The new £7.5 million, 435 metre viaduct outside Brussels Midi station, places the Belgian capital at the heart of a European wide high speed rail network. Infrabel, (Belgium’s Network Rail equivalent) built the new viaduct which carries two dedicated tracks over 22 other railway lines at the entrance to Brussels Midi and separates high-speed TGVs, Thalys and Eurostars from domestic train services.

The gleaming new infrastructure means quicker journey times for London-bound high speed passengers. The launch of Eurostar services from St. Pancras International on High Speed One, Britain’s first high-speed line, on 14 November 2007 will mean that London-Brussels and London-Paris services run on dedicated high-speed lines from capital to capital. Journey times between London and Brussels will be slashed to just 111 minutes.

A delighted Richard Brown, CEO Eurostar, said, “The new viaduct is absolutely key to the further improvement of services between the UK and Belgium, and in the development of Brussels Midi as a European railway hub for onward connections to the Netherlands, Germany and beyond. We congratulate infrastructure provider, Infrabel and the SNCB Group (Belgian Railways) on the investment and the successful delivery of this project.”