Metro Brussels North

The new metro Brussels North is an extension of Metro Line 3 in northern direction and consists of a 4.5km long double track bored tunnel (outer diameter 10m), 7 underground stations and underground maintenance facility at the end of the Line.

Project description

The metro runs through a densely populated and confined part of Brussels. The integration of a number of the underground stations in the urban environment is very challenging and requires a.o. the under-passing of sensitive historic structures (such as the town hall of Schaarbeek – see figure above), rail- and tramlines and / or staged construction to limit the disruption of main traffic flows in the city centre. Amongst others, the challenging designs require technologies such as pipe jacking under the structures, special building wall concepts constructed in confined spaces, grouting and freezing technologies etc.

Scope of work

TEC was assisting one of the bidding consortia to evaluate the stations boxes from a risk and value engineering perspective. Based upon three typical stations (Station Linde – relatively standard, and the much more complicated station Colignon underpassing the town hall of Schaarbeek and station Verboekhoven (see figure right)) various design assessments were undertaken. For the complicated station advanced non-linear staged FE analyses were made using Plaxis and DIANA 3D.

Download the specification sheet