These items come from Line News International ISSN 1354-0947 (c) The Branch Line Society 2002 International Editor: Brian Philp, 11 Arden Street, Edinburgh EH9 1BR, Scotland, UK, rail@rinbad.demon.co.uk

2003

2679][BE] (Bruxelles=Brussel -) Leuven - Ans (- Liège): (R.0007; Ball 9A2-9B2) The high-speed 25kV 50Hz Leuven - Ans Ligne 2 opened for passenger services from the 15 December 2002 timetable change. (Trans-fer, #126, December 2002)

2680][BE][LU][FR] Dinant - Bertrix - Virton - Athus SNCB / Rodange CFL / Mont-Saint-Martin SNCF: (R.0378; Ball 17A3-17B1) After 11 years’ modernisation work, 19 November 2002 finally saw inauguration of 25kV 50Hz electrification on the Athus-Meuse axis, intended to relieve the 3000V dc Namur - Libramont - Arlon - Autelbas - Sterpenich SNCB - Kleinbettingen CFL - Luxembourg main line of heavy freight flows, mostly from the port of Antwerpen. Class 41 diesel railcars continue to work Dinant - Bertrix and Libramont - Bertrix - Virton passenger trains. (Trans-fer, #126, December 2002)

2712][FR][BE] (Maubeuge -) Sous-le-Bois - Feignies (Bifurcation de Douzies Sud) SNCF (- Quévy SNCB - Mons): (R.0596, 0808; EGTRE FR02/130; Ball 16A3) The east-to-north curve avoiding Hautmont, the Raccordement de Sous-le-Bois, lost its regular passenger trains 6 August 1973, though a short-lived all-year SNCB Mons - Maubeuge passenger service started 2 June 1996, became weekend-only from 28 September 1997 and was withdrawn from the May 2000 timetable change. In recent years the curve saw seasonal passenger use, but the SNCB Maubeuge - Quévy - Mons - Blankenberge seaside trains last ran on Sunday 2 September 2001, and the curve was not used by passenger services in 2002.

2717][BE][NL] Neerpelt - Hamont NMBS - Budel NS - Weert: (R.0969, 2453; Ball 9B3) The numbers of travellers using Belgium’s special cheap day-rover tickets on Train+Tram+Bus day have been falling in recent years, and the 2002 event on 28 September was less successful than some. Nevertheless local public-transport support group Werkgroep Openbaar Vervoer Kempen hope to be able to run a Neerpelt - Weert cross-border Teuten-Express 15 in autumn 2003. Teuten is a name for local small-time smugglers, according to Trans-fer, #126, December 2002.

2764][BE] St.Ghislain - Tertre: In connection with the open day at St.Ghislain railway museum on 13 September 2003 preservation group Patrimoine Ferroviaire Touristique may offer, as in previous years, shuttle trains on the short freight-only branch north to Tertre (R.1100; Ball 7A1; line 100). On 27 and 28 September 2003 PFT plan to run shuttle trains on the Leuze - Frasnes-lez-Anvaing freight-only stub of line 86 north to Ronse/Renaix (BLN 800.0182; Ball 7B1).

2765][BE][NL] (Gent -) Wondelgem - Zelzate NMBS - Sas-van-Gent NS - Sluiskil - Boerengat / Terneuzen: (BLN 704.03, 800.0187; Ball 8A3) The small part of the Dutch province of Zeeland lying south of the river Schelde estuary west of Antwerpen contains a short isolated freight-only section of Nederlandse Spoorwegen that can be reached only over a freight branch of the Belgian network heading north from Gent. A map appeared in Today’s Railways, #42. The distance from Gent Zeehaven to Terneuzen is only about 30km and one might think that NS would contract for the various Dutch industrial sidings to be served by NMBS trip-workings running through from Gent. Instead, both Zelzate and Sas retain small exchange yards of four or five sidings, each making extra work for railway staff, and Terneuzen has an NS locomotive-depot equipped with elderly Class 2200 diesels which are about to be replaced by recently-delivered (ex-DR, ex-DB) Class 204. On 12 February 2003 NS #2203 worked trains of tank wagons from the Dow Chemicals factory at Boerengat and empty grain hoppers from the Cerestar plant to Sas, and loaded grain wagons back to Cerestar just north of Sas, while #2278 and 2212 were both active on movements in the Terneuzen area. NMBS locomotives appeared at Sas around 14:00 to take the Dutch traffic south to Gent.

