Exploring Brussels's Premetro System

[@Maxime_K-G]

Finally, someone who says the Dutch names! Usually people always go for French despite Dutch making more sense as it's closer to English and also in many cases the original name. Congrats to you! Thanks for an enjoyable guide to the premetro. This video will serve as a historical document in a few years time!

[@arnaudvbg2716]

both names are valid

[@yagi3925]

Nathan is eigenlijk Nederlander, dus vandaar… Ik ben trouwens franstalig maar gebruik altijd beide namen wanneer ik Engels spreek. Eigenlijk is Brussel zo vefranst geraakt dat een heleboel nederlandstalige Brusselaren in hun eigen taal de Franse namen van straten en stations hanteren ! Eerlijk gezegd, vind ik dat jammer.

[@leonpaelinck]

Escalators can never break! They can only turn into stairs.

[@nathantransitj]

This made me smile :)

[@flitsertheo]

Apparently one reason they "break down" so often is some jokers finding it funny to push the emergency stop button. And I guess staff has to intervene before the escalator functions again.

[@Gbgbgbgb123]

glad the algorithm took me here, great informative video!

[@nathantransitj]

Thanks so much! It’s seems like the algorithm enjoyed this one more for some reason. I’ll have to investigate :)

[@duenjenhsiao3742]

dude, why do you only have like 500 subs? this is amazing work man

[@nathantransitj]

Thank you!

[@hassanialachhab6320]

​@@nathantransitj❤❤❤❤pb y

[@timgatzios430]

Great video! The big issue between Zuidstation and Anneessens isn't really the curve near Zuidstation though, but rather the tunnel near Lemonnier (and the existing level crossing you've shown). The tunnel predates the premetro (Lemonnier was built in 1958 and the premetro Noord-Lemonnier in 1976) and its dimensions are insufficient for a proper metro. The government and the public transit company chose to build a new tunnel around Lemonnier to be able to keep Lemonnier in service during the construction (something they might regret now, since costs are spiralling due to issues with the soil).

[@decastiaux]

The strange jonction at Lemonnier was a post War invention designed in 1956 and 1957. It was not meant to be connected to a pre metro at that time. It was build for the same reason than the huge and unique train tunnel : the Brussels 1958 World Expo (you Can see many videos about it on KZbin). The millions of visitors where expexted to arrive at the train station and get directly to the several tram lines going to the Explo playground (Atomium ecc.). This junction was an exclusivity in the whole world. Now it looks like its age : nearly 70 years old. It's a unique place to sit for 15 minutes at peak hours and watch an incredible number of tram crossing each other at one place🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@alexandrevaernewyck9853]

So many cool stations in Bruxelles, I love close to the city no idea why I watched a video about my local transit system. Too bad you didn’t went to the tram 44 from Montgomery to tervuren which pass through the forest. Also the trains are quite nice I belgium and could deserve some appreciation.

[@nathantransitj]

I love the transit system in Brussels and I have indeed taken the tram to Tervuren Park.

[@waffleslmao159]

this is great man

[@flitsertheo]

" come back in a few years and explore line 3 when it's open" . Don't hold your breath. The construction has encountered a huge problem : the Palais du Midi - Zuidpaleis (reverse that if you are Flemish) . See 7:31 If I remember correctly they encountered stability problems with the soil. Which they try to solve in ways the people living and working there don't like. By removing the Palais/Paleis for instance. This together with other problems is causing huge delays. I think they didn't even start constructing the northern part of the line.

[@glaframb]

Gare du Midi i.e. Midi means noon in French where the sun is located at noon. It's locate in the south direction. Gare du Midi (Noon's Station) = Gare du Sud (South station). In France le Midi is a the region in the south of France.

[@yagi3925]

Yes and the same goes in Italian with “mezzogiorno” and in Hungarian with “dél”. Budapest’s “déli pályaudvar” is both the city’s “South” and “noon” station, just like Brussels’s midi.

[@cabridepirate]

No, the seats are from real leather in the Brussels tram!😁

[@nathantransitj]

Huh! Cool!

[@harrycoplin8414]

This was so confusing when I couldn't find the tram stop at street level at Midi/Zuid

[@nebsu_]

You asked why there are transfer-barriers within stations between platforms: They're mainly placed between tram and metro-line platforms, to ensure that everyone is forced to validate their ticket, as trams (like buses) have no direct enforcement of ticket scanning (Yes you are meant to scan your ticket in the tram, but many simply don't). Hypothetically you could thus use this "flaw" in the system to bypass the metro-station barriers, by catching a tram one stop ahead of your desired metro-station and riding it into the station. Nowadays this obviously isnt possible anymore, as all metro-stations have transfer-barriers at both entrances and exits, technically fixing this flaw. So the question is, why do the transfer-barriers still exist? Well, it's to reduce illegal ridership, but actually also to collect data! Indeed just like the scanners inside buses and trams are a way to messure rider behaviour, the barriers are just another mean to collect data. STIB/MIVB uses it to observe the routes riders take, transfer times, travel times, etc. and make adjustments based on that.

[@jonathanplayssad]

3:09 your wrong they working for Tram 51 they still in under-construction but It’s okay

[@jonathanplayssad]

@youtubeheadquarters2087 yeah about that

[@RaquelsFoodDiary]

Nice video

[@inwedavid6919]

The metro line 3 is nearly canceled, it gors out of budget (like 10x more expensive) and they do it so badly and so much near the surface that they go into basement and have a lot of infiltrations. If it still goes on they will have 11 years of delay, actually the price of the line is estimate a 4.4 billion € instead of something like 500 millions in the beggining.

[@rsn004]

20 years since the project started…

[@Dylan_Lanckman]

rule n1 in Brussels public transport: don't touch the escalator railings. They're filthy.

[@peterkoegler2824]

I come from Brussels

[@ls42nu]

The entire pre metro network should have been transformed to subway long time ago This city is a disgrace

[@leonpaelinck]

No, they should not have torn down half of the tram network. They did it to make room for cars. They could have always added metros later without the extra premetro steps, like amsterdam did

[@glaframb]

Lemonnier, Rogier :the ier the end of French's word sounds like Yeah not year !

[@louisnoirot2429]

No, not really. It sounds exactly like how an English speaker would say “year” however maybe your English isn’t perfect.

[@louisnoirot2429]

Because phonetically there are the same (as in the “ear” in year and “ier” in Rogier). Btw, I am Belgian and perfectly bilingual in French and English.

[@SergioAbarca9]

Belgium doesn’t even exist 😂 Just like Austria. I challenge anyone here to tell me anything going on in any of these 2 fictional places without doing research? And I must add I’m from the Netherlands so I’d hear about it pretty quick.

[@MrSvenovitch]

I hate the Brussels Metro. My gf still lives in Brussels but she moves next year so I'll be happy to almost never use it again afterwards. Brussels is decaying before our eyes. Drug use and population change. A city of despair. High time to move out if you can.

[@leonpaelinck]

No. Brussels has problems but it's better than ever

[@tfoudrare]

​@@leonpaelinckreally depends where you live but for the most part it's great, just the north and south stations earned Brussels the title of "the most dangerous city in Europe"

[@leonpaelinck]

​@@tfoudrarethat's true. I hope those areas get better over time

[@Mega-mo8en]

@@tfoudrare hell nah they aint dangerous broski

[@Mega-mo8en]

its clear that you havent lived here, just pure ignorance in yo comment