Welkenraedt – Raeren railway line
| Welkenraedt – Raeren | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route number : | 49 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 14.0 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | Welkenraedt – Eupen: 3 kV = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 90 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Welkenraedt – Raeren railway is a 14 km long railway line in the province of Liège in Belgium , which connects the cities of Welkenraedt , Eupen and Raeren . Today the route is operated by Infrabel and between Welkenraedt and Eupen it is used by intercity trains of the National Society of Belgian Railways . The Eupen – Raeren section is currently only used for occasional transfers to a locomotive dealer based in Raeren.
history
Established by the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and the Prussian State Railways
Since October 15, 1843 there has been a railway connection between Cologne and Antwerp , which was operated on the German side by the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft . To connect the town of Eupen on this railway line, the Rhenish Railway Company built a at the former border station Herbesthal of the route Liege-Aachen branching branch line . The opening took place on March 1, 1864. This railway line was nationalized in 1880 as part of Otto von Bismarck's railway policy and was henceforth owned by the Prussian State Railways . The extension of the railway line beyond Eupen to Raeren took place in the course of the construction of the Vennbahn , a north-south connection from Aachen-Rothe Erde to Ulflingen . After the section of the Vennbahn from Aachen via Walheim and Raeren to Monschau was opened in 1885, the Eupen-Raeren section was put into operation on August 3, 1887. Since then, there has been continuous train traffic from Welkenraedt via Raeren to Aachen and from 1889 on the Stolberg – Walheim railway line also continuous traffic from Welkenraedt via Raeren to Stolberg.
Assignment to Belgium and cessation of passenger traffic
The Treaty of Versailles drawn up after the First World War resulted in changes in the German-Belgian border. The border that previously ran through Herbesthal has now been relocated to the east and has since intersected the Liège – Aachen railway line at the Buschtunnel . The Welkenraedt – Eupen – Raeren railway line is now entirely on Belgian territory; The Vennbahn , which connects to the eastern end of the railway line, was also awarded to Belgium.
Similar to the Vennbahn and the Stolberg – Walheim line, passenger traffic was discontinued around 1960. This happened on the Herbesthal – Eupen – Raeren railway on March 28, 1959. Freight traffic continued, however, in particular consignments with excess loading gauge were routed over the railway because they could not pass the Gemmenich tunnel on the Aachen – Tongeren railway . With the commissioning of a third track in the middle of the Gemmenich tunnel in 1991, the route via Eupen finally became superfluous.
Resumption of passenger traffic between Welkenraedt and Eupen and today's operations
At the beginning of the 1980s, the section from Herbesthal to Eupen was electrified with the direct current common in Belgium with a voltage of 3 kV . Passenger traffic to Eupen has been taking place again since June 27, 1984, with trains that previously ended in Welkenraedt being tied through to Eupen. Today Eupen is served by the Intercity line 01, which connects Eupen with Ostend every hour and is made up of class 18 locomotives with I11 or M6 cars .
As of June 2, 1990 Historic between Eupen and Raeren special tours of the association Vennbahn VoE were held with diesel locomotives of the NMBS / SNCB and a steam locomotive of class 50 were carried out. Due to financial problems of the association, these had to be stopped in 2002.
Reactivation efforts for the Eupen – Raeren section
The section between Eupen and Raeren is now only used for occasional transfer or staff training trips. A reactivation of this section has been discussed since around 2000. Between Stolberg Hbf and the German-Belgian border there are also track systems that can be reactivated, which are owned by the EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz and are used by the Euregiobahn from Stolberg Hbf to the Stolberg-Altstadt stop , which runs on special trips to Breinig . Maintenance between Breinig and the state border is carried out by the Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland museum railway. If the Eupen – Raeren section was reactivated, a continuous rail connection from Stolberg via Walheim , Raeren and Eupen to Welkenraedt could be established. Such a connection has different application scenarios: Freight trains can travel from Cologne to Belgium without having to pass through Aachen city center with Aachen Hbf . Trains of the Euregiobahn could run to Eupen, as well as cross-border tourist traffic with the vehicles of the Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland based in Walheim.
On May 10, 2001, the government of the German-speaking Community decided to renovate the railway line. In May 2002 the city of Eupen, Deutsche Bahn and RWTH Aachen jointly carried out a passenger survey on the buses between Aachen and Eupen about the possible reactivation of the railway line. In 2008, some tracks were renewed in Raeren station. The Belgian daily Grenz-Echo reported in April 2009 that the Eupen – Raeren section was generally in good condition. For a reactivation would initially on the German side the Rüstbachviadukt and Falkenbach viaduct of the railway Stolberg-Walheim be prepared operative, but what can not be realized before of 2019.
Route description
Welkenraedt station
Welkenraedt station is used for traffic on the Liège – Aachen line in the direction of Aachen and for traffic in the direction of Eupen. It has a side platform at the station building and two central platforms . There are tracks for parking rail vehicles on both the north and south sides of the station. Welkenraedt has a ticket office that is open daily, and there is also a service for people with wheelchairs . Free parking spaces are available around the reception building. The Welkenraedt train station is connected to the bus service , there are connections to Eupen, Kelmis and Verviers .
