My brother is planning a trip to the benelux and Baltic areas for next spring. One link in his plans involves taking a train from Ypres/Ieper to Bruges. Looking up the timetables on DB has been easy, of course. All trains on that route appear to involve a change at Kortrijk; a few with as little as 5 minutes layover, but most with 39 minutes to get to the correct track for the train to bruges. 39 minutes is plenty, but as my family likes to over-prepare, I was hoping to find a station/track map and perhaps some photos of the interior of the station to let them familiarize themselves a little and make the transfer more relaxed. I have never been in this station myself and can't provide any personal information or advice. So I am confident that someone here has gone through Kortrijk station and can give me some useful advice. I doubt there is any station in Europe that some RS poster hasn't been in. So how about it? Ideas/tips?
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I'm recalling this from a distant memory... I think it was a fairly standard station, with 3-4 tracks and an underground walkway connecting the platforms- in short, just like nearly every other station you would find any tertiary city in Europe. What really are they looking for?
Posted by
OP
Reston, Virginia
403 posts
That's exactly what they are looking for....whether the station is a rat maze like the Gare de Lyon or small and manageable with only a few tracks. It sounds as though they should have no problem coming in on one track, going up to station level, checking the board, and then going down to the correct track. Do you happen to remember if there was a large overhead departure/arrival board or just little signs at the head of escalators down to each track platform? Thanks for your help!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33850 posts
Its not much help, but the Belgian train system fact sheet is at http://hari.b-rail.be/infsta/InfoStation.aspx?StationId=1000649&lang=3 I have never been to that station. Google gives me a flickr photo at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bm1/4530439018/ and Panoramio has http://www.panoramio.com/photo/29228481 and http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSaWsQbuD-JUDV_BIahkZoQhTog_UELp-8l6iNmCR72WgJZA4sfSw There's also http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ2TPy0k-BlfvIzVFG_QTpBeUMjn6h3tV1WvIxULNJEarOt0CG1hQ
Posted by
OP
Reston, Virginia
403 posts
Thanks, Nigel and Tom!
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"Do you happen to remember if there was a large overhead departure/arrival board or just little signs at the head of escalators down to each track platform?" Sorry, my memory is not that good.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, US
2 posts
Hello I was in this train station a few weeks ago. I only arrived there so I can't remember if there was a big board or not but it is like the previous responder said, a small station with just a few tracks and one main tunnel connecting all the tracks. A short connection shouldn't be too much of an issue. You can look up the trip on the Belgian railways site and it should tell you the exact track number so you can know in advance. I used this for several trips in several different Belgian station over the past few weeks.
Posted by
OP
Reston, Virginia
403 posts
thanks!