The answer is simple: yes, the "Royal Railway Station" in Laken does indeed still exist. It is located between Bockstael Station in the Brussels distict of Laken and Schaarbeek Station. Although dozens of trains still pass it each day it hasn't been used since September 2001, when a special train stopped there to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Belgian railway company NMBS. The then monarch King Albert II and his wife, Queen Paola, boarded a special commemorative train. Since then, the "Gare Royale", as it is popularly known, has been in hibernation.
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Mysterious railway station in Brussels: Does the "Royal Station" in Laken still exist?
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King Leopold II had the Laken Railway Station built in 1877 and gave it the named "Gare Royale" as it is next to the grounds of the Royal Estate. The station was built in the neo-classical style and was designed by the architect Alphonse Balat. It is said that the station was built for two reasons. Firstly, because King Leopold II wanted to receive high-ranking guests there and secondly, because guests arriving by boat via the Brussels-Charleroi canal could also take the train from there.
There are also rumours that the king received the British daily newspaper ‘The Times’ hot off the press at the station each day. The legend has it that a copy of ‘The Times’ was thrown out of the Ostend-Vienna Express every morning. The train was a connecting service with the Ostend-Dover ferry.
Before the construction of the Brussels North-South railway tunnel, express trains between Ostend, Brussels and Germany passed through here.
A listed building?
The last time the "Gare Royale" in Laken was used was on 6 September 2001, when King Albert II and Queen Paola boarded a special train there on the to celebrate of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Belgian railway company NMBS. The train took them the couple of kilometres to Schaarbeek station where they visited an exhibition of historic saloon carriages from royal trains.
Since then, nature has slowly taken over the station has remained unused and the only visitors have been graffiti sprayers and the local fauna. Despite its apparent poor state of repair the station has been it has been a listed building since 1996.
Idyllic location
The "Gare Royal" is idyllically situated on the edge of the Royal Estate in the Brussels District of Laken and can be seen from the Mabru tram stop and also when travelling by train between Brussels-North and Bockstael.
It would be the ideal local for a nice coffee bar or a pub, where walkers, cyclists or even passengers that use the water bus between Vilvoorde (Flemish Brabant) and the centre of Brussels could stop off for a coffee, a pint or an ice cream.
Uncompleted second station
Not far from the "Gare Royal" is a barely visible tunnel leading to a railway station with a platform under the Royal Castle that was never completed. It was also King Leopold II that had this underground railway station built. The railway line runs in a curve along the Van Praetlaan and eventually disappears under the royal estate (old postcard below).
Leopold II wanted to bring other monarchs and heads of state and government directly by train to his home at Laken Castle. His plan was that they would only have to get off the train and walk up the stairs to the royal rooms. However, after Leopold II’s death, his son, King Albert I, cancelled the immensely expensive construction project and the uncompleted underground railway station has become the stuff of legend. Despite what some people claim it is not used by the Royals as a champagne or wine cellar nor is it being used as a mushroom farm.