Route
From Brussels South station, trains travel northwards through the Brussels-Central and Brussels-North stations. At Schaarbeek the line splits in two; the eastern branch continues to Liège and the German border, the northern branch towards Antwerp and the Dutch border. Between Brussels and Antwerp (47 kilometres), trains travel at 160 kilometres per hour on line 25N and then the upgraded existing line 25 (with the exception of a few segments where a speed limit of 100-120 km/h is imposed).
In Antwerp, a tunnel has been constructed underneath the city to permit high-speed trains to run directly through Antwerpen-Centraal to the new high-speed line north, an extension of line 25 until Luchtbal station, after which line 4 (HSL 4) starts. Trains enter the 1.5-kilometre long, two-tube tunnel past Berchem at 90 kilometres per hour. They exit the tunnel at 40 km/hour, it seems due to stability and infiltration concerns.
The line surfaces at Antwerpen-Dam as line 25, and after crossing the Albert Canal, crosses the existing Antwerp-Essen line at 120 km/h. At the E19/A12 motorway junction, trains leave the regular line to run on new dedicated high-speed tracks to the Dutch border (40 kilometres away) at up to 300 kilometres per hour. The route parallels the E19 motorway until the border, which has required the building of several bridges.
The line passes through Schoten, Brasschaat, Brecht, Wuustwezel, and Hoogstraten, before crossing the border into the Netherlands and connecting to the Dutch HSL-Zuid.
Read more about this topic: HSL 4
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