FAQ Sneltram A12

Three interregional tram (bus) lines between the Brussels-Capital Region and nearby municipalities in Flanders, the so-called 'Vlaamse Rand', that provide better mobility and opportunities for socio-economic development:

• the Ring trambus from Jette via Vilvoorde and Heizel to Brussels Airport
• the Sneltram along the A12 from Willebroek to Brussels-North Station
• the Airport tram from Brussels-North Station to Brussels Airport

The region's roads are creaking under pressure from cut-through driving. What's more, the number of journeys and traffic is only set to rise in the future. That's why we are not only working on the Brussels Rings itself, but also aim to improve public transport across the region with the Brabantnet's three new lines: the Ring trambus, the Sneltram along the A12 and the Luchthaventram.

The Sneltram will run for a distance of 29 km along the A12 motorway from Fort van Breendonk in Willebroek to the Brussels-North Station. New stops are planned in Willebroek, Londerzeel, Wolvertem, Meise and Strombeek-Bever. The Sneltram will run along the east side of the A12 motorway from Willebroek to Londerzeel and then along the west side of the A12 motoring way from Londerzeel to Brussels. It will then follow the route of tram line 51 through Tour & Taxis and take the new Suzan Daniel bridge over the canal to Brussels-North Station.

> Read more about the route > Watch the video

Het gebrek aan een vlotte openbaar vervoerverbinding tussen Willebroek en Brussel bemoeilijkt het woon-werkverkeer en de vrijetijdsverplaatsingen in de regio. Met de trein moet je omrijden via Dendermonde of Mechelen. Neem je de wagen langs de A12? Dan sta je vaak in de file.

Wie langs de A12 werkt, zal met de Sneltram vlot naar het werk kunnen sporen. Lokale bedrijven zullen dus makkelijker werknemers kunnen aantrekken. Met de Sneltram worden ook het Fort van Breendonk, de Plantentuin van Meise, de Heizel en het centrum van Brussel vlot bereikbaar. Er is bovendien aansluiting voorzien met het ander openbaar vervoer, denken we maar aan de metro, tram en Ringtrambus aan de Heizel of de trein aan het Noordstation.

The lack of a convenient public transport link between Willebroek and Brussels for commuting and leisure travel in the region. By train you have to make a detour via Dendermonde or Mechelen. Do you ever drive on the A12? Then you'll be familiar with the congestion.

With the Sneltram, anyone working somewhere along the A12 motorway will be able to get to work quickly. This will help local companies attract employees. The Sneltram will also whisk you to Fort van Breendonk, to Meise Botanical Garden, Heizel and the centre of Brussels. And it will link up with other public transport, such as the metro, tram and Ring trambus at Heizel, the metro at Belgica and rail at Brussels-North Station.

The Willebroek stop will initially be designed as the line's terminus, but a later extension towareds Puurs, Boom and Antwerp remains possible.

De Sneltram zal t.h.v. het kruispunt Romeinsesteenweg aansluiting vinden met het netwerk van de MIVB.  De MIVB is vanaf dit punt projecteigenaar en werkt het tracé reeds verder uit. Heel concreet plant de MIVB om de stedenbouwkundige aanvraag voor het tracé tussen het station Belgica, in de Maritiemwijk in Molenbeek, via Thurn & Taxis naar het Noordstation nog in het voorjaar van 2024 in te dienen.

• Willebroek - Fort Breendonk
• Londerzeel - At the junction of the railway and the A12 motorway
• Wolvertem - Noorden stop
• Meise - Centre
• Strombeek-Bever (Grimbergen) - Parking C

Within Brussels, the Sneltram will have a stop at Heizel, Jette cemetery, Belgica, Tour & Taxis and Brussels-North Station.

The Sneltram is intended to become a fast public transport link between residential areas along the A12 motorway and between these residential areas and Brussels. Limiting the number of stops and opting for as straight a route as possible will keep the travel time down.

The stops have been carefully chosen on the basis of an analysis of accessibility for pedestrians, cyclists, bus passengers and motorists, among others.

The route of the tram line is final, but the layout of the tram stops and their surroundings is yet to be decided. The area around the stops is still being designed in detail in cooperation with the local authorities.

For this purpose, each municipality has to draw up a municipal SIP (Spatial Implementation Plan). Thanks to the tram, the cycle highway and the Park+Ride zones, these stops will become multimodal hubs for pedestrians, cyclists, public transport and cars alike. The tram's construction will also enhance the public space.

The municipalities of Londerzeel and Meise have already started preparing their SIP. For more information you can contact the municipalities involved.

Exact numbers cannot be given until the stops' design is final. The number of parking spaces will be based on a realistic estimate of expected passenger numbers at each stop.

• Willebroek, at the junction of the A12 and the N183, attracts the most car traffic and will therefore need the most parking spaces.
• The stops in Londerzeel, Wolvertem and Meise are more local in nature. Cut-through driving must be prevented.
• No additional parking spaces are foreseen at the Parking C stop in Strombeek (as Parking C is nearby).

