The number of daily connections between Trier and Luxembourg City will almost double from December 2019 DB Regio AG

The number of daily connections between Trier and Luxembourg City will almost double from December 2019 DB Regio AG

The Luxembourg sustainable development and infrastructure ministry announced on Tuesday that DB Regio, a wholly-owned subsidiary of German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, had won a call for tenders for the Rhineland-Palatinate network.

It means a new regional line to Luxembourg will be rolled out, almost doubling the number of daily connections between Trier and Luxembourg City.

“In addition, all stops between Trier-Ehrang and Wittlich will now benefit from a direct connection to Luxembourg every hour from Monday to Saturday from 5am to 9pm,” the ministry said, adding: “This means a significant improvement in the cross-border connection to Luxembourg for the many cross-border workers as well as for Luxembourg customers.”

The ministry said the improvements will come as a result of close cooperation between Luxembourg rail operator CFL and DB Regio. The CFL will make the newly acquired Stadler two-stage railcars available to DB Regio for the service of the new line.

The government council approved in March 2015 improvements for passenger traffic on the 14-kilometre “Trierer Weststrecke” stretch of track between Trier-Ehrang and Konz Luxembourg, which has only been used by freight traffic since 1983. The Rhineland-Palatinate took over the equipment costs of the line, €20 million, while the Grand Duchy invested €7 million in the railcars.

“Efforts to constantly improve cross-border traffic are also bearing fruit in Germany,” infrastructure minister François Bausch said. “The additional stops of the new Stadler trains mean a significant advantage for Luxembourg customers and solve the problem of the current traffic plan since the IC trains to Koblenz will again be able to serve several stops on the Luxembourg side.”