Strong investments to improve Brussels Airport rail accessibility

Infrabel, the infrastructure manager of the Belgian railway network, has invested strongly in the extension of the railway capacity towards Brussels Airport. An important project in this respect is the construction of the Diabolo, which will be realised with private capital by the specifically set up project company, Northern Diabolo NV. In an interview with Global Railway Review, Luc Lallemand, CEO of Infrabel, speaks about the challenges, strategy and Infrabel’s investment related to this Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The Diabolo is an underground railway connection between the Brussels-National-Airport station and the future railway line from Schaerbeek to Mechelen along the central reservation of the E19 motorway. This opening up of the northern railway network (Diabolo) is the next step in improving accessibility at Brussels Airport thanks to a connection with the Brussels – Mechelen – Antwerp route.

A first step was the Nossegem curve, which has been linking the airport with the Brussels – Leuven – Limburg – Liège route (L.36) since 11 December 2005. Thanks to Diabolo, the airport underground station will be directly connected to the major arteries of the Belgian railway network and various European cities, via the Frankfurt – Liège – Brussels – Paris route and the Amsterdam – Antwerp – Brussels – Paris route.

Public Private Partnership (PPP)

The Diabolo will be implemented through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) set up by Infrabel together with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as legal advisor and La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild acting as financial advisor. On 28 September 2007, the various parties of the PPP finalised the financial closing. After a long selection and negotiation procedure, the group of investors composed of Babcock & Brown and HSH Nordbank AG are selected as private partner for this project.

Besides the financial closing of this PPP, the building contract has also been awarded. The construction consortium THV Dialink consisting of CEI-De Meyer, MBG, Wayss & Freytag, VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Smet Tunnelling are charged with the construction side of Diabolo. Since the beginning of the procedure, there has been a clear separation in the tender dossier between the financing and construction. After separate negotiations with candidate construction consortiums and investors based on technical specifications of the project and the submitted tenders and dossiers, the aforementioned partners have been selected.

Northern Diabolo NV

The Diabolo project will be realised by the project company Northern Diabolo NV, which was set up in September specifically for this purpose. This private entity is responsible for designing, financing and building of the infrastructure. The private partners bear the building risk (respect for the building cost and the imposed term of construction) and the demand risk (receipts). During 35 years, the company will put the infrastructure at the disposal of Infrabel. After this period, Northern Diabolo NV will transfer property of the infrastructure to Infrabel in 2047.

During that 35-year period, Northern Diabolo NV will be able to benefit from the following sources of income (laid down in the Act of 30 April 2007), which will allow the company to cover the costs:

• A supplement charged to the individual passenger for every trip with Brussels-National-Airport station as a destination or point of departure (excluding home-work traffic).
• The price of this supplement currently amounts to approximately €3.8 per trip and will increase or decrease in proportion to the general price levels)
• An annually indexed contribution from Infrabel of €9 million
• An annual contribution from the rail operators (0.5% of the fare receipts ‘Domestic Passenger Traffic’).

Construction of Diabolo

Besides the railway infrastructure, Northern Diabolo NV will also realise roadworks in agreement with and on behalf of the Flemish Region. The complex of motorway entries and exits in Machelen will be completed by the Flemish Region and a viaduct will also be built centrally on the Luchthavenlaan between the bridge over the E19 and the Brucargo site. Infrabel, as a subcontractor of the construction consortium, is building the specific railway technology and will be charged by Northern Diabolo NV during 35 years with the maintenance and renewal works of the entire Diabolo infrastructure which will be paid by the private company.

The railway works include the extension of the existing underground station, the completion of a bore-tunnel (two single-track tunnel tubes of 1,070 metres each), the underground train path of the ‘Brucargo’ industrial retail park, several underground junctions with the E19 motorway and the construction of the access ramps to the E19’s central reservation for the connections along the new line from Schaerbeek to Mechelen. That connection will be realised through an underground railway branch in Machelen.

Planning of works

At the end October 2007, the construction consortium commenced the Diabolo building works. The preparatory works (laying of railway bedding) for the construction of the new railway line from Schaerbeek to Mechelen (line 25N) already started in July 2007. At the end of 2010, the construction works for the Diabolo and the 25N line will be completed, after which railway equipment, overhead contact lines and signalling works can be carried out in 2011. The railway infrastructure of Diabolo and the Schaerbeek to Mechelen line will be tested from the beginning of 2012 onwards.

By mid June 2012, Diabolo will be commissioned, as will the new railway line between Schaerbeek and Mechelen along the central reservation of the E19. In Schaerbeek, this new railway line will link up with the lines in the direction of Brussels and in Mechelen it will link up with the line to Antwerp. Along the route of the new 25N line, Infrabel will also adapt seven existing bridges and in Mechelen, the railway infrastructure manager is building a new bridge over the E19.

Railway investments for better accessibility of the Airport

The total investment for the Diabolo project amounts to approximately €540 million and relates to the part realised via a Public Private Partnership and the part realised by Infrabel. Infrabel will put in approximately €250 million with an investment allocation from the government for the implementation of the overground railway line along the central reservation of the E19. The other part of approximately €290 million for the construction of the underground railway line, will be realised and financed by the private partner.

In addition to Diabolo and the Nossegem curve, (?20.8 million), which has already been implemented, Infrabel has also invested in different railway infrastructure and that has an important impact on the airport’s accessibility. It is the four-track line between Brussels and Leuven (investment of €670 million) and the railway curve of Leuven (investment of €17 million). Both types of infrastructure were already made available to the railway operators back in December 2006.

PPP as part of the Infrabel Strategy

The aim of these well thought-out investments is a gradual accessibility improvement of the Brussels Airport by rail and a link of the Brussels-National-Airport station with the national and European networks. Brussels Airport will be one of the best-served airports by rail in the world by 2012.

With the Diabolo project, Infrabel simultaneously provides a further capacity expansion of the Belgian railway network, which fits perfectly with the development of its efficient and sustainable mobility policy. Moreover, Diabolo will have a massive impact on the economic development of the airport and its surroundings and will create plenty of additional jobs.

A Public Private Partnership for such an extensive and complex mobility project like Diabolo is an absolute scoop for Belgium and a reference for similar projects1 in the European arena.

References

1. The negotiations for a PPP related to a different important Infrabel project, the Liefkenshoek railway link in the port of Antwerp (Global Railway Review Issue 5, 2007), are currently ongoing. This procedure should be concluded by the summer of 2008, after which the works for the new railway connection underneath the Scheldt in the autumn of 2008 would be able to go ahead.

About the author

Luc Lallemand

Mr. Luc Lallemand is currently CEO of Infrabel and Chairman of the Management Committee. Mr. Lallemand has a Bachelor seamanship and certificate of officer of long trade navigation. Mr. Lallemand is also a Commercial Engineer. He has worked in various organisations including Financial Advisor with the Department of Treasury at SNCB, Deputy Principal Private Secretary with the Cabinet of the Vice Prime Minister and Chief Financial Officer of SNCB between 2002 and 2004. Mr. Lallemand holds the position as Director with De Post, Vinçotte, Eurostation and Chairman of the Board of Directors with TUC RAIL.