On the 18th April , the SNCB organized the event 'Open Spoortunnel'.... you could make a walk in one of the 2 tunnels which connects station Antwerp-Central with station Antwerpen-Dam , and is a part of the future High Speed Link to the Netherlands.
Because of safety reasons , there were groups of 300 persons , the next group of 300 persons followed 5 minutes after the first group and so on ..
Some facts about the tunnels : They were drilled in only 5 months , then precasted concrete tiles were placed to guarantee the stability of the tunnel.The tunnel lies 20m beneath the ground , under the streets of Antwerp..
In 2006 the tunnel(s) will be ready to recieve Thalys Paris-Brussels-Antwerp-Amsterdam , IC N Bruxelles-Midi - Noorderkempen TGV , IR Brussels-Breda , and IC Brussels-Amsterdam trains ..
There will be no freight traffic in the tunnel , only passengers , with the speed of 90 km/h.15/04/2004 Photo ©2004 Denis Verheyden (msts_2@hotmail.com).Photo taken with a Canon Powershot A70 digital Camera.