page_title: Trams in Brussels
section_title: Planned extensions
hierarchical_section_title: Trams in Brussels / Routes / Planned extensions
caption_attribution_description: English: 'Du 9 à Jette' - Advertisement for opening of tramline 9 at 'Miroir' stop, Avenue de Laeken, Brussels, on 1 September 2018
context_page_description: The Brussels tram system is a transport system in Brussels, Belgium. It is the 16th largest tram system in the world by route length, in 2017 providing 149.1 million journeys over routes 140.6 km in length. In 2018, the Brussels tram system consisted of 18 tram lines. Its development has demonstrated many of the quandaries that face local public transport planners. The Brussels tram system also has several interesting peculiarities: the inconsistent route pattern resulting from the closure of the interurban trams, the conflict between low-floor surface trams and high-floor underground trams, and whether the trams run on the right or the left.
context_section_description: In the 21st-century political climate, investment in light rail has again taken off, and a number of extensions to the system are at various stages of fruition.
  Lines 3, 7 and 9 are to be connected at the Heysel/Heizel, and on 20 December 2018, Brussels Mobility Minister Pascale Smet announced that the next two lines to be built, estimated to open in 2024, will run:
  from Place Rogier/Rogierplein to Belgica via Nord/Noord and Tour et Taxis/Thurn en Taxis (seat of the Flemish regional government)
  from Place Rogier/Rogierplein to Hôpital Militaire/Militaire Ziekenhuis in Neder-Over-Heembeek via Van Praet
  The Flemish region, under its Brabantnet plan, intends to build a new line to the north of the city, from Heysel/Heizel to Willebroek alongside the A12 road. Its success will require integration with the existing Brussels regional system; for instance the line will have to be built at standard rather than metre gauge (as the other Flemish trams are).
  Three other suburban/interurban lines had been proposed:
  from Brussels westwards to Ninove
  from Brussels north-eastwards to Heist-op-den-Berg
  from Heizel/Heysel via Vilvoorde to Zaventem airport
  The first two proposals were withdrawn, while the last has been implemented in 2020 as a 'tram-bus'. The Ringtrambus (route 820) from Brussels Airport to Jette opened on 28 June 2020, operated by 14 24-metre double-articulated buses. The initial service is half-hourly, and will be intensified to quarter-hourly on 1 September 2020.
  Other proposals have been aborted. During 2014 and 2015 STIB/MIVB promoted a project to 'tramify' the Porte de Namur/Naamsepoort to Delta section of the overloaded 71 bus route, which carries over 12,000 passengers per day in each direction. The Brussels region supported the proposal, but the municipality of Ixelles/Elsene was against, supported by traders on the Chaussée dÍxelles/Elsensesteenweg who feared the disruption the tracklaying would cause. The proposal was dropped and instead the section from the Chaussée de Wavre/Waversesteenweg to Place Fernand Coq/Fernand Coqplein has been made largely car-free.
  Other outline proposals have been made to:
  extend the 62 to Zaventem airport (with the infrastructure being paid for by the Flemish Region)
  divert the 92 from Rue Royale/Koningsstraat to serve Central Station
  rebuild the east–west link through the city centre from Bourse/Beurs to Place Royale/Koningsplein
  On 18 July 2019 the Brussels government, in its programme for the period 2019–2024, committed itself to set the following additional developments in train: 
  conversion of bus route 95 from Central Station to the university area (partially making up for the failed conversion of route 71)
  extension of route 25 eastwards to serve the Mediapark
  extension of route 7 westwards to Forest (this may include a tunnel under the Parc de Forest/Park van Vorst from Albert, where lines 4, 7 and 51 will terminate when the heavy metro is extended to Albert) and conversion of bus route 49 to form a western ring line
  extension of route 8 northwards to Evere and eastwards to Jesus-Eik
caption: 'Du 9 à Jette' - Advertisement for opening of tramline 9 at 'Miroir' stop, Avenue de Laeken, Brussels, on 1 September 2018
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