euregioAIXpress

RE 29 / L 09: euregioAIXpress
euregioAIXpress in Aachen Hbf
Course book section (DB) :	483
Course book range :	L 37 ( SNCB )
Route length:	54 km
Top speed:	130 km / h
course
Legend 0 Aachen Central Station THA , ICE , IC State border Germany / Belgium 10 Hergenrath 16 Welkenraedt IC Dolhain-Gileppe Verviers Palace 29 Verviers Central IC 33 Pepinster (until December 2014) Pepinster-Cité Juslenville 37 Theux Franchimont 45 spa Spa-Géronstère Nessonvaux Fraipont Trooz Chênée 51 Angler 54 Liège-Guillemins   THA , ICE , IC

The euregioAIXpress is a German-Belgian train connection between Aachen and Spa that runs on the Liège – Aachen and Verviers – Spa lines . The part of the name AIXpress (pronounced like Express ) comes from a play on words with the name Aachens ( French Aix-la-Chapelle ) and the word "Express". In Germany the Regional Express line is called RE 29 for short, in Belgium the line is called L  09.

history

One year before the start of high-speed traffic on the upgraded line between Cologne and Düren , the express train or InterCity connection from Cologne via Aachen , Liège and Brussels to Ostend , which ran several times a day, was discontinued at the end of 2002 . On the section between Aachen and Liege, the trains of this line were the only usable with regular tickets trains, also in contrast to the Thalys without compulsory reservation and bicycles. EuregioAIXpress has been filling the gap created by the loss of these connections since December 2002. Today, the journey from Cologne to Ostend requires one or two transfers.

Relocation to Spa

Spa-Géronstère stop

With the timetable change in December 2014, the euregioAIXpress train route from Pepinster station to the Verviers – Spa (Ligne 44) line to Spa-Géronstère was changed and the frequency was reduced to an hourly rhythm. At the same time, the euregioAIXpress in Belgium was converted into a regional train ( French train local , Dutch local trein ). Strictly speaking, the previous Belgian inter- regional line IR q, which previously connected Liège with Aachen, was discontinued, and instead the L-train line 09 Spa – Verviers, which had previously only operated within Belgium, was extended to Aachen. In Welkenraedt station , today's euregioAIXpress has a platform-level connection to the inner-Belgian Intercity 01 between Eupen and Ostend via Liège and Brussels, which takes over the previously served route to Liège.

offer

The "Euregio-Ticket", an international ticket for the three-country region

Railroad in the borderland

The euregioAIXpress runs every hour and stops at all intermediate stations. The average speed of the trains is 66 km / h, which is below the usual average speed for German regional express trains (70–90 km / h).

Local rail passenger transport is carried out by the National Company of Belgian Railways (NMBS / SNCB). There come electric railcars of NMBS / SNCB series AM 62-79 for use under 3000 volts DC to the central station of Aachen drive on the tracks 6 to 9. There is a system separation point at these ; they can be switched between the Belgian traction current of 3000 volts direct voltage and the German traction current of 15,000 volts alternating voltage.

future

The Zweckverband Nahverkehr Rheinland (NVR) plans to have the Belgian IC 12 from Kortrijk , Gent and Brussels , which currently ends in Welkenraedt , run to Aachen main station instead of the L 09. For the first time since 2002 there would be a direct, local transport-like connection between North Rhine-Westphalia and Brussels. This exchange was originally planned for the timetable change in December 2017, but was not yet implemented at the time. The NVR and the NMBS / SNCB would like to sign a declaration of intent to improve the cross-border local transport offer at the end of 2019 at the earliest. This should lead to a feasibility study for the further development of the offer. A step-by-step concept is being considered, which will first connect Belgian IC trains to Aachen and later to Cologne. The EuregioAIXpress can only run to Aachen with the current vehicles until 2025 , as the system separation point from Aachen main station is to be relocated to the free route to Hergenrath .

See also

• List of local rail transport lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
• LIMAX , another cross-border regional express in the region

Web links

• By bus and train through the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. Euregio Meuse-Rhine , accessed on December 19, 2014 . 
• euregioticket - limitless - limitless - sans frontières! (PDF; 372 kB) Aachen Transport Association , December 17, 2014, accessed on December 19, 2014 . 
• André Joost: Line description RE 29. In: NRWbahnarchiv. André Joost, accessed December 19, 2014 . 
• Lijn 37. (PDF; 2.78 MB) (No longer available online.) In: NMBS - Brochures dienstregelingen. December 14, 2014, formerly in the original ; Retrieved December 19, 2014 (Dutch).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  

Individual evidence

1. ↑ NVR SPNV local transport plan 2016. (PDF) Nahverkehr Rheinland , March 2016, pp. 7–3 (59) , accessed on October 20, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Zweckverband Nahverkehr Rheinland, 18th meeting of the main committee, Item 7.5: Cross-border regional rail transport to Belgium - Letter of Intent between ZV NVR and SNCB, November 15, 2019

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