2023-09-24 13:50:02
Update
September 24, 2023
15:50
The Stib took L’Écho on a visit to the bowels of the future Toots Thielemans metro station where a large-scale construction site is in full swing despite recent difficulties.
Equipped with a helmet and safety boots, you can now walk around the upper levels of the Toots Thielemans metro station, particularly in the future mezzanine where the metro access gates will one day be located. After pouring reinforced concrete into the ground to create side walls with a depth of 30 meters and laying the roof slab, construction teams have moved to the excavation phase since June. This allows you to see the impressive volumes of the station.
Apart from old wooden posts which ran along the old banks of the Senne and some remains of the second wall of Brussels, the construction site has not yet uncovered any incredible remains. The time has come to reinforce the walls in order to excavate the earth on the lower level where the metros will run. Workers have attached a miniature chapel to the wall where a Virgin Mary sits vibrating to the rhythm of construction machines. “It’s probably to feel protected, because excavation sites are delicate due to the movements of multiple machines,” says Carlos Van Hove, director of the Nord-Albert metro program at Stib.
In all, there are no less than 100,000 m³ of earth which will be excavated to bring out under our feet the Toots Thielemans station and its connection tunnels, which also require 50,000 m³ of concrete and 10,000 tonnes of steel for the reinforcements.
©Kristof Vadino
For the record, Toots Thielemans will be the only new station on the Albert-Gare du Nord section which essentially consists of a transformation of the existing pre-metro axis into a metro. This colossal work finds its origin in the technical impossibility of using the existing tunnel by metro between Gare du Midi and Lemonnier. The cause: a too tight turn in which even the trams enter at around ten km/h maximum.
Ensuite, the choice of the route was established according to a strategy of avoiding buildings. Indeed, another option used to be to pass the new tunnel under the islets of Jamar and Woeringen, which are now very densely built. Reason why this scenario which would have led to surface expropriations was ultimately not retained. The consequence being the passage of the metro under the Palais du Midi to join the existing pre-metro axis under the pedestrian area of the center.
Land freezing
The current construction site is divided into three main parts. Partially excavated, the tunnel located under boulevard Jamar becomes increasingly narrow towards the Gare du Midi. “The Jamar tunnel is shrinking because the metros will gradually overlap to reach the platforms located on different floors in Midi station. While in Toots Thielemans station, the metros will be at the same level in both directions,” explains Carlos Van Hove.
In the other part of the tunnel located under the roundregarding temporarily installed to streamline surface traffic, immense stainless steel rods embedded in the wall are already visible. These will be used to inject liquid nitrogen to freeze the earth around the tunnel for trams 51 and 82 while digging the metro tunnel which will cross it one floor below. Scheduled for the end of the year, the use of this soil freezing technique makes it possible to dig with less risk in soils made unstable by the presence of water.
©Kristof Vadino
After in-depth renovation, the Lemonnier station and the Toots Thielemans station will become one, equipped with five different entrances, one of which is located in the only house expropriated for this project. At number 63 Boulevard du Midi, a building which had already served as access to Lemonnier in the 1970s will be rehabilitated. In good condition, the underground connection corridor will be extended to the other side so that travelers can go from the tram to the metro without having to go out.
©Kristof Vadino
The return of the terraces
Return to the surface where the situation will improve for the traders of Avenue de Stalingrad, gutted since the first groundbreaking in 2020. The manager of the restaurant l’Océan asks regarding the size of the sidewalks he will recover from this Monday. “We are going to reduce the footprint of the construction site at the central berm, which will make it possible to reopen a road for vehicles on the even side. And we will open a second road on the odd side in November. It is a temporary arrangement which will relieve some of the traders and local residents. The worst is behind them!“, assures Carlos Van Hove who specifies that there will still be dust and noise pollution.
©Kristof Vadino
Designed by the City of Brussels, the real redevelopment into “rambla” of Avenue de Stalingrad might begin in 2026 when the work will continue only around the Palais du Midi. The redevelopment of public spaces on Boulevard Jamar has just been the subject ofa call for project authors launched by the Brussels Region.
In the end, the Stib believes that it has met its deadlines if we exclude construction stoppages due to covid, but the complications under the Palais du Midi will however delay the entire project. Even by accelerating the urban planning procedures for the dismantling of this building, we will have to wait at least until 2030 for the entry into service of metro 3 on the Albert-Gare du Nord section.
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