Simonis and Elisabeth stations

Simonis and Elisabeth are two interconnected stations on the Brussels Metro serving line 2 and line 6 on two different levels. Additionally Simonis is a railway station operated by NMBS/SNCB and a tram stop. The station complex is situated at the end of Boulevard Léopold II and is close to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. "Simonis" was named after Place Eugène Simonis/Eugène Simonisplein, which in turn is named after the Belgian sculptor Eugène Simonis; while the nearby Elisabeth Park, named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium, gives "Elisabeth" its name.
"Simonis" metro station opened on 6 October 1982 and is a through station in north-south direction situated in a cutting next to a railway line. It is served as a through station on line 6 and is a terminus of line 2.
"Elisabeth" metro station is orthogonal to and one level below "Simonis" and is a terminal station located at the end of Boulevard Léopold II in east-west direction. It opened on 2 October 1988 and is the terminus for lines 2 and 6.
Between its opening in 1988 and 2013, "Elisabeth" was also known as "Simonis". Until 2009, "Simonis" was a simple interchange station between metro lines 1A and 2. When the Brussels metro loop opened in 2009, the north-western part of metro line 1A was connected to the other end of metro line 2, making line 2 an imperfect circle line (since a true circular train service is not possible, as the tracks at "Simonis/Elisabeth" are not connected). This resulted in the current situation, whereby the station complex is served twice by lines 2 and 6.
To differentiate between the two station parts, the north-south through platforms were given the name "Simonis (Leopold II)", while the east-west terminating platforms were known as "Simonis (Elisabeth)". However, this did not improve the clarity of passenger information and thus, on 3 November 2013, "Simonis (Leopold II)" was reverted to simply "Simonis", while "Simonis (Elisabeth)" became "Elisabeth". The adjacent bus, tram and railway stops have not been renamed, and are all still known as "Simonis".
To the west of the stations, trams 9 and 19 call at underground platforms opened on 23 June 1986 (line 19) and 1 September 2018 (line 9), respectively.
To the east of and parallel to "Simonis" metro station, the National Railway Company of Belgium operates a local commuter station "Simonis" since December 2009. It is served by the Brussels Regional Express Network service S10 between Dendermonde, Brussels, Denderleeuw and Aalst.