View on the platforms of Antwerpen-Luchtbal station, looking northwards towards Antwerpen-Noorderdokken and the Netherlands.This is actually the second station named Antwerpen-Luchtbal, the first was located some 1.5 km further northwards and was in service from 1878 (back then called station Merksem) till March 2003.

As lines 12 and 27A were to be completely realigned with the construction of the Antwerp north-south connection and the HSL Antwerpen-Amsterdam, the first station was closed in March 2003.The new one, pictured here, was opened in September 2003 and has a better location, but its potential as a large interchange station and TGV (!) station in the north of Antwerp has not been used for 100% with only 2 trains stopping per hour off-peak and 6 trains stopping at peak times..

It was also planned to build a station building, but due to financial problems this never came and will never come..