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Luxembourg railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the railway station in Luxembourg City. For the railway station in Brussels, see Brussels-Luxembourg Station. For the RER station in Paris, see Luxembourg (Paris RER). For the station district in Luxembourg City, see Gare, Luxembourg.
Luxembourg
Commuter, national and international rail services
The station's facade at Place de la Gare is in the traditional Moselle Baroque Revival style.
General information
Location11 place de la Gare, L-1616
Gare
Luxembourg
Coordinates49°35′43″N 6°09′33″E / 49.5952°N 6.1592°E / 49.5952; 6.1592
Owned byLuxembourg
Operated byCFL
Platforms9
Train operators
History
Opened4 October 1859 (1859-10-04)
Passengers
202215,765,929[1]
Services
Preceding station CFL Following station
Terminus Line 10 Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg
towards Troisvierges or Diekirch
Line 30 Cents-Hamm
towards Trier Hbf
Line 50 Bertrange-Strassen
towards Arlon
Line 60 Howald
towards Rodange
Line 70 Hollerich
towards Athus or Longwy
Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station
Terminus IC 37
Operated in cooperation with DB
 Wasserbillig
towards Düsseldorf Hbf
Preceding station SNCF Following station
Thionville
towards Paris-Est
 TGV inOui
 Terminus
Preceding station TER Grand Est Following station
Howald
towards Metz
 L01b Terminus
Preceding station DB Regio Mitte Following station
Terminus RE 11 Sandweiler-Contern
towards Koblenz Hbf
RB 83 Cents-Hamm
towards Wittlich Hbf
Preceding station NMBS/SNCB Following station
Arlon
towards Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid
 IC 16
IC "des Ardennes" & Luxembourg
 Terminus
Terminus IC 33
 Mersch
towards Liers

Luxembourg railway station (Luxembourgish: Gare Lëtzebuerg, French: Gare de Luxembourg, German: Bahnhof Luxemburg) is the main railway station serving Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is operated by Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois, the state-owned railway company. As of 2022, the station was used by 52,000 passengers every weekday, making it by far the busiest in the country.[1]

It is the hub of Luxembourg's domestic railway network, serving as a point of call on all of Luxembourg's railway lines. It also functions as the country's international railway hub, with services to all the surrounding countries: Belgium, France, and Germany. Since June 2007, the LGV Est connects the station to the French TGV network.

The station is located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of the city centre (Ville Haute), to the south of the River Pétrusse. The station gives its name to Gare, one of the Quarters of Luxembourg City.

History

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The original station building, pictured in 1906

In 1846, with a view to creating an international line between the North Sea ports, the Alps and the Mediterranean, the Grande Compagnie du Luxembourg, a Belgian company, obtained a concession from the Luxembourgish government for a railway line between Arlon and Thionville, with Luxembourg City as its central point, and a branch line to Trier.[2] Unable to fulfil its obligations, it was stripped of its concessions in 1848.[3]

The creation of Luxembourg's first rail network was finally awarded in the 1850s to a French-funded company, the Société royale grand-ducale des chemins de fer Guillaume-Luxembourg.[2]

The first station was built entirely out of wood, and was opened on 11 August 1859 (at the same time as the country's inaugural line, from Luxembourg to Bettembourg and the French border);[4] the patriotic song De Feierwon (The Chariot of Fire), which was briefly considered Luxembourg's national anthem, was composed and performed for the occasion. The position of the new station on the south bank of the Pétrusse river, away from the urban sprawl of the time, was due to the city still being a Prussian-held fortress at the time. In 1860, the completion of the line from Luxembourg to Kleinbettingen enabled trains to run to Arlon, Brussels, Antwerp and Ostend. The first link between the city and northern Luxembourg came in 1861, with the construction of a viaduct over the Alzette river. After the 1867 Treaty of London, the fortifications were dismantled, mainly to allow the city to expand around the railway station.

The old wooden station was replaced by a modern building built between 1907 and 1913 (during an economic boom fuelled by iron production in the Red Lands). The new building was designed by a trio of German architects (Rüdell, Jüsgen and Scheuffel), in a neo-Baroque style - an imitation of the architecture popular in the 17th century in what is now the Moselle department of France - that dominates Luxembourg City's major public buildings.

The installations underwent a major overhaul during the electrification of the Luxembourgish railway network, which began in 1956. Because of the voltage difference between line 5 and the rest of the network, Luxembourg station was switchable.

