Porte de Hal metro station in the context of Simonis and Elisabeth stations

Line 2 is a rapid transit line on the Brussels Metro in Belgium operated by STIB/MIVB. It has existed in its current form since 4 April 2009, when the section between Delacroix and Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation was opened, which allowed to close the "loop" from and to Simonis/Elisabeth. The configuration of Simonis/Elisabeth though does not allow trains on line 2 to perform the loop several consecutive times in the same direction, i.e. a train running clockwise from Elisabeth will have to run counterclockwise from Simonis. The two termini of line 2 have thus received different names: originally Simonis (Elisabeth) and Simonis (Leopold II), changed in November 2013 to Elisabeth and Simonis. Between Yser/IJzer and the Porte de Hal/Hallepoort, the line runs under the Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road), which was itself built on the site of the former second walls of Brussels. The line crosses the municipalities of Koekelberg, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, City of Brussels, Saint-Gilles and Anderlecht.

The first stations on the Small Ring were opened in 1970 with tramways connecting Rogier to Porte de Namur/Naamsepoort. Louise/Louiza was opened in 1985 and Simonis in 1986, but it was only in 1988 that the actual metro line 2 was first serviced with metros. The following stations also opened that year: Ribaucourt, Yser, Hôtel des Monnaies/Munthof, Porte de Hal and Gare du Midi/Zuidstation. The existing stations were converted in order to be serviced by metros. In 1993, the line was expanded to Clemenceau, and then to Delacroix in 2006. The route of line 2 is also currently served by line 6, which then continues from Simonis to Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijn.

Line 6 is a rapid transit line on the Brussels Metro in Belgium operated by STIB/MIVB. It connects Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijn in the north-west of Brussels to Simonis/Elisabeth to the north-west of the city centre, then performing a counterclockwise "loop" around the centre up to Simonis again. During this loop, the line runs under the Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road), from Porte de Hal/Hallepoort to Yser/IJzer. It has existed in its current form since 4 April 2009, when it replaced former line 1A between Roi Baudouin and Beekkant. It serves 25 metro stations and has 26 stops, metros on that line stopping twice at Simonis. The Simonis-Elisabeth loop is also served by line 2. The line has also a common section with lines 1 and 5 between Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation and Beekkant. A connection with those lines is also possible at Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet. Starting from Roi Baudouin, the line crosses the municipalities of the City of Brussels, Jette, Koekelberg, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Anderlecht and Saint-Gilles.

The Marolles (French, pronounced [maʁɔl] ) or Marollen (Dutch, pronounced [maːˈrɔlə(n)]) is a popular historic neighbourhood of downtown Brussels, Belgium. It is situated between the Palace of Justice to its south-east, the Church of Our Lady of the Chapel to its north and the Halle Gate to its south. Its inhabitants are called Marolliens in French and Marollianen in Dutch.

Lying at the heart of the Marolles are the Place du Jeu de Balle/Vossenplein, home to the Old Market, and the Cité Hellemans collective housing complex. Major arteries of the district include the Rue Haute/Hoogstraat, the Rue Blaes/Blaesstraat and the Rue des Tanneurs/Huidevetterstraat. This area is served by Brussels-Chapel railway station and Brussels-South railway station, as well as by the metro and premetro (underground tram) station Porte de Hal/Hallepoort on lines 2, 4, 6 and 10.