https://5minutes.rtl.lu/actu/luxembourg/a/1628816.htmlAccording to figures for the first quarter, recently revealed by Luxtram General Manager André Von der Marck, the tram’s connection to the Luxembourg City railway station at the end of 2020 has proven to be a success story.
Evidently, the focus of the tram construction site is increasingly moving towards the south-west of the capital, towards Cloche d’Or and the future national football stadium. According to calculations by Minister for Mobility François Bausch, the tram is expected to reach this terminus “towards the end of 2023".
The next major step (completion of section C) will take passengers to Bonnevoie by September 2022. On Monday, the laying of the first rails of the tram line on the Bonnevoie side, starting this summer, will be announced and details of the future stops will be revealed.
But the tram project is also making great strides at Kirchberg, at the other end of the line. Luxtram, the company in charge of operating and building the network, is currently negotiating with companies to build the bridge that will allow the tram to cross the A1 and then head straight for Luxembourg Airport, its terminus in the north-east of the capital.
Von der Mark stated that Luxtram will sign the contract “before the start of summer” and construction work on the bridge will start “before the end of this year”. Luxtram’s general manager is confident that the tram will be able to reach Luxembourg Airport by early 2024. By then, passengers will be able to take the tram from Luxembourg Airport straight to Cloche d’Or and the new football stadium.
The European tender for the design and construction of the motorway bridge was launched in December 2020. Three competing companies delivered their final proposals at the beginning of April and on 29 April, if all goes well, Luxtram’s board of directors will authorise Von der Mark to sign the contract with the company that has submitted the best offer.
Luxtram has already received authorisation from the Ministry of the Environment to carry out additional work on the line extension to Luxembourg Airport. Work is expected to start in autumn 2021.
The future bridge, which will be nearly 200 metres long, will span the A1 motorway just a few dozen metres behind the Tramsschapp, the storage centre at the far end of Kirchberg.
After crossing the A1, “the tram will go around the motorway junction and then back along the motorway to the airport”, Von der Marck explains. From the end of the tracks already laid along the Tramsschapp to Luxembourg Airport, the line will be extended by 3.9 km.
It will run straight to the Senningerberg interchange where the tram will pass a seven-storey car park (for 4,000 vehicles) before reaching the airport. The final line between Luxembourg Airport and Cloche d’Or will be 16 km long.
