Liège-Guillemins railway station

Liège-Guillemins Railway Station
Station statistics
Address	Place des Guillemins, Liège
Coordinates	50°37′29″N 5°34′01″E
Lines	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

The station in the 1970s

The station in 1905

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 36,000 people every day which makes it the tenth busiest station in Belgium.

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 completed demolished to complete the remaining sections of the new station.

New station

The new station by the architect Santiago Calatrava was officially opened on September 18, 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
Brussels-South toward Paris-Nord		Thalys		Aachen Hbf toward Essen Hbf
Namur toward Paris-Nord		Thalys		Terminus
Preceding station		Deutsche Bahn		Following station
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord towards Bruxelles-Midi		ICE 79		Aachen Hbf towards Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
Preceding station		SNCB / NMBS		Following station
Leuven toward Oostende		IC A		Verviers-Central toward Eupen
Huy toward Lille-Flandres		IC D		Liège-Jonfosse toward Herstal
Ans toward Blankenberge and Knokke		IC E On weekends and public holidays only		Terminus
Ans toward Quievrain		IC F
Flemalle-Haute toward Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid		IC M		Liège-Jonfosse toward Liers
Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord toward Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid		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).

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 connexion gives direct access to the large 850 places parking structure behind the station.

See also

• National Railway Company of Belgium
• Rail transport in Belgium
• High-speed rail in Belgium
• List of TGV stations

External links

• Official website
• Guillemins station and discrit PDF (353 KiB)
• In Pictures: Calatrava's Liège-Guillemins train station