Trams in Belgium

As a follow-up to my previous blogs about trams, this time it is trams in Belgium. Marc, thank you for your earlier comment. I understand that the stamp blogs are also read in Belgium. Belgium has issued many stamps with the theme 'tram'. Will you travel along with me through the history of the tram in various cities?

Horse tram in Brussels

A horse tram is a tram pulled by a draft animal, almost always a horse. The use of mules also occurred. In exceptional cases, oxen were also used. From roughly 1870 to 1929, the horse tram was a popular means of transport in many cities and in the countryside in many countries. The horse tram evolved from the horse railway and the omnibus. The horse tram provided a comfortable and inexpensive form of transport for its time. In the early 20th century, the horse tram was displaced almost everywhere by other forms of public transport.

The first horse-drawn tram in the Netherlands ran in 1864 between The Hague and Scheveningen. The first horse-drawn tram in Belgium ran in 1869 in Brussels between the Ter Kamerenbos and the Schaarbeeksepoort.

(Stamp: The horse-drawn tram with passengers. Sheet: Terminus of the horse-drawn tram in Ter Kamerenbos.) In the years that followed, the horse-drawn tram became very popular. In many countries, laws were introduced stipulating that tram lines had to comply with less strict regulations than railway lines. In the Netherlands, in 1878, the Railway Act was even declared inapplicable to simple railway lines, which included tram lines. It was also determined that simple railway lines fell outside state supervision. As a result, it became easy and inexpensive to construct tram lines.  

Electric tram Brussels

In Belgium, the first electric trams ran in Brussels in 1894. Subsequently, these trams also entered service in many other cities in Belgium. Trams also gradually began operating between cities and towns—the so-called neighborhood trams—with electric traction, starting in 1894. However, by no means all lines were electrified.

The tram network, and subsequently the bus network, was thoroughly reorganized in 2007-2008. The primary objective was to better accommodate the growing passenger numbers on a few key axes. The routes of many lines had barely changed over the years and sometimes no longer met current demand. The two focal points of the tram network became the north-south connection in the city center and the so-called "Great Ring," the route along the major ring avenues in the east of Brussels. Both of these routes are entirely (north-south connection) or partially (Great Ring) underground (premetro). The reorganization of the Great Ring was first carried out with tram lines 7 and 25, which are largely operated by modern low-floor trams (types 3000 and 4000).

 

Charleroi Tram

The Métro Léger de Charleroi, abbreviated MLC, is a light rail system in the Charleroi agglomeration, which also includes Fontaine-l'Evêque and Anderlues. Vilette station, including ramps, was the first section to be put into service in 1976. The idea was to gradually transform the tram network into a light metro, but only a portion of the planned metro infrastructure was realized. As a result, a significant part of the network consists of tram infrastructure, and all lines are operated with high-floor trams. The network functions partly as a tram and partly as a metro: the system can thus be characterized as a semi-metro. Although it does not meet the definition of a metro, it is referred to as “Le Métro” by operator Le TEC, with colloquial nicknames such as “métro carolo”.

For a long time, the network was known as a grand travail inutile (great useless work) because part of the network remained unused or even unfinished for a long time, and construction on several previously planned lines never began. In 2012–13, the network was thoroughly reorganized and several extensions were eventually put into service; since then, the network has consisted of 4 lines on a central ring with 3 arms. In 2021, the fifth line (M5) on a fourth arm was announced, partly via an unused route that has been structurally complete since 1986.  

Coastal tram

The Coastal Tram is a tram line along the Belgian coast. The line starts in Knokke, near the border with the Netherlands, and ends in Adinkerke, near the border with France. With a length of 67 kilometers, it was the longest tram line in the world in 2012. The track gauge is 1000 millimeters (meter gauge), and the line is configured for one-way trams. The tram has been operated by the Flemish Transport Company De Lijn since 1991.

In the summer, six trams per hour in each direction run along the entire route. During the shoulder season and the Christmas holidays, the tram runs every 15 minutes, and during the rest of the winter, every 20 minutes. Before 08:00 and after 20:00, approximately two trams run per hour, but in the winter, only one tram runs per hour at those times. During peak hours, extra trams may run between Ostend and Westend. The tram takes approximately 2 hours and 25 minutes to cover the full distance, depending on traffic and any detours at Zeebrugge. The journey via the major bypass bridges is approximately one kilometer longer. Since the 2021-2022 season, the Coastal Tram has been operated by Urbos 100 low-floor trams manufactured by CAF in Spain. These replaced the older BN-ACEC coastal tram vehicles (Series 6000). The new tram type was named 'Zeelijner' (sealiner). The new trams look very similar to the Amsterdam series 3001-3072, but those are slightly shorter.  

<strong> More info: </strong>

Antwerp Tram: https://www.delijn.be/nl/gemeente/antwerpen/ Tram Gent: https://www.delijn.be/nl/gemeente/gent/ Coastal tram: https://www.delijn.be/nl/content/kusttram/ Tram Brussel: https://www.stib-mivb.be/startpagina Charleroi Tram: https://www.letec.be/ The Liège tram is a tram line under construction that, starting April 15, 2025, connects Sclessin, Liège-Guillemins main station, the city centre, Place Saint-Lambert, and Coronmeuse and Bressoux within the city of Liège. See: https://letram.be/ Tram museum Brussel: https://trammuseum.brussels/nl/