Hasselt-Maastricht Railway
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Hasselt-Maastricht railway is a
railway track Railway track ( and UIC terminology) or railroad track (), also known as permanent way () or "P way" ( and Indian English), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers ( railroad ties in American ...
that goes from the Y-intersection Beverst with the Hasselt-Liège railway from
Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...
to
Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...
. The line is long. The first plans for a Hasselt - Maastricht -
Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...
rail connection date back to 1849. At the beginning of 1853, an approval by
royal order In Belgium, a royal decree (RD) or royal order ( in Dutch, arrêté royal in French, or königlicher Erlass in German) is a federal government decree implementing legislation, or exercising powers the legislature has delegated to the crown as se ...
was given for a construction of the Belgian part of the connection. The Hasselt-Maastricht line through Beverst and
Lanaken Lanaken (; ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2007, the municipality of Lanaken had a total population of 24,724. Its area is 59.00 km2 which gives a population density of 415 inhabitants per km2. ...
was built by the Aachen-Maastricht Railway Company (AM) which operated the Aachen-Maastricht section since 1853. In Hasselt, a connecting curve was also constructed to the railway to Landen. On 1 October 1856, the railway was put into service and the AM took over also its operation. During the construction of the
Albert Canal The Albert Canal (, ; , ) is a canal located in northeastern Belgium, which was named for King Albert I of Belgium. The Albert Canal connects Antwerp with Liège, and also the Meuse river with the Scheldt river. It also connects with the Des ...
in 1930–1939, the originally straight line between Eigenbilzen (village in the municipality of
Bilzen Bilzen () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. In 2021, Bilzen had a total population of 32,536. The total area is 75.90  ...
) and Lanaken was changed. The track was moved to go on the railway bridge in Gellik constructed over the Albert Canal in Gellik. The section between Beverst and Maastricht was closed to passenger transport on 4 April 1954 and finally to goods transport on 24 November 1992. Between Beverst and Munsterbilzen, the tracks have been broken up except for a few remnants. Between Munsterbilzen and the bridge over the Albert Canal near Gellik the tracks are still present. On the section between Munsterbilzen and Eigenbilzen there is a railbike in operation. The rail connection between the Albert Canal by Gellik and Lanaken is broken again. The railway line between Maastricht and Lanaken has been refurbished with a subsidy from the European Union and has been reused for freight transport. Strukton has been working on this revitalization since 2007. A special condition is that Maastricht is a natural habitat of the wall lizard and the
slowworm The common slow worm (''Anguis fragilis'') is a species of legless lizard native to western Eurasia. It is also called a deaf adder, blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple, steelworm, and hazelworm. The "blind" in blindworm refers to the lizar ...
, two very rare animal species in The Netherlands, what had to be taken into account when constructing the Dutch part in Maastricht. A monumental railway bridge over the Brusselseweg in Maastricht also has to be renovated. In July 2009, the section between
Lanaken Lanaken (; ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2007, the municipality of Lanaken had a total population of 24,724. Its area is 59.00 km2 which gives a population density of 415 inhabitants per km2. ...
and
Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...
was completed. On Wednesday, 8 June 2011, for the first time in years, a train ran over the railway line between Maastricht and Lanaken. The train was coming from Aachen and was going through Maastricht to Lanaken. There, on Thursday, 9 June 2011, the train was loaded with 1,200 tons of sand. On Friday, 10 June 2011, the train left with 22 cars for Romania. The closure was announced in September 2016. According to the
Infrabel Infrabel is a Belgian government-owned public limited company. It builds, owns, maintains and upgrades the Belgian railway network, makes its capacity available to railway operator companies, and handles train traffic control. Infrabel was cr ...
's "Technical Network Card" edition from 1 January 2019, the section Lanaken – border is "temporarily out of order"; the section border – Maastricht "exists", everything else (west of Lanaken) doesn't exist anymore. The line is designated there as single track and not electrified.


Stations and buildings

Below is an overview of all stations along the line:


Future

The Flemish government and the Flemish transport company
De Lijn Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn (, ), more commonly known as De Lijn, is a state-owned enterprise run by the Flemish government in Belgium to provide public transport with about 2240 buses and 399 trams. De Lijn was founded in 1991 after the ...
proposed to reopen the Maastricht - Lanaken - Diepenbeek - Hasselt line as part of the Spartacusplan for improving public transport in Flemish province of
Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
with the use of express trams ( lightrail). As a result, the travel time between Maastricht and Hasselt, with stops in Lanaken and Diepenbeek, could be reduced from the current 61 minutes (by bus) to 37 minutes. Up to Diepenbeek, the light rail line was to follow the old route of line 20 and the Liège - Hasselt line. A separate express tram line was to have been built between Diepenbeek and Hasselt, passing the
campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...
of the
University of Hasselt Hasselt University ( Dutch: ''Universiteit Hasselt or UHasselt'') is a public research university with campuses in Hasselt and Diepenbeek, Belgium. It has more than 7,500 students and 1,800 academic, administrative and technical staff (2023). Th ...
and going through the centre of Hasselt to the railway station. The main costs of the project were connected to the clean-up and redevelopment of the remaining 10 kilometres of track between Lanaken and Beverst and the construction of the new tram line between Diepenbeek and Hasselt. The line was to open in around 2018. On 1 August 2015, operations on the Munsterbilzen-Gellik section started, using a railbike. The concession was approved for three years, until 2018, when the light rail would start operating. However the commissioning of the light rail service was postponed until 2024. On 10 June 2022 the project was cancelled in favour of an electric 'trambus'.{{cite web, url=https://www.trammaastrichthasselt.eu/ , title=homepage2 - Tram Maastricht-Hasselt , publisher=Trammaastrichthasselt.eu , date= , accessdate=2022-09-20


Connections

In the following places there is or was a connection to the following railway lines: ; Y Beverst : Hasselt-Liège railway between Hasselt and Liège-Guillemnins ; Maastricht : Liège-Maastricht railway between Y Val Benoît and Maastricht : Aachen-Maastricht railway between
Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...
Hbf and Maastricht : Maastricht-Venlo railway between Maastricht and
Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...


Pictures

File:Maastricht - Spoorbrug over de Maas in lijn naar Hasselt (28 augustus 2017).jpg, Train bridge over the river Maas in Maastricht on the railway to Hasselt File:Maastricht - Viaduct spoorlijn naar Hasselt over de Brusselseweg (28 augustus 2017).jpg, Viaduct on the railway to Hasselt over the Brusselseweg in Maastricht


See also

* List of railway lines in Nederland * List of railway lines in Belgium * List of NMBS-stations in Belgium


References

Railway lines in Limburg (Netherlands) Railway lines in Flanders Cross-border railway lines in Belgium Cross-border railway lines in the Netherlands