"Richard" a écrit dans le message de
...
On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 19:27:14 +0100, "Alan \(in Brussels\)"
wrote:
It's not too late - line 3 (partly down the tunnel formerly occupied by
the
river Senne beneath the central boulevards) is still tram-only (now with
platforms on both sides of each track at the busiest stations, as part of
the upgrade for wheel-chair access) and will remain so even when the next
batch of trams are delivered. See the STIB's web site for the current
network plan etc. (www.stib.be ). IIRC you could take a Eurostar day-trip
and visit Transpole ( www.transpole.fr ) en route too...

Have they improved any of the stations as part of the work to provide
access to the other platform? I was last there almost a year ago and
it wasn't an inviting travelling environment. The metro stations
seemed better, in general.

Well, yes, most Metro stations are rebuilt former subterranean tram halts...
But the halts on Line 3 have been improved in the course of providing access
to the central island platform - and indeed ISTM that the former presence of
the incomplete central island (dusty and unlit) was largely responsible for
the impression described above.

Brussels seems to have many odd bits of
line, I found a web page about them once but can't find the link. It
illustrated the Belgian technique of starting to build something then
losing interest (Antwerp, Charleroi...) or money. I didn't know the
tunnel used to be the path of the river, that's interesting.

AFAIK this 'technique' is often the consequence of the fragmentation of
decision-making (and the associated budgets) which means that it takes
forever to get all parties to agree, and commit spending, on any major
project. So such projects get implemented in stages. And typically, it's eg
cheaper per km to do all tunnelling as one stage (once the equipment and
work team is assembled), even if some parts aren't needed immediately
afterwards. This also helps keep experienced work forces employed
continuously, which is more efficient then hiring and firing inexperienced
people from one job to the next. Of course, the local political consensus on
long-term planning priorities helps minimise investment on work that becomes
redundant before it's been amortised ;-)

I would look at the STIB site but I object strongly to all that bolx
about forbidding anyone from linking to their site without permission.

Don't worry about that (unless you want to provide deep hyperlinks to it
from a web site).

Regards,

- Alan (in Brussels)