A high-quality cycle highway running parallel to the tram and the A12 will also connect the municipalities involved. Construction of this cycle highway, the F28, is expected to attract larger numbers of cyclists. For this reason, sufficient bicycle parking will be provided. Exact figures can only be given once the design of the staging areas has been finalised.

The initial plans provided for two stops in Londerzeel. In the current plans, we have combined these stops at a strategically chosen point. The new central stop will ensure that everyone in the area is served. This also reduces the travel time by avoiding an extra stop.

When designing the stops, the municipalities will take passenger convenience into account as much as possible.

Shelters and accurate real time travel information for buses and trams will be provided at every stop. Getting on and off at a tram or bus stop will be safer: stops will be separated from passing traffic as much as possible. Where this is not possible, safe crossings will be provided.

In time, the Sneltram will replace the express bus and there will be new local bus lines bringing passengers to the Sneltram stops.

Several cycle routes run along the Sneltram route. And there are several connections to leisure cycle routes and to the F28 cycle highway in the vicinity of the Sneltram route and in the various municipalities.

A number of missing links and safety bottlenecks still have to be eliminated on the F28 cycle highway. Works on the Ring have already completed the section of the cycle highway in Grimbergen and Meise. A connection to the north (towards Willebroek) is planned and will be carried out by the Province of Flemish Brabant.

The quality of the cycling infrastructure along the A12 will be upgraded as part of the Sneltram works.

De fietssnelweg F28 van Brussel naar Boom, wordt in verschillende projecten gerealiseerd. Binnen het project van de Sneltram zullen we de F28 vanaf Londerzeel (t.h.v. het spoor) naar het noorden aanleggen tot aan de N16. Deze fietssnelweg zal liggen tussen de A12 en de nieuwe ventweg langsheen Carré tot aan Distrilog. Door ruimtegebrek kan er geen fietspad aangelegd worden tussen de A12 en het Fort.

De aanleg van het segment van de fietssnelweg tussen Londerzeel en Meise neemt het Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer voor haar rekening. Deze studie werd opgestart begin 2023.

In een vorige fase werd er ook een bijkomende noord-zuid fietsverbinding ten oosten van het Fort overwogen. Na overleg met alle betrokken instanties (gemeente, provincie ...) werd deze verbinding voorlopig als niet essentieel beschouwd. Het fietspad ten oosten van het Fort wordt dan ook niet uitgewerkt in het Sneltramproject.

Ordinary bicycles are not allowed on the bus or tram. You can bring a folding bike (folded) or scooter on the tram for free as long as it isn't in other passengers' way. Safe bicycle parking will be provided at Sneltram stops.

For more information, please visit the De Lijn website (www.delijn.be).

The Sneltram stops are optimally integrated with the road network. They are easy to reach (on foot, by bike, by car, ...). Park&Rides will be provided at most tram stops.

The junctions on the A12 have a bad reputation. These are very busy and confusing junctions where long tailbacks happen daily as well as frequent major accidents.

Improving safety for all road users is the main motivation behind the changes to these black spots. The AWV (Highroad Agency) is responsible for such issues and is already working on plans.

Er worden in dit project geen vrachtwagenparkings voorzien.

Het vrachtwagenparkeren wordt onderzocht op regionaal niveau binnen het samenwerkingsverband Bereikbare Regio door de intercommunale IGEMO.

The Sneltram route runs along the Park of Bever, the Meise Botanical Garden, Domain Terassel, Neromhof, the forest near the Boskapel van Imde, Leefdaal forest, etc.

The Sneltram route will be constructed to fit into the existing landscape as much as possible. Where valuable areas have to make way nonetheless, this loss will be offset with (double) forest compensation. When selecting trees to plant, vegetation will be chosen to enhance the character of the landscape.

Furthermore, the construction of the route provides additional opportunities to protect the environment (e.g. noise barriers).

The route will certainly have an impact on the environment. This is mapped out in an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which thoroughly analyses i.a. aspects of noise, mobility and water. Alternative measures will be proposed for certain interventions that have a major impact on people and/or the environment.

The route will certainly have an impact on the environment. This is mapped out in an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which thoroughly analyses i.a. aspects of noise, mobility and water. Alternative measures will be proposed for certain interventions that have a major impact on people and/or the environment.

Bij de opmaak van het technisch ontwerp van de Sneltram is er bijzondere aandacht gegaan naar waterhuishouding. De aanleg van infrastructuur vereist namelijk de integratie van voldoende buffer- en infiltratiecapaciteit.

Zo hebben we regels voor verhardingen en voor overstromingsgebieden.

