Narrow-gauge railway Luxembourg – Echternach

Luxembourg – Echternach
Course book range :	263 k (1944)
Route length:	45.9 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	30  ‰
Minimum radius :	50 m
Top speed:	40 km / h
Legend from Remich 0.000 Luxembourg train station 283 m 1.116 Adolf Bridge 1.613 Luxembourg Park 2.159 Luxembourg Glacis 3.808 Rollingergrund 3,915 4,348 Septfontaines 6.259 Calibration Alzette Luxembourg – Spa railway line 7.366 Dommeldingen 14.022 Senningen 399 m 16.263 Hostert 19,453 More serious 20.867 Gonderingen 23.453 Junglinster unfinished route to Larochette Tunnel (172 m) Tunnel (42 m) 28,149 Beidweiler 29,863 Ribbed 31.129 Hemstal 31.804 Shaky Tunnel (210 m) 33.215 Bech 37.089 Consdorf 38.646 Scheidgen 45.098 Echternach city 45.849 Echternach (connection to the Ettelbrück – Grevenmacher line )

The narrow-gauge railway Luxembourg – Echternach was a narrow-gauge railway with 1000 mm gauge in Luxembourg . The 46 km long route led from Luxembourg City via Junglinster to Echternach . The route was popularly known as Chareli or Charli .

history

Bech station

A section in Echternach Switzerland

In 1892, the Luxemburgish Prince Heinrich Railway and Ore Mine Company SA planned a narrow-gauge railway from Luxemburg to Echternach. However, the company could no longer build the line because the state took over the construction of new narrow-gauge railroads from 1895. In 1897 it was decided to build the railway, and surveying work began a year later. The main problems were the large differences in altitude, which meant that the route should be 12 km longer than the straight line connection Luxembourg (City) - Echternach. The actual construction work on the new line began in late 1899 / early 1900.

The railway construction was completed in spring 1904. The most famous structure was the Adolphe Bridge in the Luxembourg city area, which was used jointly by the narrow-gauge railway and road traffic. The ceremonial opening took place on April 19, 1904; however, on April 5, a large company had already used the route for an excursion.

The section Luxemburg-Bahnhof-Dommeldingen was electrified in 1928 and also used by the tram. The electrification planned for the rest of the route in the mid-1930s, however, was not implemented. The further construction of the railway from Junglinster to Heffingen , which was required in the second half of the 1930s, was also not implemented, although the substructure had already been completed.

At the beginning of the 1950s, renovation of the narrow-gauge railway was still being considered, as there was still a significant volume of passenger traffic at that time. Freight traffic was limited to non-profitable bulk goods. Since they wanted to ban the steam locomotives from the city of Luxembourg anyway, it was decided that closing the entire line would be the most economical. All other considerations, e.g. B. to implement only the partial suspension of traffic except for the electrified section Luxembourg – Dommeldingen have been dropped.

Since the end of 1952, passenger transport was gradually implemented as a rail replacement service . Since December 1953, only one passenger train has operated on the route, the rest of the passenger traffic was handled by buses. On June 13, 1954, the last train was also replaced by a bus; the stated reason was the poor structural condition of the Junglinster tunnel. The already low freight traffic had declined even further by the summer of 1954, so almost all transports were shifted to motor transport from June 14, 1954. Only the Villeroy & Boch siding still had to be served for the time being, as no trucks could be unloaded on site. The last freight trains ran in December 1954. The line was formally closed on April 27, 1957.

In 2010, a children's hiking trail was opened with the starting point and destination station in Bech via the towns of Altrier , Hemstal and Zittig .

literature

• Ed Federmeyer: Narrow Gauge Railways in Luxembourg , 1991
• Jean-Marie Backes: The train service between Luxembourg and Echternach started 100 years ago. Day sheet. Newspaper fir Lëtzebuerg , 17./18. April 2004, p. 34 ff.
• Romain Rech: Charly and the city. Le Signal , No. 21 and 22, 2004.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ed Federmeyer: narrow-gauge railways in Luxembourg - Volume 1 , page 5
2. ↑ Ed Federmeyer: narrow-gauge railways in Luxembourg - Volume 2 , page 20
3. ↑ "Charly" shows where to go.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Lëtzebuerger Journal , May 6, 2010.