In the the mid-1980s, the city of Charleroi started building a metro line. But with half the stations already completed, and the track and signals already in place, construction suddenly stopped. The line never opened. What happened? And how much of it is still there? I travelled to southern Belgium to find out…
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FURTHER READING
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2022/the-surreal-metro-of-charleroi/
IMAGE CREDITS
Charleroi 1960s Metro Plan by Nico Brussels and Dirk Hillbrecht – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metro_Charleroi_60.PNG
Belgian Parliament Building by Oakenchips – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palais_de_la_Nation_Bruxelles.jpg
Waffle Iron by James Starmer – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresh_waffles_still_on_the_iron.jpg
Amsterdam Metro Map by Alargule – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AmsterdamMetroWashingtonStyle_(from_2018).svg
Rome Metro Map by Junge30 – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mappa_della_metropolitana_di_Roma.svg
Charleroi Airport by Fernandopascullo – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aeroport_de_Charleroi_Bruxelles_Sud.jpg
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Nice video, however there's even more crazy backstory as to why that one line never opened, even when it was fully completed. It had to do with Charleroi having two different transit agencies at the time, one for regional and one for urban transit. The lines to Châtelet (and Soleilmont) were built by the regional operator, while the rest of the network including the core section was built by the urban operator. You can clearly see where both sections met, since they couldn't even agree on which sides the trains had to run (!) so they built a crossover halfway the line (clearly visible at 1:44). When the line was finally finished, they were in disagreement about how to operate it since they didn't discuss it beforehand, and so the line couldn't open. The opening was postponed again and again, but eventually an agreement was never met… I can't think of a more Belgian story than this.
I live in Belgium and just looking at this video gives me cringe and i'm feeling ashamed that I live in Belgium hahahha…. luckely I live in Flanders hahahahah it's not better but we don't have a mertro line thats not being used hahahah
FROM TAX MONEY NOPROBLEM
Your explanation about belgian politics is pretty valid. I won't even try how it works these days, I always end up paying anyway lol
The old f-king politicians..it's always someone from politics bite the butt of civilians
Super nice video!! but I'm dying to know the name of the song that starts at 2:55 hahahaha I'm almost sure it is from some videogame or something but I can't remember! If somebody knows please tell me :'(
9:56 Rue d'ANGLETERRE
Belgium, the most corrupt country in the world 🤢
I visited the stations a couple years ago. It’s really weird to see fully built metrostations that we’re never used
There is a good reason the Netherlands thinks so little of Belgium. What a disaster of a country.
Wow that's crazy…
Its kind of calming to know, that my country isn’t the only one that wastes taxpayers money due to stupid politics.
„We are Not so different, you and me“
– the green goblin –
haha no Belgian viewers can't explain Belgian politics better.
we need somebody like shy to go up there and give some proper review
we actually also have a german speaking part…….
Being homeless over there… seems easier than in the US… why can't I ever find any abandoned places to sleep?
I love how Belgium has become a bit of an expression for extremely convoluted and sectarian ways of doing politics. ^_^
5:12 pardon me but as a person from West-Flanders, Felmish people, not only from West-Flanders, do not have a Dutch accent! A Flemish accent is totally diffirent.
My belgian history teacher from my belgian school told us Belgium was born by accident. Indeed it's a train wreck that should be wiped off the face of the earth, like Ukraine.🤣
As a Belgian this makes me feel so ashamed for my country.
https://youtu.be/OfrU0z7oR5E
They did a re-activation run on this line!
most underrated TV program theme so far… had to think what it was for a second I haven't thought about that show since it aired!
All this wonderful discourse in the chat but I just wanna talk about how you dropped that Goosebumps theme on us tho!
Waffle Iron Politics Also had tragic consequences. As the Belgian coal industry ran down in the 1960's all of the pit closures were in Walloonia
This led to significant issues on the old Walloon coalfields. Even talk of a local insurrection.
As a result of this the central government in Brussels panicked.
Deciding to that one of the seven Flemish Kempen pits would be closed. In the event Zwartberg was chosen. At the time in 1966 it was about the most efficient and productive colliery in Belgium.
Not surprisingly this heavy handed action led to a very unpleasant riot.
In which two miners were killed .
Returning to the subject in hand.
In 1987 I went on a visit to the section of the Metro that was under construction then and there were high hopes that the whole system would be fully opened by 1990.
As noted elsewhere there were significant operator issues which at the time were never resolved.
However a visit to the system in 2017 led me to think that the whole system would eventually be opened and a new Tramway/LRT system would be developed.
Who knows what will actually happen.
"Belgian viewers will be able to explain it better"… No, we cant. We just vote for whoever alligns with our opinions the most. Or we start our own party. Or we dont abide and just do our own thing anyway -^-.
I admit, the sudden sneak up of the Goosebumps theme caught me off guard.
As a Dutch living very close to the Belgian border (so I've visited Belgium (Flanders in particular) a lot), I've always been amazed with some things that are only possible due to the odd situation there between Flanders and Wallonia.
But I never imagined it could lead to something like this.
A few years ago, my partner and I were driving around Belgium. We went to Charleroi and before finding somewhere to stay, we promptly got quite lost (not realising before leaving the UK that my satnav didn't work in Europe). We pulled up outside a building that didn't look like a hotel, yet had the word 'hotel' written on it. We popped in, to see if we could stay. It turned out to be a homeless hostel. The lady who ran it, Lorie, explained we couldn't stay, but said she knew of a cheap hotel. She tried to explain its whereabouts, but upon realising how complicated the set of directions would be, she popped into her office and gave us her satnav on the promise that we returned it the next day. An incredibly kind gesture to lend two strangers in good faith something that probably cost a penny or two. We used it to find the hotel, then the following day we went to the coal mine museum (which was fascinating), and the glass museum and then returned it to the hostel, much to the surprise of the majority of the residents, but not to Lorie! Sometimes people remind you that there is kindness in the world! We really could have used that satnav when we were trying to leave Gent…. Jeez!
Knowing the line is fully abandoned, i think it would be cool to walk down the tracks or maybe get a pump cart or something and ride down, taking the chance to explore ALL the stations.
Ils sont fous ces Belges…