Slowly but surely, efforts to connect Place de l'Étoile to Luxembourg City's central train station are progressing. In the coming weeks, a new phase will start between Place de Paris and Rue de Strasbourg, as well as along Avenue de la Liberté.
It will begin on 13 May. Work on underground networks on one side of the street (with even house numbers) will take place over the course of five months, followed by four months for the other (odd) side. As a result, these roadworks will last into 2020.
Once the underground work is complete, the next phase of surface works will be able to start, beginning with the laying of a temporary asphalt mix, and then the tram network itself (rails and crossings in particular) from April 2020 onwards.
Finally, the final road works (street furniture, asphalt ...) will begin in the autumn of 2020 and should be completed by the end of the year.
Concurrently, similar construction will take place around the station, proceeding via the same phases: underground networks (May to September 2019), multitubular works for the tram (October 2019-April 2020), railway tracks (April 2020), and finishing surface works (docks, furnitur ...).
André Von der Mark, head of Luxtram, cheerfully announced that the timing was in line with their initial predictions for the inauguration of the new section by December 2020.
He announced the four new stations that are planned along this stretch: Royal Hamilius, Place de Metz, Place de Paris, and Central Station. Once the line from the station to the Luxexpo is completed, the frequency of the tram will be doubled from every 6 minutes to every 3 minutes by December 2020. A total of 45 people will be hired to carry out the new developments.
The director of Luxtram added that they were aware of the scope of the project, that they couldn’t afford to exceed the time limit, and that they were working to reduce the level of inconvenience as much as possible. He congratulated the good work of site mediators who resolved, in consultation with various stakeholders, neighborhood issues, complaints, and other complications.
The first phase of the project, between Luxexpo and Place de l'Etoile, resulted in the filing of only four claim files which are currently being reviewed by an ad hoc commission.
The managers of the RGTR network and Luxembourg City bus network have collaborated extensively with Luxtram to minimise the impact on travellers. However, a number of adjustments are inevitable with bus station removals and relocations.
According to Alex Kies, the Director of Public Transportation in the Ministry for Mobility and Public Works, the authorities have tried to make the changes as simple as possible for the 10,000 peak hour passengers affected, by moving stations only minimally. Lines 110, 111, 121, 158, 170, 175, 177, 197, 200, 205, 210, 300, 315, 740, 800, 810, 950, 965, 970, 971, 975, and 980 are concerned.
For city buses, platform 1 is due to disappear and lines 2,4, 21, 18, 31 and CN1 will be allocated other platforms.
Finally, during the works, the station kiss and fly will be moved to the main car park.