2791][BE] Antwerpen trams: The 1.5km Merksem - Keizershoek line 3 extension opened October 2002. (Verkeerskunde)

2816][BE][FR] (St.Ghislain -) Quiévrain SNCB - Blanc-Misseron SNCF (- Valenciennes): (Ball 7B1) Freight traffic having ceased by the end of 1988, this cross-border section officially closed in May 1989 (BLN 721.05), and was physically severed with the remodelling of Quiévrain station prior to electrification of SNCB's passenger-only St.Ghislain - Quiévrain branch (line 97) in summer 1995 (BLN 736.0202). Visited on 5 March 2003, Quiévrain had three passenger platforms, all electrified at 3000V dc, with the three tracks coming together as a headshunt ending in a buffer-stop near the Rue du Joncquois at the western end of the station. Diverging a few metres east of the present station and avoiding it to the north was a track that was once the running line to France. Now an unelectrified siding, it too ended in a buffer-stop, with a trackless gap of some 10m beyond to the former level-crossing over the Rue du Joncquois. Track remained in the surface of this road and continued west to the Belgian/French frontier. Out of use for some 15 years, this track had acquired significant vegetation including small trees growing between the rails, but otherwise seemed in good order, with no rails missing. At or near the frontier, the track became double and continued thus till the two tracks converged just east of a level-crossing over the Rue des Déports (D954) at the east end of Blanc-Misseron SNCF station. No buffer-stop was in place on the SNCF side so, provided a French train could penetrate the undergrowth, it could in theory run as far as the Rue du Joncquois at Quiévrain. Over the years since closure, various suggestions seem to have been made for reopening (including extension of Paris - Valenciennes TGVs via St.Ghislain to Mons) and studies have been commissioned (BLN 768.0524, 844.081, R.1776, 2194), but to no effect as yet.

2906][FR][BE] Aulnoye - Hautmont - Feignies SNCF - Quévy SNCB - Mons: (R.0808; Ball 16A3) From 15 June 2003 cross-border freight trains will change locomotives at either Aulnoye or Mons, not at Quévy, where a section of overhead wire in the station and adjacent freight sidings is at present manually switchable between French 25kV 50Hz and Belgian 3000V dc. Trains are to be worked through by SNCF Class 36000 electric or SNCF Class 67400 diesel locomotives, and the old electrical switchgear at Quévy is to be replaced by equipment enabling the Class 36000s to change pantographs and voltages automatically. SNCB will close Quévy yard and redeploy staff. The Class 36000s are already active on trains from France to Zeebrugge and Bruxelles-Schaerbeek in Belgium. (http://www.iryc.net)

2907][FR][BE][LU] Mont-Saint-Martin Triage SNCF - Y Aubange SNCB / Athus SNCB / Rodange CFL: (Ball 17B1) The rail layout at the point where France, Belgium and Luxembourg meet has already seen significant remodelling as part of the long-awaited Athus-Meuse project for a 25kV 50Hz electrified Belgium - Luxembourg freight corridor, finally inaugurated 19 November 2002 (R.2680). Three of the original curves remain: Y Aubange - Athus (northwest-to-northeast; freight-only), Athus SNCB - Rodange CFL (northeast-to-southeast, with CFL passenger trains; now SNCB line 171) and Rodange CFL - Mont-Saint-Martin Triage SNCF (southeast-to-southwest; with SNCF passenger trains). However, the Mont-Saint-Martin Triage SNCF - Athus SNCB freight line (southwest-to-northeast; BLN 718.09) closed from 26 September 1993 to facilitate the opening on 25 September 1994 of a new Y Aubange SNCB - Rodange CFL freight line (northwest-to-southeast; BLN 741.0325). The new railway, now regarded as a prolongation of SNCB line 167, has usefully enabled through-running of freight from Virton in Belgium to Rodange in Luxembourg without reversal at Athus station. The 1990s decision to close the old line, bitterly opposed locally, left the layout without any direct link for freight from Mont-St.Martin yard in France to Belgium, but by spring 2003 this decision had been reversed and a new mainly double-track curve was under construction from Mont-St.Martin towards Belgium. Though this follows some of the old alignment, an Athus-Meuse track diagram in Trans-fer (#126, December 2002) indicates that the result is to be a Mont-Saint-Martin Triage SNCF - Y Aubange SNCB curve (southwest-to-northwest). Photographs of the works can be seen at http://www.rail.lu/ligneathusmontstmartin.html and http://www.rail.lu/lignerodangefrance.html.