Kortom: we voorzien in ontwerp zelfs buffering voor zaken die er vandaag liggen, denk aan een gedeelte van A12 dat richting trambaan stroomt. Er zal dus minder wateroverlast zijn doordat deze volledig zal worden gecontroleerd met grachten, drempels, bufferbekkens...

Bij de opmaak van een milieu-effectenrapport (MER) wordt in de discipline ‘Water’ dit mogelijk effect in detail onderzocht. Eventuele maatregelen zullen blijken uit dit onderzoek.

The Start Note for the construction of the Sneltram was approved in April 2020. The design includes the necessary adjustments to the road infrastructure and the A12's cycle bridges and tunnels. You can find the full Start Note on this page.

A project note will be drawn up in 2021.

While the Project Note is being prepared, the municipal SIPs (Spatial Implementation Plans) will be further developed, including additional planning of the broader stop areas designated by the municipalities involved. Park&Rides and cycle bridges will also be included as possible destinations.

The Start Note and also Project Note have been approved by all authorities involved. The impact on the environment is now being mapped out in an EIA study.  For certain interventions that have a major impact on people and/or the environment, alternative measures will be proposed, such as noise barriers, adapted road surface material or a different speed regime.

The single permit can be applied for together with the project's EIA. We plan to obtain the single permit by mid 2024.

After the permit has been granted and the land has been acquired, the project can be carried out by a contractor.

This contractor will be appointed by means of a public tender procedure on behalf of the Werkvennootschap. The plan is to put this project out to tender via a DBFM procedure (Design, Build, Finance and Maintain) in which the contractor will be responsible for the design, financing and maintenance in addition to the construction. The search for a suitable contractor is planned for 2024.

To realize the project, a large number of land acquisitions will still be required. For the parcels of land to be acquired, a boundary survey and ground surveys will first be carried out.

The aim is to carry out preliminary works during the second half of 2024 in order to start the actual construction of the tramline in 2025.

Op dit moment kunnen we nog geen exacte timing geven voor de exploitatie van de Sneltram A12. We schatten dat de testritten en start van exploitatie ten vroegste in 2028 zullen plaatsvinden.

When the idea of a tram link between Willebroek and Brussels was first expressed, there were reasonable doubts among municipal authorities. Action committees especially feared expropriation. Nevertheless, on 23 February 2018, the Flemish government approved the Regional Spatial Implementation Plan for the A12 express tram. This means that from that date, the space next to the A12 will be definitively reserved for the construction of the Sneltram between Willebroek and Brussels.

Since then, the municipal councils have also approved both the project's launch and project note. In doing so, they have given substantive approval to the route of the Sneltram, the location of the tram stops and the adjustments to the roads for it. Moreover, this support is expressed by a number of mayors and aldermen in this video.

Early this year, municipalities still had doubts about the feasibility of municipal funding of components from the A12 Sneltram project. This is because the realisation of the tram project will also require infrastructure modification under the municipalities' management. Examples include squares, local access roads and local cycle and footpaths.

Minister Peeters and De Werkvennootschap have now given the assurance that all the infrastructure needed to realise the project will be funded by Flanders. Thus, Flanders will invest around 16 million euros within the 448 million euros investment in new municipal infrastructure. Nor will they be relying on the expertise of the municipalities for their maintenance. The Government of Flanders may opt to realise the Brabant network tram projects through a Private-Public Partnership (PPP).

Om het project goed te kunnen ontwerpen, moeten de architecten weten hoe de staat is van de ondergrond. De infrastructuur, zeker de traminfrastructuur, de bruggen en de tunnels moeten stevig kunnen worden gefundeerd in de ondergrond.

Ook details betreffende het grondwaterniveau wordt opgemeten. 

Om de exacte grens te kunnen bepalen tussen het openbaar domein en de percelen van de individuele eigenaars, moeten de landmeters alle gegevens van de percelen kennen. Op die manier kunnen ze exact de huidige en toekomstige grens vastleggen met de zone die nodig is voor de realisatie van het tramproject.

Daarnaast werd de landmeter gevraagd bijkomende opmetingen te doen in Meise om onder meer alle waardevolle bomen te inventariseren. Op basis van deze inventarisatie, zullen we de opties onderzoeken om de impact van de Sneltram op de parktuinen zo minimaal mogelijk te maken.

Infrastructure works inevitably cause nuisance. We will do everything we can to limit this as much as possible and to keep everyone well informed.

As soon as construction of the Sneltram begins, a Nuisance Reduction team will be put together. All those affected will be informed in good time of the various phases of construction and any diversions via residents' letters and newsletters.

> Read more about Nuisance reduction

All of the right information can be found on our website. Follow our facebook page or subscribe to the Sneltram digital newsletter via the link below. This way you can keep up to date with the latest information.

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The Werkvennootschap attaches great importance to consultation. Communication and consultation form one of the key pillars underpinning work on the Ring. That goes for the Sneltram, too. There are no consultation events planned in this phase. A consultation event will be organised, however, following the application for the single permit.

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