Parc metro station (Brussels)

Parc/Park metro station
General information
Location	Rue Royale / Koningsstraat B-1000 City of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
Coordinates	50°50′48″N 4°21′45″E
Owned by	STIB/MIVB
History
Opened	17 December 1969 (1969-12-17) (premetro) 20 September 1976 (1976-09-20) (metro)
Services
Preceding station Brussels Metro Following station Brussels-Central towards Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation Line 1 Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet towards Stockel/Stokkel Brussels-Central towards Erasme/Erasmus Line 5 Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet towards Herrmann-Debroux

Parc (French) or Park (Dutch) is a Brussels Metro station located beneath Brussels Park in central Brussels, Belgium. It has one entrance, at the intersection of the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat and the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, two of the main roads of the City of Brussels.

The station opened on 17 December 1969, as a premetro (underground tram) station on the tram line between De Brouckère and Schuman, and became a heavy metro station on 20 September 1976, serving former lines 1A and 1B. Following the reorganisation of the Brussels Metro on 4 April 2009, it is served by lines 1 and 5, which cross Brussels from east to west.

Several places of interest other than the park itself lie near this station: the Royal Palace, the Belgian House of Parliament (Palace of the Nation), the office of the Prime Minister of Belgium, the Royal Park Theatre, and the United States' embassy.

History

When the station was first built, there was a plan to eventually construct a connecting line along the route of the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat. To provide for this line, a much larger underground space was excavated than necessary for a simple station. The Rue Royale line was quickly cancelled, and the underground chambers intended for it now house the Brussels metro's traffic control centre.

The tunnel between Parc/Park and Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet stations was the first section of the Brussels metro system to be built using a tunnelling shield. This was done as a test; most parts of the Brussels metro having been built using open construction methods.

External links

Media related to Park/Parc metro station at Wikimedia Commons