Tram systems in Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Hainaut. It stands on the River Sambre and is the largest city in Wallonia by population.
The city developed into one of Belgium's principal industrial centres during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Coal mining, iron and steel production, glassmaking and engineering shaped both Charleroi and its surrounding communities. Although the decline of heavy industry brought considerable economic and social change, former industrial sites and buildings remain prominent features of the urban landscape.
Charleroi-Central is the city's principal railway station and is served by intercity and local trains to destinations including Brussels, Namur and Mons. Charleroi-Ouest provides a second railway station close to the city centre.
Brussels South Charleroi Airport lies to the north of the city and is not served directly by the light metro. Bus services connect the airport with Charleroi-Central and other destinations. Most local public transport is operated by TEC and consists of an extensive bus network together with the light-metro system described below.
Charleroi has a metre-gauge light-metro network known locally as the Métro Léger de Charleroi or Métro Carolo. It combines underground stations, viaducts and segregated surface alignments with sections that retain more traditional tramway characteristics.
Four lines, numbered M1 to M4, operate around a central loop and serve three principal branches. Lines M1 and M2 use the western route towards Anderlues, line M3 serves the northern branch through Jumet to Gosselies, and line M4 runs northeast through Gilly to Soleilmont.
Charleroi's first horse-drawn tramway opened in 1881 between Charleroi-Sud railway station and Rue de l'Écluse. Another undertaking began operating between Charleroi and Gilly during the same year, using steam traction through central Charleroi and horses beyond Porte de Waterloo. A second steam route opened between Charleroi and Montignies-sur-Sambre in 1882.
The Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Vicinaux (SNCV) established itself in the region in 1885 and opened its first three metre-gauge steam tramways from Charleroi in June 1887. These connected the city with Mont-sur-Marchienne, Montignies-le-Tilleul and Lodelinsart. Further routes followed as the tramways spread through the rapidly industrialising communities surrounding Charleroi.
The original private urban routes were converted to metre gauge and electric operation during the early twentieth century. They passed to the Tramways Électriques du Pays de Charleroi et Extensions (TEPCE) in 1904. TEPCE's green urban trams became known as the Trams Verts, while the SNCV's vehicles were distinguished as the Trams Jaunes. The green network reached approximately 67 kilometres shortly before the Second World War, while the wider SNCV system provided extensive interurban connections throughout Hainaut.
Both networks were damaged during the Second World War and subsequently rebuilt. However, increasing car ownership, declining passenger numbers and the perceived flexibility of buses led to tramway closures from the late 1950s.
The Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Charleroi (STIC) replaced TEPCE in 1962 and continued converting its remaining tram routes to bus operation. The last regular green-tram services ended in June 1974, although SNCV trams continued operating into Charleroi from surrounding communities.
During the 1960s, plans were developed to transform the surviving tramways into an extensive light-metro system. The proposed network comprised a central loop and eight radial branches, with approximately 52 kilometres of largely segregated infrastructure and 69 stations. Trams would operate through tunnels, on viaducts and along reserved surface alignments, avoiding much of the road traffic that had slowed the older network.
A new tram terminal at Charleroi-Sud entered use in 1973. The first recognisable light-metro section, between Charleroi-Sud and Villette, opened on 21 June 1976. It was extended from Villette to Piges in June 1980, while an isolated section between Morgnies and Paradis opened in June 1982.
Beaux-Arts station and the route between Piges and Dampremy followed in May 1983. Further infrastructure opened towards Pétria in 1986, but financial difficulties and changes in responsibility for public transport prevented the original network from being completed.
Several structures were left unused. The eastern branch towards Châtelet was equipped as far as Centenaire, while other stations farther east were constructed only as shells. Despite being substantially complete, the route did not carry passenger services and became the best-known example of Charleroi's so-called ghost metro.
The connection between Dampremy and Morgnies opened in August 1992, creating a continuous light-metro route towards Pétria and the surviving SNCV tramway to Anderlues. The branch to Gilly opened later that month. Parc and Janson stations followed in August 1996, but work then largely ceased for more than a decade.
The former interurban line 90 continued beyond Anderlues to Binche and La Louvière until August 1993. Its closure left Anderlues as the outer end of the surviving western route.
Construction resumed in 2008. The central loop was finally completed in February 2012, while the Gilly branch was extended to a new terminus at Soleilmont. The network was reorganised into the present M1 to M4 lines as the new infrastructure entered service.
The northern branch to Gosselies opened fully on 22 June 2013. Much of this route follows the alignment of an older tramway through Dampremy, Lodelinsart and Jumet and includes street-running sections around Gosselies. Its opening returned trams to streets from which they had disappeared decades earlier.
Line M5 will bring the long-unused eastern branch between Waterloo and Châtelet into passenger service. The approximately 5.5-kilometre branch will terminate at Les Viviers, beside the Grand Hôpital de Charleroi.
Six stations constructed as part of the original light-metro project are being restored or completed. Neuville, Yernaux, Pensée and Centenaire were substantially completed during the 1980s but never opened, while Champeau and Roctiau remained at an earlier stage of construction. Two entirely new stations, Corbeau and Les Viviers, are also being built.
The project includes replacement or renewal of tracks, power supplies, cables, signalling, station equipment and passenger facilities. All eight stations on the branch are intended to be accessible to passengers with reduced mobility.
Construction began in 2023 and has entered its final phases. Passenger service is currently expected to begin during 2027, although TEC has not announced a firm opening date. The project has a budget of approximately €60 million, supported by Wallonia and European recovery funding. Further information and construction updates are available from TEC.
Charleroi's BN light-rail vehicles date from the early 1980s. A programme is modernising 45 vehicles rather than replacing them with a new fleet.
The work includes renewed interiors and exterior styling together with improved accessibility and passenger-information equipment. Alstom is undertaking the principal refurbishment work, with the programme intended to support continued operation of the fleet following the opening of line M5.
Alstom is also involved in the development of the new signalling system required for the expanded network. Further information about the fleet-renewal programme is available from Alstom.
A separate project is renewing approximately 1.4 kilometres of track and refurbishing the viaduct around Villette station between Gare Centrale and Ouest. The work began in November 2025 and has required temporary changes to all four light-metro lines.
Villette station itself will not reopen. TEC concluded that its low passenger use, proximity to Gare Centrale, poor accessibility and the cost of complete reconstruction did not justify retaining it. Removing the station also allows the viaduct's waterproofing and structural renewal to be completed more thoroughly.
The temporary operating arrangements are expected to continue until approximately November 2026, with the remaining construction work due to conclude during early 2027. Once the route reopens, services should again be able to use the full central loop, but without stopping at Villette.