Brussels will have a new airport tram line by 2031, connecting NATO headquarters in the city’s Haren neighbourhood with the capital’s main aviation hub, Zaventem Airport. The development, originally touted for 2028 and approved by Urban.Brussels and Flanders authorities in summer 2023, is part of broader ‘Werken aan de Ring’ infrastructure work to make the automobile-dominated 1970s Brussels Ring Road more friendly to sustainable forms of mobility.
Highlighting the benefits of the new line for both flyers and commuters around the city, Brussels Airport CEO Arnaud Feist, said, “The new airport tram line will further facilitate the connection between Brussels and the airport for travellers and employees alike”. He also noted that the project “is fully in line with our strategy aiming to expand public transport to and from the airport and make the transfer between different means of transport even more efficient.”
Mobility and “liveability” around the Brussels ring road
Enhancing mobility and “liveability” for residents near and on the ring road is a major priority for the Flemish government but infrastructure projects in and around the Belgian capital sometimes gain a reputation for financial, legal and technical complexity thanks to the multiplication of different regional powers involved. However, out of their former multiple agencies, the Flemish created De Werkvennootschap, (literally The Work Company) to coordinate and integrate the needs of various stakeholders and attempt to accelerate improvement work.
Flemish mobility minister Annick De Ridder (Flemish nationalist N-VA) has highlighted the fact that the new tram line “will connect several business zones and residential areas in Machelen and Zaventem with the airport and Brussels-North railway station.”
Six new stops and 13km of cycling infrastructure
The new portion of the tram line will run four kilometres along the Boulevard Leopold III and offer six new stops as well as connecting to the existing tram network within the city’s ring road. Two local train stops near the airport (Diegem and Zaventem) will also become more accessible thanks to the route.
The work, which is expected to take up to six years with a total cost estimated at €240 million, will also provide 13 kilometres of new cycling infrastructure, in addition to new green spaces. It will begin at the end of 2025, authorities say, with the construction of a tram and cycle viaduct over the Brussels orbital ring road in Machelen (Flemish Brabant), that appointed contractors BeSix promise will be “the most striking feature” of the route.
