The main railway station serving the Belgian city of Antwerp is the Antwerpen-Centraal Railway Station. It lies adjacent to the Antwerp Zoo in the east of the city and is considered one of the finest examples of railway architecture in Belgium.
The Antwerpen-Centraal Railway Station is renowned for the eclectic architectural styles which influenced its construction, featuring a stone clad terminus building and soaring dome above its waiting room hall. Wartime damage led to its original glass and iron hall being reconstructed with polycarbonate sheets and steel, with the latter painted the distinct burgundy colour seen today. It has since been reconstructed from a terminus into a through-station, with a tunnel excavated below the station and underground platforms added. It currently has four levels, with the first underground storey featuring a famous twin-level escalator which becomes even part way through. Eateries and shops line both sides of the station, while there are rental car agents and hotels right on its doorstep.
Antwerpen-Centraal Railway Station offers high-speed train services to the Netherlands and France, as well as intercity services across Belgium and Germany. Numerous tram, bus and metro lines stop here and connect with destinations across Antwerp, and it’s a short walk into the city centre to the west.
The station building was constructed between 1895 and 1905 on the site of the original terminus of the Brussels-Mechelen-Antwerp Railway and designed by Louis Delacenserie. During World War II bombing, it suffered extensive damage and the impacts are still visible in the wave distortion of the station’s roof today.