Belgian Boat Lifts: Strépy-Thieu, La Louvière and the Ronquières absorbed plane

The Strépy-Thieu boat lift "L'ascenseur funiculaire de Strépy-Thieu" lies on a branch of the Canal du Centre in the municipality of Le Rœulx, Hainaut. With a height difference of 73.15 metres (240.0 ft) between the upper and the lower reaches of the canal, it is the highest boat lift in the world. The boat lift was designed during the Canal du Centre's modernisation program in order to replace a system of two locks and four 16-metre lifts dating from 1888 to 1919. These locks and lifts were able to accommodate vessels of up to 300 tonnes. By the 1960s, this was no longer adequate for the new European standard of 1350 tonnes for barge traffic, and a replacement was sought. The construction of the lift commenced in 1982 and was not completed until 2002 at an estimated cost of € 160 million (then 6.4 billion BEF), but once operational, it permitted river traffic of up to the new 1350-tonne standard to pass between the waterways of the Meuse and Scheldt rivers. The lift increased the river traffic from 256 kT in 2001 to 2295 kT in 2006. Lifts on the old Canal du Centre The lifts on the old Canal du Centre are a series of four hydraulic boat lifts near the town of La Louvière (Wallonia), classified both as Wallonia's Major Heritage and as a World Heritage Site (province of Hainaut). Along a particular 7km stretch of the Canal du Centre, which connects the river basins of the Meuse and the Scheldt, the water level rises by 66.2 meters. To overcome this difference, the 15.4 ...

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