Berchem – Oetrange railway line

Berchem – Oetrange
Route length:	12.3 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	25 kV, 50 Hz  ~
Legend from Bettembourg 0.0 Berchem 1.1 to Luxembourg Alzette Connection curve Fentingen Narrow-gauge railway Luxembourg – Remich Syren tunnel Syren from Luxembourg 12.3 Oetrange to Wasserbillig

The Berchem – Oetrange line is a single-track main line in Luxembourg . The 12.3 km long route and the 0.8 km long connecting curve Fentingen are primarily used for freight traffic to and from Germany , which is almost entirely carried out on this route instead of the Luxembourg – Oetrange section of the Luxembourg – Wasserbillig railway line . However, passenger trains on the (Trier–) Wasserbillig – Luxembourg route also use the route occasionally and, in the case of diversions, on a larger scale.

history

Since the 1890s, the existing single-track Luxembourg – Wasserbillig line of the Société anonyme royale grand-ducale des chemins of fer Guillaume Luxembourg (Wilhelm-Luxemburg-Eisenbahngesellschaft - WL) was no longer sufficient. The main reason for this was the sharp increase in freight traffic due to the upswing in the Luxembourg smelting works , which is why a two-track expansion of the line was sought. However, the construction of a diversion line via Berchem was soon preferred to the double-track expansion of the Luxembourg – Oetrange section. On the one hand, this shortened the route by around 10 km, on the other hand, the new route would be much less steep than between Luxembourg and Oetringen.

Since the Wilhelm-Luxemburg-Eisenbahngesellschaft showed no interest in such a connection - the company would have lost income through the shortening of the route - the Imperial General Direction of the Reichseisenbahnen in Alsace-Lorraine (which also operated the WL lines) wanted to build it itself. A corresponding state treaty was signed in November 1902, but nothing happened at first.

The first surveying work began in 1907 and was completed in 1913. Funding was also approved in the same year. In 1915 construction work finally began. The planum and the civil engineering structures were prepared for a double-track expansion, but the appropriate license was still missing for laying a second track. After the outbreak of the First World War and the associated transports over the WL network, the single-track section Luxembourg – Ötringen had become an obstacle to the transport of supplies. However, the bypass railway had hardly any value for the German military without a connecting curve in the direction of Luxembourg, so in 1917 the construction of the connecting curve Fentingen was started without any legal basis, at the same time a three-track expansion of the line from the connecting curve to Luxembourg was started. By autumn 1918, the work had largely been completed.

The line was opened in October 1918, but train journeys were only possible over the connecting curve, as the bridge over the Alzette was not yet completed. This section of the route was only completed for the military after the start of the Second World War and the occupation of Luxembourg and opened in September 1940.

The electrification of the line was decided in 1956, and electrical operation could begin in 1959.

literature

• Ed Federmayer: Railways in Luxemburg , Volume 1, Herdam Fotoverlag, Gernrode / Harz 2007, ISBN 978-3-933178-21-3

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ed spring Mayer: Railways in Luxembourg , Volume 1, page 81
2. ↑ Ed spring Mayer: Railways in Luxembourg , Volume 1, page 90
3. ↑ Luxembourg – Wasserbillig via Syren: driver's cab ride
4. ↑ Ed spring Mayer: Railways in Luxembourg , Volume 1, page 267
5. ↑ Ed spring Mayer: Railways in Luxembourg , Volume 1, page 270