2908][BE][NL] Neerpelt - Hamont NMBS - Budel NS - Weert: (R.2717; Ball 9B3) NMBS mineral trains from Antwerpen docks use this line to reach the Billiton zinc smelter just inside the Netherlands at Budel. Freight from Antwerpen can also run this way to Germany, cutting across the Netherlands near its narrowest point, but in the 1990s NS discouraged the line’s use, regarding it as potential competition for their more profitable Rotterdam-Germany freight traffic (BLN 694.08). However, Today’s Railways for May 2003 reports that during March 2003, while the key Montzen - Aachen West freight route was closed for works on the Moresnet viaduct (R.2108), Belgian private operators Dillen & LeJeune Cargo (DLC) diverted their Antwerpen - Wackersdorf container trains to run Neerpelt - Weert - Roermond - Heerlen - Herzogenrath - Aachen. Dutch infrastructure authority Prorail are said to be considering a limited number of regular through freight trains by that route.

2909][BE] Brussel/Bruxelles: (Ball 10B2-10B1) By 2005 regular passenger trains may again be serving line 28, the north-to-south belt-line circling the city to the west (Y Pannenhuis - Simonis - Brussel-West/Bruxelles-Ouest - Y Cureghem), long earmarked for a possible future Réseau Express Régional (BLN 837.0549; EGTRE BE03/24). NMBS/SNCB plan to reopen the stations at Simonis and B-West/Ouest, both used on occasion during emergencies in the 1990s, the former for interchange with the Métro (BLN 736.0203, 769.06). The Brussel/Bruxelles provincial government would however prefer more intermediate stops. Perhaps another small step towards an RER is an experimental Saturday service from December 2003 on line 26, the north-to-south route avoiding the city-centre to the east (Vilvoorde - Delta - Huizingen - Y Buizingen; R.0266).

2910][BE][LU] (Brussel/Bruxelles - Arlon -) Autelbas - Athus (- Rodange - Luxembourg): (R.0378; Ball 17B2-17B1) Engineering work on CFL will disrupt services on Sunday 25 May 2003. Arlon - Luxembourg buses will replace the hourly IC trains, and international trains EC90/91, EC96/97, EC295/296, plus INT498 (24-25 May) and INT499 (25-26 May), are to be diverted via the normally freight-only Autelbas - Athus section of line 171, with delays of 30min. (European Rail yahoogroup)

2973][BE] (Gent -) Wondelgem - Ertvelde - Zelzate NMBS (- Sas-van-Gent NS - Sluiskil - Boerengat / Terneuzen): (R.2765; Ball 8A3; NMBS 55) Construction of a new dock (Kluizendok) on the Gent - Terneuzen canal requires line 55 to be moved to a new alignment, and work began in 2001 with a view to completion in December 2002. During 2002 activity ceased, after preparation of the Wondelgem - Ertvelde trackbed, but it seems that work is to restart in August 2003 laying track and providing signalling, and the new line should be ready by end-2003 or early 2004. (http://www.iryc.net)

2974][BE] (Winterslag -) Waterschei - As - Eisden: (R.1043; Ball 9B2-9B3) The heritage railway now trades as Kolenspoor (= ‘coal line’) rather than Limburgse Stoom Vereniging, with public trips (As 14:00 - Eisden - As 16:00 - Waterschei - As) on this isolated 14km section of NMBS’ out-of-use lines 21A and 21B on the first and third Sunday of each month from Easter until ‘the end of the summer’. From Genk station De Lijn bus #11 provides a connection every two hours and stops outside As station. On 4 May 2003 As station building was under restoration and surrounded by scaffolding, and a temporary building in the former goods-yard was acting as customer-reception area and café-bar, with extra seating immediately adjacent in a passenger coach, permanently-parked and still on rails. Immediately outside was a children’s miniature railway c.200m long, with open wagons hauled by a reproduction of Belgian diesel locomotive #5501. The standard-gauge train comprised a single passenger coach hauled by a German-built diesel shunter with a maximum speed of 30km/h. The fare was EUR5 and for an extra EUR1 one was allowed to ride in the cab. Just outside As station a well-used cycle-track marked the course of the former As - Maaseik section of line 21A. The As - Eisden section runs through woods most of the way, and at one point the train had to stop so that the crew could saw their way through an overhanging tree leaning across the track. The nearby ‘hills’ are spoil-heaps from coal-mining, which in this area was quite short-lived, for although the coal was of high quality it lay deep down and was expensive to extract. The train-crew pointed out a former alignment said to have been abandoned in the 1920s because of mining activity. A cab-ride is recommended to those keen to cover the maximum length of track. The train continued a short distance beyond the former Eisden station, now a cafe called De Statie (= ‘the station’) and trundled over a level-crossing to the beginning of what was once an extensive goods-yard perhaps 1km long. Here the locomotive was detached and headed for the buffer-stop in the far distance in order to run around the train. According to the train-crew the track formerly continued slightly further, to the edge of a canal. Unfortunately the 16:00 As - Waterschei trip, over a less scenic section, did not operate because insufficient volunteer staff were available to operate the five level-crossings.

