Old wooden escalator at Brussels-Central station to reopen

The wooden escalator between Brussels-Central station and the Horta Gallery will reopen soon after a year of being closed.

The Brussels escalator is not made entirely of wood like the one at the Sint-Annatunnel under the Scheldt in Antwerp and is also not protected as heritage.

But Horta gallery owner Anthony Huerta said the escalator was nevertheless a special piece of infrastructure.

“It was constructed in 1951, just before the opening of Central Station,” Huerta told Bruzz. “It’s one of the last wooden escalators in Brussels.”

Its age and construction materials are also why it breaks down quickly, he added, especially with intensive use. Most recently it was out of service due to a missing part and required a specialist to assist with repairs.

The escalator is now said to be repaired, with several parts having been replaced in recent months but one remaining electronic issue remains, which the maintenance company said would be fixed in the coming days.

“The custom-made essential parts will be delivered by mid- or end-March,” Huerta said.

“Most of the mechanical parts for these escalators are no longer manufactured, which sometimes makes the repairs particularly complex and time-consuming, as they have to be remanufactured from worn parts.”

Huerta hopes both escalators will be fully operational by the end of March.

He responded to complaints about the lengthy amount of time the escalator has been out of service by explaining that he faced price gouging when it came to needed parts.

“Many people think SNCB is responsible [for maintaining the escalator], but the management is in our hands, a private player,” Huerta said.

“The repairs are expensive and take time. The needed part was offered to us for €40,000, almost 10 times the actual price. As a result, the total renovation cost ran to more than €70,000. Given the actual cost we found out, this looked like overcharging, so I had to find another supplier.”

Huerta said that the process took several months.

“Although this is just one of many entrances to the station, we fully understand that some commuters are inconvenienced by this,” he said.

“Nevertheless, we have always continued to work on restoration. I also want to emphasise that these escalators were stationary for years before our takeover. We restored them and they functioned almost continuously until last year. Now they have been thoroughly renovated.”

Huerta also noted that the gallery used to see far fewer travellers before he acquired it seven years ago.

“Let's not forget that the gallery was empty for decades – for 30 years virtually nothing happened there,” he said.

“Now it’s bustling again: there is finally activity. We brought an abandoned gallery with an occupancy rate of 30% to 100% within three years, and since then it has welcomed some 300,000 visitors a year with various activities.”

The Horta Gallery currently houses three tenants: the Comic Museum, the C12 nightclub and an exhibition space for immersive exhibits.

There was once talk of installing the Bruseum, a digital art museum dedicated to Brussels, in the main hall with the escalator to serve as a grandstand for the projection of a film about Horta, but that idea has been on hold for several years.

“What matters most now is that the escalator works again,” Huerta said.

“The Bruseum project as I had proposed it could not be realised due to the specific features of the building. But the idea of bringing modern ways of experiencing culture together with heritage remained and found its audience.

"The main goal was to transform a dying place with little appeal into a cultural and tourist destination, and today it has succeeded."