Throughout half term next week, rail passengers in Luxembourg will experience significant disruption to their journeys, with bus services replacing trains on the Audun-le-Tiche-Esch line from 12-16 February. Services between Volmerange-les-Mines and Bettembourg will also be slashed in half for the same period due to staff shortages.
Wengler told RTL the amended timetable was due to a combination of factors which led to a lack of staff, including sick leave and Carnival holidays. The management did not want to cancel any leave, he said, “as the staff have given a lot in recent months”. The shortage only concerns support staff and is a throwback to the pandemic, as Wengler believes the company struggled to recruit and train sufficient staff as a result. “At the time we weren’t able to recruit in high numbers,” he said. “In 2021 and 2022, CFL did not achieve its recruitment targets.”
However, looking at the future yields some optimism for the company, even if new recruits are still undergoing training. The rail network has expanded its hiring pool, for example, hiring more part-time staff or solely-French-speaking employees.
Why has the train company selected these two specific lines to restrict rail traffic next week? Wengler said CFL wanted to impact as few customers as possible, but emphasised the affected passengers would not be left to their own devices. Rail replacement bus services will be put on for the first line, while the second will have more seating to make up for the reduced number of trains.
Staff is one issue for CFL; infrastructure is another. “We are currently going through a phase in which there are a great many construction sites on the rail network,” Wengler explained. “This year, the major engineering works are focusing on southern Luxembourg,” including the newly-built Bettembourg-Luxembourg line, which is currently “the biggest bottleneck” where major passenger and freight services cross one another. The railway and station in Bettembourg will be temporarily closed from July to September to allow for the Hammerel bridge to be replaced.
This construction site means there will be no TGV services connecting Luxembourg and the French capital during this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. Wengler said this was obviously “a shame”, but that CFL were working with their French counterparts SNCF to try and find a solution, which could see the TGV rerouted to the station in Esch-Belval.
Additional tracks, platforms and new trains with more seating are expected to increase CFL capacity, with the latter to put into service this year. Once these important steps have concluded, Wengler says CFL will offer more punctual services with greater comfort for passengers.
Last year, the company achieved its average target of 92% of trains arriving on time, but this did not apply to all services, although the northern and Wasserbillig lines did exceed this threshold. However, the busier railways in southern Luxembourg remained below the annual target.