2975][BE] Lobbes - Thuin heritage trams: (BLN 847.0171, R.2302; Ball 8B1 not shown) The preserved metre-gauge line between Lobbes and the Association pour la Sauvegarde du Vicinal museum at Thuin has recently been operated with diesel cars, but by 10 May 2003 the museum’s own electricity substation was providing 600V dc power for test runs, and a public service of electric trams is planned on Sundays and public holidays from the beginning of June until the end of September 2003. During 2003 various moves of preserved trams between the depots at Gosselies, Jumet and Anderlues and the Thuin museum have again been using the non-passenger sections Gosselies - Jumet - Piges and Anderlues - Lobbes. (ASVi)

2976][BE] (Hasselt - Bilzen -) Y Glons - Liers (- Liège): (Ball 9B2; SNCB 34) The line has only an hourly passenger service, and in early May 2003 the Y Glons - Liers section was being operated as a single track, with the second track out of use.

3007][LU][BE] (Arlon - Autelbas - Sterpenich SNCB -) Kleinbettingen CFL - Capellen - Mamer - Bertrange-Strassen - Luxembourg: (Ball 18A2) The CFL engineering work on Sunday 25 May 2003 which diverted some international trains via the normally freight-only Autelbas - Athus section in Belgium (R.2910) was to allow excavation of a subway between the two platforms of a new station at Mamer that is to open on 15 June 2003 to serve a local school. (European Rail yahoogroup)

3027][BE] Belgium to abandon international trains?: Brussel=Bruxelles may be the capital of the European Union, but from the 14 December 2003 timetable-change SNCB/NMBS are reportedly to cease their involvement in many international services, including the provision of classic through carriages, couchettes and sleepers, and all passenger/car-carrier and winter-sports workings. Eurostar may become a wholly SNCF operation. Thalys (Paris - Brussel - Köln / Amsterdam etc), other TGV (eg Bruxelles - Marseille / Perpignan), Benelux (Brussel - Amsterdam) and Bruxelles - Luxembourg trains may continue much as before, but it is not clear what will happen to all the classic through workings from and to Belgium that may or may not use some Belgian stock (eg Brussel=Bruxelles - Strasbourg / Port Bou / Ventimiglia / Milano / Firenze / Venezia / Roma / Basel / Bern / Wien / München / Berlin / Hamburg). The demise of Belgian passenger/car-carrier trains and possibly other overnight workings may leave various curves in various countries without a passenger service. Detailed information will be posted at http://www.steane.com/egtre/egtre.htm when available.

3052][BE] Kortrijk - Menen - Comines - Ieper - Poperinge (- Abeele - Hazebrouck SNCF): (Ball 7B2-7A2; NMBS 69) In May 2003 heavily-rusted track at the once-important locomotive repair-and-maintenance shed east of Kortrijk indicated little recent use. Menen freight yard had mostly been lifted but what little remained of the track had likewise seen no recent usage. At Ieper the large freight yard had vanished, but west of the station a single-track non-electrified industrial branch left the electrified line and curved away to the south. At Poperinge, the passenger terminus, track continued beyond the station as a headshunt only, though evidence of a former railway was visible heading towards the centre of the town.

