The planned restart of Arriva‘s Tri-Country Train, connecting Maastricht with both the Belgian city of Liège and Aachen in Germany, has been delayed by three more weeks.
The route was supposed to start up again on Sunday, June 9, but “significant damage to the infrastructure on the route between Visé and Eijsden as a result of recent thunderstorms” has caused further problems, according to the train operators.
The route is known as the Drielandentrein in the Netherlands because it stops in three countries. It is also known as LIMAX (Liège-Maastricht-Aachen-Express) in reference to the three main cities where it stops.
Repair work has already been completed, but additional and necessary work still needs to be carried out “to protect the rail infrastructure in the event of future flooding,” said Arriva, which also wrote partly on behalf of train operators NS and NMBS.
They said they “deeply regret” that the start of the Drielandentrein has to be postponed.
The Tri-Country Train to resume June 30
The new expectation is that the train will start running from Sunday, June 30.
Passengers can use the service to travel from Maastricht to both Liège and Aachen without having to change trains.
This is meant to make it easier for residents along the border region to take the train for work, school, and family visits as well as other recreational trips.
Delays are becoming a tradition
The LIMAX was also delayed when it entered service in 2019. While The intention was that Liège, Maastricht and Aachen would have been connected by train since the end of 2018, the first train did not run until 27 January, 2019.
One of the reasons for the delay was the European Train Control System (ETCS) required by Belgium. The system was not built into Arriva’s Stadler Flirts.
All trains are now equipped with this security system, just like the Belgian Line 40 (Maastricht-Liège), on which the Three-Country Train will soon run.
The Three-Country Train takes under an hour and a half to cover the entire Liège-Aachen route.
Share on:
