Liège-Guillemins railway station
Liège-Guillemins Railway Station | |
---|---|
Station statistics | |
Address | Place des Guillemins, Liège |
Coordinates | 50°37′29″N 5°34′01″E / 50.62472°N 5.56694°ECoordinates: 50°37′29″N 5°34′01″E / 50.62472°N 5.56694°E |
Line(s) | 4, 34, 36, 37, 40, 43, 125 |
Platforms | 5 |
Tracks | 10 |
Other information | |
Opened |
1842-05-01 2009-09-18 |
Rebuilt | 2009-09-18 |
Owned by | Infrabel |
Operator | National Railway Company of Belgium |
Traffic | |
Passengers (2009) | 6.26 millions |
Liège-Guillemins railway station (IATA: XHN) is the main station of the city of Liège, the third largest city in Belgium. It is one of the most important hubs in the country and is one of the 3 Belgian stations on the high-speed rail network. The station is used by 15,000[1] people every day which makes it the eleventh busiest station in Belgium and the third in Wallonia.
History
In 1838, only three years after the first continental railway, a line linking Brussels and Ans, in the northern suburbs of Liège, was opened. The first railway station of Liège-Guillemins was inaugurated in May 1842, linking the valley to the upper Ans station. In 1843, the first international railway connection was born, linking Liège to Aachen and Cologne.
The station was modernized and improved in 1882 and in 1905 for the World Fair in Liège. This Beaux-Arts station was replaced in 1958 by a modern International style (for that time) building that was used until June 2009, a few months before the opening of the new Calatrava-designed station. The second station was completely demolished to complete the remaining sections of the new station.
New station
The new station by the architect Santiago Calatrava was officially opened on 18 September 2009, with a show by Franco Dragone. It has 9 tracks and 5 platforms (three of 450 m and two of 350 m). All the tracks around the station have been modernized to allow high speed arrival and departure.
The new station is made of steel, glass and white concrete. It includes a monumental arch, 160 metres long and 32 metres high.
The building costs were €312 million.
Train services
Liège-Guillemins station is served by InterCity- and InterRegio trains, connecting Liège with all major Belgian cities, as well as several international destinations such as Aachen, Lille, and Maastricht. In addition to the national traffic, Liège-Guillemins station welcomes Thalys and ICE trains, connecting Liège to Brussels, Paris, Aachen, Cologne, and Frankfurt. Two new dedicated high-speed tracks were built: HSL 2 (Brussels-Liège) and HSL 3 (Liège-German border).
There are also plans for Eurostar and ICE to link Liège to London directly.[citation needed]
Preceding station | Thalys | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
toward Paris-Nord |
Thalys | toward Essen Hbf |
||
toward Paris-Nord |
Thalys | Terminus | ||
Preceding station | Deutsche Bahn | Following station | ||
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord towards Bruxelles-Midi |
ICE 79 | towards Frankfurt (Main) Hbf |
||
Preceding station | SNCB / NMBS | Following station | ||
toward Oostende |
IC A | Verviers-Central toward Eupen |
||
Huy toward Lille-Flandres |
IC D | Liège-Jonfosse toward Herstal or Liège-Palais |
||
Ans |
IC E On weekends and public holidays only |
Terminus | ||
Ans toward Quievrain |
IC F | |||
Flemalle-Haute |
IC M | Liège-Jonfosse toward Liers |
||
IC O Weekdays (Monday to Fridays) only |
Bressoux toward Visé |
|||
Liège-Jonfosse toward Antwerpen-Centraal |
IR c | Terminus | ||
Liège-Jonfosse toward Liers |
IR m | Angleur toward Luxembourg |
||
Terminus | IR q | Angleur toward Aachen Hbf |
The national trains to Brussels also use the high speed track at 200 km/h, while the Thalys and ICE can go up to 300 km/h (bring Brussels at only 39' minutes from Liège).[2]
Road Connections
Liège-Guillemins is also a transportation hub for TEC Bus: more than 1,620 buses carrying 15,000 people serve the station everyday. It is one of the rare train stations in Europe directly connected to the highway network (E40-E25). The connection gives direct access to the large 850 spot parking structure behind the station.[3]
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liège-Guillemins. |
- National Railway Company of Belgium
- Rail transport in Belgium
- High-speed rail in Belgium
- List of TGV stations
References
- ↑ (xls) SNCB Mobility. "Reizigerstellingen 2009" (in Dutch).
- ↑ "SNCB picture snapshot of travel time between Brussels North and Liège-Guillemins". Retrieved 2012-09-04.
- ↑ "Liège Guillemins - P1 : Parking Gare". Retrieved 20 October 2012.
External links
- Official website
- Guillemins station and discrit PDF (353 KiB)
- In Pictures: Calatrava's Liège-Guillemins train station
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