West of Poperinge, line 69 once continued via Abeele for 7.9km to the French frontier and onward to link with the SNCF at Hazebrouck. The original Belgian Flandre Occidentale company, and later SNCB/NMBS, owned the section in France until SNCF took it over from 16 November 1942. Poperinge - Abeele grens closed to passengers 23 May 1954 and freight 26 September 1970, the track being lifted in 1972. Though little is to be seen of the railway there, the small Belgian village of Abeele still has a rather rural Stationstraat (which is the address of a farmstead that has become a specialist retail shop with a magnificent selection of Belgian beers, well worth a visit if passing by car on the way to or from the Channel Tunnel).

North-west of Poperinge, the former 34km Poperinge - Adinkerke/De Panne railway (line 76) was built by the Belgian army in 1915. After World War I it opened to ordinary traffic from 30 September 1920, but closed to passengers 1934 and (on the orders of the invading German army) was completely closed and lifted in 1942. (partly from http://ibelgique.ifrance.com/brail/)

3129][BE][FR] (Roeselare - Y Meiboom -) Menen - Halluin (- Tourcoing SNCF): (Ball 7B2-7A2; NMBS 64, 65) Menen freight yard (R.3052) was closed and lifted in the 1990s, but the last remnant of the former Roeselare - Menen - Tourcoing route remains in daily use from Menen station south. Unusually, this c.1km stub of Belgian industrial track remains an international railway, for the factory it serves straddles the frontier, and the line runs for some 100m on the part of the site on French territory near Halluin. (partly from http://ibelgique.ifrance.com/brail/)

3130][BE] Belgium: Train+Tram+Bus day: TTB day was an annual autumn event promoting public transport, but only 42,000 of the special cheap day-rover tickets were sold for the September 2002 day (R.2717), and it seems the transport operators have decided not to offer such a ticket in 2003. (http://www.bttb.be)

3234][BE] Bruxelles=Brussel metro: The Bizet - Erasme extension of metro line 1B (R.1193) is to open 15 September 2003.

3307][BE] (Paris -) Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid - Brussel-Nationaal-Luchthaven/Bruxelles-National-Aéroport: From 14 December 2003 a morning Thalys high-speed working from Paris is to be extended beyond Midi/Zuid to BRU airport.

3370][BE] Antwerpen Centraal: (BLN 837.0551, 842.027, R.1628, 2280; Ball 9B3) Begun in earnest in 1998, radical reconstruction continues at this magnificent early 20th-century terminus to provide platforms on three levels instead of one, including deep-level through platforms serving high-speed trains on the new north-south (Amsterdam - Antwerpen - Bruxelles) line. A notice at Antwerpen-Berchem on 20 September said that the Antwerpen-Berchem - Centraal section and Centraal station itself were to be closed over the weekend 27-28 September 2003 to reconnect the tracks to terminal platforms 1-3 on the original (upper) level, effectively doubling the recent platform capacity of the station.

3454][BE] Libramont - Bertrix - Florenville - Virton - Y Aubange - Athus - Autelbas - Arlon: (R.2680, 2907; Ball 17A2-17B1-17B2) From the December 2003 timetable-change, Class 41 diesel-railcar-worked train L5959 is extended from Virton to Arlon (Libramont 09:51 - 09:59 Bertrix 10:02 - Florenville 10:15 - 10:32 Virton 10:34 - 10:52 Athus 10:54 - 11:08 Arlon), making a long loop off the Bruxelles - Libramont - Arlon - Luxembourg main line and restoring as planned (R.0378) a passenger service to the Virton - Y Aubange section of the 25kV 50Hz Athus-Meuse route; the Y Aubange - Athus northwest-to-northeast curve; and the Athus - Autelbas line, all three hitherto freight-only. Athus ceases to be in the curious position of a station in Belgium served by passenger trains only from Luxembourg. (http://www.iryc.net/)

3488][BE] (Libramont - Bertrix -) Virton - Y Aubange - Athus - Autelbas (- Arlon - Stockem): (Ball 17A2-17B1-17B2) Notwithstanding R.3454, Virton - Athus - Autelbas has not reopened to passengers (yet). It seems that train L5959 Libramont - Bertrix - Virton retains the same train-number while running empty beyond Virton to exchange Class 41 railcars at Stockem, and our source (website http://www.iryc.net) misinterpreted this empty-stock movement, in the timetable since December 2002, as a passenger working. The local authorities are keen to see reopening but SNCB appear reluctant, and are short of finance.