Notes

3. Three is the number. 3.

Okay, sorry, I just keep confusing this line with the HSL 4/HSL Zuid, a high speed line from Amsterdam to Antwerp. This line, is the LGV 3 instead (where LGV means Line à Grande Vitesse or High Speed Line), which is also known in dutch as HSL 3 (HSL stands Hogesnelheidslijn, which means the same), but as it only crosses the french and, right here near Eupen, the german speaking part of Belgium, I’m going to call it LGV exclusively.

The LGV 3 connects the german/belgian border with Liège, and saying that it connects Aachen with Liège is a more-or-less acceptable simplication. With top speeds of 250 kph (155 mph), it does not seem too fast, but it certainly beats the new line at Langerwehe (80 kph, 50 mph) or the belgian freeway E40, to which it is parallel for the most part (120 kph, 75 mph, Mercedes-Benz higher). At only 54 kilometers (34 miles) length , higher speeds are just not useful.

The line has been finished since december 2007, but it uses the new ETCS in-cab-signalling and train control system, and that has turned out to be quite a problem with software version mismatches and the like. Today, it has been opened for the german ICE 3M, which now makes the trip in 21 minutes (less than the Euregiobahn takes to get to Langerwehe), while the Thalys, which will use the old line until december, takes 52. Current work at a train tunnel near Aachen should cut this by a few additional minutes.

As openings go, this one was rather boring. At the parallel opening in Langerwehe there was a station festival, everybody was allowed to ride the Euregiobahn for free, there were additional trains, I got almost as much brochures as at Innotrans and a very nice Euregiobahn paper flag. Here: Nothing at all, I just got to wait for a train to appear to take pictures of. Interestingly enough, I later went to Eupen station just to see whether any interesting normal train was there (there was, I might post a picture later), and was immediately asked by another train fan why I wasn’t at the freeway, taking pictures of ICEs…