improving mobility for passengers in the station - which remains operational during the works - but also for pedestrians and motorists on the surface.

These measures include signposting, maintaining the pedestrian tunnel between the metro station and Brussels-Central railway station, and also work on the link between Rue des Colonies and Cantersteen.

The federal government is providing €20 million for the project through Brussels' construction and renovation arm Beliris.

The remaining finance is coming from the Brussels region and Stib. The public transport operator has not yet drawn on the 15% budget reserve set aside for any over-runs.

“At this stage, the works schedule is broadly on track,” added Van den Brandt. “The contractual deadline is 1,200 working days, excluding bad weather. The works began in March 2022 and were scheduled for completion in the summer of 2027 at the earliest.

“To date, in other words, almost exactly halfway through the contractual deadline, the extensions granted for bad weather mean that the works are expected to be completed in autumn 2027.”

Meanwhile, even after that date, construction works will likely continue – as the city of Brussels is planning an above-ground project, including a park, to make an area now largely dominated by concrete greener.