Charleroi Pre-metro
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The Charleroi Pre-metro (Métro Léger de Charleroi) is a 25 km network, consisting of a mixture of underground (including 9 underground stations) and elevated sections in central Charleroi and surface lines with separate right of way in the suburbs. Four tram routes (54, 55, 88, 89) operate over these 1000 mm rail gauge lines. It was originally intended to evolve eventually into a full metro, simlar to the Brussels Metro or German Stadtbahns (light railways). The system is operated by TEC, which is responsible for all public transport in Wallonia.
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[edit] History
It was planned in the 1960s as a 48-km light rail network, operating on heavy rail metro infrastructure, consisting of eight lines radiating from a central loop downtown. However only one line (to Petria), part of another line (to Gilly), and three-quarters of the loop were actually built and opened to traffic, all between 1976 and 1996. The high costs of construction, together with a decline in Charleroi's traditional "smokestack" industries, and questioning of the scope of the whole project in proportion to the actual demand for it, are all cited as reasons for the original plan going unfulfilled.
[edit] Future plans
Completion of the central loop and the Gilly line to Soleilmont are planned within the next five years. Part of another branch (to Châtelet) was fully completed but never placed in service, and is unlikely ever to be opened or completed.
