Rail Transport in Belgium - Rail Links With Adjacent Countries

Rail Links With Adjacent Countries

  • All adjacent countries use the same 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge.
  • Netherlands - different voltage 3 kV DC/1500 V DC. The change of voltage occurs south of Roosendaal, and between the Dutch stations of Eijsden and Maastricht Randwijck; monovoltage 3 kV Belgian trains proceed under reduced power to the first large station past the border (Roosendaal or Maastricht). Border crossings are at:
    • Essen, Visé (Wezet)
    • Meer (high speed line)
    • Hamont, Lanaken and Zelzate (freight only)
    • Eisden (planned, opening scheduled between 2012 and 2017)
    • Achel (closed, reopening scheduled between 2012 and 2017)
    • Sint-Gillis-Waas (closed), Turnhout (closed)
  • Germany - different voltage 3 kV DC/15 kV AC. The change of voltage occurs in Aachen station where there is a switchable track so that 3kV monovoltage trains can reach Aachen. Change of voltage also on the Moresnet viaduct on the freight only line Visé - Montzen - Aachen West. Border crossings are at:
    • Welkenraedt
    • Kelmis-Hergenrath (includes high speed traffic on the upgraded line)
    • Losheimergraben, Raeren, Gemmenich (freight only).
    • Steinebrück (closed),
  • Luxembourg - different voltage 3 kV DC/25 kV AC. The change of voltage occurs in Luxembourg station; the section from the border to Luxembourg is at 3 kV DC. Border crossings are at:
    • Arlon-Sterpenich, Gouvy (same voltage)
    • Athus - Rodange (same voltage)
    • Lengeler, Benonchamps, Lommersweiler (closed)
  • France - different voltage 3 kV DC/25 kV AC. The change of voltage occurs at the border, except for the high-speed line and Athus which is 25 kV throughout. Border crossings are at:
    • Mouscron (Moeskroen), Tournai-Blandain, Quiévrain, Aulnois, Erquelinnes, Athus, Froyennes
    • high speed line at Esplechin
    • De Panne and Momignies only irregular freight traffic
    • Heer-Agimont (only touristic trains)
    • Menen, Comines-Warneton, Leupegem, Antoing, Tournai, Péruwelz, Dour, Doische (closed)

Read more about this topic:  Rail Transport In Belgium

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