Description

One of ProRail's 7 major station projects.

Under the project name 'Via Breda', a new public transport terminal will be built in Breda over the next few years. ProRail is realising this striking new station building that will be ready in 2012. As the only city in Brabant with a connection to the high-speed train, Breda will then be the 'Gateway of Brabant'. Anyone who wants to travel into Europe by train from Brabant will travel via Breda. 'Via Breda' is therefore the name under which a new urban district next to historic Breda will be built over the next 20 years. The new public transport terminal to be built by ProRail is a defining feature of this.

The 'new' Breda will be built on and around the site of the old station. The railway zone still divides Breda into a northern and a southern part. Around the railway are old residential areas, factory complexes and abandoned railway yards. This makes the area one of the great urban planning challenges in our country.
In 2000, the Breda railway zone received the status of New Key Project. This allows the city to develop into an attractive business location, from where the major European centres are within easy reach. ProRail ensures that Breda railway station becomes a modern public transport hub.

DESCRIPTION
Breda is strategically located between the Randstad and the Flemish Diamond (Antwerp, Brussels, Mechelen and Ghent). Its central location makes Breda a good business location. This also increases transport in the region. To facilitate this growth, the city is undergoing a metamorphosis. With the public transport terminal as the hub, eight new residential districts will be built in twenty years.

The new terminal will connect the city districts on both sides of the railway. The current, narrow tunnel under the station between north and south, gives way to a spacious and wide underground passage. Both the front and the back of the new station will feature attractive and conveniently arranged squares, avenues and water.

The new station to be built by ProRail will be a true transport hub. In the design, all forms of transport such as train, bus, taxi, car and bicycle will come together under the roof of the new building. Motorists park on the roof and from there take the escalator to the platform of the high-speed train to Rotterdam. The station building will house shops, offices and flats.

A BUILDING FOR THE CITY
Architect Koen van Velsen presented his design of the new Breda station in 2007 under the name "A building for the city". Besides a train and bus station, hospitality and retail space, the building contains 21,000m2 of offices, 147 homes 4,300 bicycle spaces and 720 parking spaces. The main components of the station building are the sunken lobby under the tracks that connects directly to the platforms, the bus station, the roof that covers the entire building, and the two squares on the north and south sides that lie in the shelter of the building parts in which shops, catering, offices, and housing are o

Speaker(s)

Ir. Geert Koppes, Project Engineer ProRail

SPECIFICATIONS
Maximum number of participants: 40.

Location

NS Station Breda (gathering: rear of station

car park, end of Oude Terheijdenseweg

Organiser

Southern Region

Name and contact details for information

Further information from ing. Gidi van Heijst, tel: 06-55744063.