| line | course | Cycle Mon-Fri | Clock Sa, So |
|---|---|---|---|
| IC 01 | Eupen - Welkenraedt - Verviers-Central - Liège-Guillemins - Leuven - Brussels-North - Brussels-Central - Brussels-South - Gent-Sint-Pieters - Brugge - Oostende | 60 min | 60 min |
| IC 12 | Kortrijk - Gent-Sint-Pieters - Brussels-South - Brussels-Central - Brussels-North - Leuven - Liège-Guillemins - Verviers-Central - Welkenraedt | 60 min | - |
|
L 09 RE 29 |
Spa-Géronstère - Spa - Pepinster - Verviers-Central - Welkenraedt - Aachen Hbf | 60 min | 60 min |
| P | different amplifier trips | Peak hours | - |
Herbesthal train station
Immediately behind the former Herbesthal train station, the Welkenraedt-Eupen railway branches off from the Liège – Aachen railway . Herbesthal station had been in operation since July 1843 and was served by trains from the direction of Verviers, which became the first border station in Europe due to the gap in the Cologne-Amsterdam rail link in October 1843. To connect the Welkenraedt-Eupen railway line, the railway facilities in Herbesthal were expanded and a railway depot was built. In 1889 a new station building and a roundhouse were built. When the border was shifted to the east in 1920 as a result of the Versailles Treaty , Herbesthal initially retained its function as a border station. When the Liège – Aachen line was electrified in the early 1960s , the decision was made to set up the system separation point in Aachen main station. Herbesthal station was therefore no longer needed for rail operations and closed on August 7, 1966. Welkenraedt station took over its functions as a Belgian border station.
Eupen station
Eupen station was opened in 1864 with its own station building, but did not stay in its original location for long: When the railway line was extended to Raeren in 1887, a new station with a new station building had to be built, as the location of the first station was not compatible with the route . After the cessation of passenger traffic in 1959, the station building stood empty and was finally demolished in 1973. With the resumption of passenger traffic in Eupen, a new station building was also built. This reception building still has a ticket office that is manned daily .
Since 2019, the station has been extended by a platform with a height of 75 cm, the stub track has been removed in favor of an underpass, and a commuter parking lot is being created. The aim of this measure is to increase the train frequency to a 30-minute cycle
| line | course | Cycle Mon-Fri | Clock Sa, So |
|---|---|---|---|
| IC 01 | Eupen - Welkenraedt - Verviers-Central - Liège-Guillemins - Leuven - Brussels-North - Brussels-Central - Brussels-South - Gent-Sint-Pieters - Brugge - Oostende | 60 min | 60 min |
| P | different amplifier trips | Peak hours | - |
Raeren train station
.JPG)
Raeren station was opened in 1885 and at that time had a connection to Aachen-Rothe Erde station via the Vennbahn . The line from Eupen only reached Raeren station two years later. After the Versailles Treaty came into force, Raeren was the border station between Belgium and Germany from February 1921 . The station building is brick and dates from the time the Vennbahn was built. It is still in good condition today. There are also two mechanical interlockings , one of which is of the English type Saxby and one was manufactured by Siemens . There was also a turntable in Raeren, but it was dismantled in 2004.
A two-track workshop hall , which was built in 1992, is located on the site of the station . The original user was the Vennbahn VoE association, which used it to maintain its vehicle fleet. The construction costs of the hall of around 310,000 euros were raised by the German-speaking community of Belgium . After the cessation of operations and the sale of the Vennbahn VoE vehicles, the hall was no longer used, so that in the meantime there were even considerations to dismantle the building and put it back up at another location. Finally, in the locomotive dealer Rails et Traction, a tenant was found who uses the hall to recondition rail vehicles that are for sale. Meanwhile, the "Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland" from Aachen also use part of the hall.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lignes SNCB on belrail.be (French), accessed on December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Raeren old station - Raeren municipality :: Sights. In: www.raeren.be. Retrieved April 17, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Stefan von der Ruhren: Course book route 49 Welkenraedt - Eupen - Raeren on vonderruhren.de , November 11, 2014, accessed on December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Image of an armored train between Raeren and Eupen on Drehscheibe-online.de. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
- ↑ a b c Reinhard Gessen: Raeren. In: www.gessen.de. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ NMBS / SNCB - timetables in real time. In: www.belgianrail.be. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e f press. In: www.vennbahn.de. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ^ A b Jürgen Lange: Euregiobahn: Train should go to Belgium. In: Aachener Zeitung. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ -jül-: Euregiobahn to the border behind Walheim. In: Aachener Zeitung. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland: Nostalgic special trips between Stolberg and Eupen. ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Website of the Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland, June 2012, accessed on April 1, 2016.
- ↑ Jürgen Lange: Electrification is in sight for the Euregiobahn. In: Aachener Zeitung. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ jül / mg: Euregiobahn route: The train should go to Belgium. In: Aachener Nachrichten. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ The route section. In: www.eisenbahnfreunde- borderland.de. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ Jürgen Lange: Euregiobahn will not go to Breinig before 2019. In: Aachener Zeitung. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ WELKENRAEDT. In: www.belgianrail.be. Retrieved April 3, 2016 .
- ↑ Arrêt Welkenraedt Gare SNCB - InfoTEC. In: www.infotec.be. Retrieved April 3, 2016 .
- ^ Hans Schweers, Henning Wall: Railways around Aachen. 150 years of the international route Cologne - Aachen - Antwerp . Schweers and Wall, Aachen 1993.
- ^ Eupen station: opening times unchanged - expansion of the parking lot. In: BRF News. Retrieved April 2, 2016 .
- ↑ A new face and higher train frequency planned for the Eupen train station. In: brf.be. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Eupener Bahnhof gets a new look! In: pff.be. Retrieved July 2, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Stefan von der Ruhren: Railways in Aachen and the Euregio Maas-Rhein (Raeren). In: vonderruhren.de. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
- ↑ Railroad friends Grenzland. Retrieved September 20, 2019 .