In terms of the work’s visual progress, tram tracks have been laid through to the end of Avenue Emile Reuter, just about peeking onto Boulevard Royal.
The construction site benefited from the Carnival half-term lull allowing significant progress to be made. At the same time, construction workers are at a crucial phase requiring precision and patience. Laying the actual tracks means constantly measuring the distance between the tracks, as any uneven surface could cause issues once the tram begins travelling along the tracks.
Notably, unevenness could make tram journeys bumpier and cause unpleasant screeching as the train goes along the tracks. Every now and again, workers have to stop and measure the distance between the rails. With only a tolerance distance of two millimetres, they must be stringent before securing the rails.
Produced by ArcelorMittal, the current shipment was manufactured at the Hayange site, but the next batch of tracks is coming from the Rodange site.
On Friday 21 February, workers fused the individual rails together. One tram rail is around 18 metres long and weighs a tonne.
In a typical working day workers will fuse six such rails together. The work on this phase of installing the tracks on Avenue Emile Reuter has lasted two weeks and will continue through to mid-March.
But this is not the only part of the tram’s future path currently undergoing work. The tracks are also slowly taking shape on Avenue de la Liberté, with preliminary work for laying the rails taking place by the BCEE head office.
In October, Luxtram will begin testing signals on the new stretch of the route as tram drivers begin their training for the new route.
