2023-10-01 06:49:00
At the beginning of August, a 17-year-old teenager lost his life in Ganshoren, hit by a train on the level crossing on rue Vanderveken. A year earlier, another fatal accident at the level crossing on rue Nestor Martin, a few meters away. Two tragedies, which shook the town to the north-west of Brussels.
At the last municipal council of Ganshoren, young people came in numbers to express their sorrow and demand the removal of these last two level crossings in the Brussels Region. There were around fifty of them, two of them spoke.
Drama in Ganshoren: no removal of the last two level crossings in Brussels “in the short or medium term”, to the chagrin of the municipalities, “there is an emergency”
“Sadly, we have witnessed two heartbreaking tragedies in just one year, resulting in the tragic loss of Ousmane and Saad. Two lives lost, two young minds broke, in the space of a year. Do we have to wait for even more human losses before concrete measures are taken? The repetition of such tragedies is a cruel reminder of the urgency of the situation.”
A petition with more than 500 signatures
Their petition has collected more than 500 signatures. The young people are demanding “immediate and effective measures”, namely the removal of passages and security measures pending their removal. Supporting the collective, councilor Khadija El Mahyaoui (independent, elected on Michèle Carthé’s list) calls for the multiplication of light and sound signals, as well as the installation of barriers.
Accidents at level crossings: 32 accidents and 11 deaths in 2022
”This question is full of common sense. It’s a strong signal,” immediately comments Mayor Jean-Paul Van Laethem (Les Engagés), who has also already called for the end of this level crossing.
“However, we do not have control, and that is frustrating,” he says, recalling that these passages are the responsibility of Infrabel. The rail network manager told us last summer that he wanted to remove these passages but was not able to do so “in the short or medium term”, particularly due to the complexity of the places “nested into the urban fabric”.
However, a meeting took place following the tragedy. “We don’t want to go through that once more. Things have to move,” assures the mayor. Awareness raising will take place soon to invite residents to use the new pedestrian bridge recently inaugurated, instead of the level crossings.
The passage over the Ganshoren railway accessible at the end of March, the footbridge at Berchem station from the end of the week
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