The passenger building has been listed as a national monument since 13 January 1989.[5]

The computerisation of the interlocking installations in the 1990s made it possible to do away with the station's specific signalling for switchable tracks, which could, for example, prevent an electric train from shunting because the track was not at the right voltage, but allow a diesel train to pass; the new computer system can manage these movements with conventional signalling.[6]

Since 2006, under the patronage of the Ministry of Transport, the station has undergone a major refurbishment which, by 2009, had already resulted in the creation of the new ticket sales facilities inside the main concourse, the widening of platforms, the installation of new lifts and a new underpass. Further work included renewing the overhead electrical wiring, installing two escalators at platform level, a new entrance gantry and the reconfiguration of the forecourt. Works in 2011 included a glass passenger concourse and a four-story car park. The new passenger concourse was inaugurated on 21 September 2012.

In anticipation of the arrival of the TGV connexion to Paris in 2007, round trips by TGV on conventional lines were operated from 25 June 2006.

The weekend night train connexion between Metz and Portbou was extended to Luxembourg on 13 December 2009; however, it was suspended on 26 June 2016.

It 2016, the Luxembourg-Blankenberge express, a summer train to the coastal town of Blankenberghe, was also suspended due to works on the Belgian rail network.[7][8]

Modernisation work

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Modernised hallway

In 2006, the Ministry of Transport began a six-year renovation project on Luxembourg station that totaled €95 million. The improvements included new ticketing and sales facilities inside the main hall, expanding platforms, new lifts, a new passenger subway, upgraded overhead electrical wiring, installation of two platform escalators, a new entrance porch, a redesigned forecourt, a glass passenger hall, and a four-storey car park.[9]

Train services

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An SNCF TGV Euroduplex at Luxembourg station
Aerial view of the railway station's Place de la Gare and the quarter around Avenue de la Liberté

As of December 2017 the station is served by the following services:

  • High speed services (TGV) Luxembourg - Thionville - Metz - Paris
  • Intercity services Luxembourg - Ettelbruck - Troisvierges - Gouvy - Liège
  • Intercity services Luxembourg - Wasserbillig - Trier - Koblenz - Köln - Düsseldorf
  • Intercity services Luxembourg - Arlon (- Namur - Brussels)
  • Regional services Luxembourg - Ettelbruck - Diekirch
  • Regional services Luxembourg - Wasserbillig - Trier - Koblenz
  • Regional services (TER Lorraine) Luxembourg - Bettembourg - Thionville - Metz - Nancy
  • Regional services Luxembourg - Bettembourg - Esch - Petange - Rodange
  • Regional services Luxembourg - Rodange - Athus
  • Regional services Luxembourg - Rodange - Longwy
  • Regional services Luxembourg - Kleinbettingen - Arlon

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b "Observatoire digital de la mobilité". odm.public.lu (in French). Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  2. ^ a b Jean Ulveling, « Exposé des bons résultats de notre économie », Publications de la société pour la recherche et la conservation des monuments historiques dans le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, XXII, année 1866, imprimerie-librairie V. Buck, Luxembourg, 1867, p. 127 ; lire (consulté le 30 novembre 2020).
  3. ^ Jean-Claude Delhez (2008). 150 ans de train en Luxembourg belge (1858 - 2008). Neufchâteau: Weyrich. p. 23..
  4. ^ "Ligne Luxembourg - Bettembourg - frontière française". rail.lu. Retrieved 10 October 2018..
  5. ^ "Liste des immeubles et objets classés monuments nationaux ou inscrits à l'inventaire supplémentaire" (pdf). ssmn.public.lu. 16 January 2019. p. 53. Retrieved 21 January 2019..
  6. ^ Mark Vogel (30 May 2009). "Basic Railway Signals of Luxembourg - CFL Special Signal Aspects". flickr.com. Retrieved 17 October 2018..
  7. ^ Camille Frati (19 June 2019). "Le Blankenberge Express restera à quai cet été". paperjam.lu. Retrieved 30 November 2020..
  8. ^ "Le Blankenberge-Express ne roulera pas cet été". lessentiel.lu. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2020..
  9. ^ "Une nouvelle gare pour fêter son centenaire" [New Station to Celebrate its Centennial]. L'essentiel (in French). Luxembourg. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2018.

Further reading

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