Project owner Beliris - a cooperative venture created jointly by the Federal Government of Belgium and the Brussels-Capital Region – has decided to extend line 3 of the Brussels Metro system. The metro Line 3 project will connect the Evere and Forest municipalities through Brussels in only 20 minutes.   The 10.3 km metro line 3 between Albert and Bordet will have 18 stations.   

The metro Line 3 project is divided in two phases:  

• phase 1 - the existing pre-metro tunnel between Albert station and Gare du Nord has to be upgraded inside the metro tunnel;   
• phase 2 - a new 4.5 km tunnel to be built from Gare du Nord to the Bordet station/Haren depot with 7 intermediate stations.  

The two tunnels will be connected by a new 150 m tunnel beneath the Gare du Nord with rail tracks varying in width from 8.66 m in its current section to 23.1 m. This new tunnel will be used as a post-arrival turnaround for metro trains during the construction phase, while it will handle Metro traffic to Haren in the final phase.    

In March 2021 the Joint Venture BAM Contractors composed of BAM Galere from Chaudfontaine and Soletanche Bachy France from Rueil-Malmaison started works for metro Line 3, with the two P5 and P6 shafts construction using a diaphragm wall of between 1 and 1.2 m thickness.  

Shaft P5 - on the Rue d’Aerschot side - will be used for the dismantling and the exit of the TBM for the future new tunnel. It will remain closed by a temporary slab for the period between its construction and the arrival of the TBM.  

Shaft P6 - on the Gare du Nord side - will provide the interface between the structure beneath the Gare du Nord rail network and the existing Gare du Nord metro station opening. This will enable the transit of STIB (Société de Transport Intercommunale de la région de Bruxelles) metro trains.   

The excavation of the 150m tunnel will start from June 2021. Estimated end of the project will be towards the beginning of 2024.  Click here for a video, be/13 and be/36 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://metro3.be/ and https://www.bamcontractors.be. 17/21.