Canal du Centre

Geschiedenis

The Canal du Centre is a canal in Belgium, which, with other canals, links the waterways of the Meuse and Scheldt rivers. It has a total length of 20.9 km. It connects the artificial lake Grand Large near Nimy, with the Brussels-Charleroi Canal near Seneffe.RouteThe canal begins in the west at Mons, and passes through the towns of Nimy, Obourg, Ville-sur-Haine, and Thieu. This section is 15 km long, and has a relief of 23.26m. The canal climbs by means of six locks. There are five locks with a relief of 4.2m, and a final lock with a relief of 2.26m at ThieuThe next section of the original canal route between Thieu and Houdeng-Goegnies climbs 66m over a distance of 6790m, which is too steep a climb for canal locks. Therefore, this section contains four hydraulic boat lifts, dating from 1888 to 1917, which are now on the UNESCO World Heritage list. These lifts were designed by Edwin Clark of the British company Clark, Stansfield & Clark. For commercial traffic this stretch of the canal has, since 2002, been replaced by an enlarged parallel canal.