François Bausch (déi Gréng) and Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) spoke on the sidelines of an EU transport ministers meeting hosted in Kirchberg on 3 June. The pair in January had appealed to the European Commission for funds to upgrade the line.

“Being able to reduce the travel time by half an hour between our capitals would already be a first step,” said Gilkinet during the press conference. “We have ambitions to go further,” he said, but added that he could not make any announcements.

Bausch, on the other hand, said he wants to see the length of the journey between the two European capitals reduced to two hours.

Luxembourg and Belgium in 2016 signed a letter of intent, pledging to reduce travel time between the two capitals by around an hour to 2 hours and 7 minutes by 2023, but this target was quietly abandoned. Last year, Belgium said the works would take at least another five years to complete. The projected date has now been pushed back even further to 2028.

Works on the line are complicated, Gilkinet said, especially as numerous curves need to be straightened to allow trains to pick up more speed. The trip currently takes around 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Gilkinet explained that the works will cost more than €300m, with €70m already invested with the support of the EU. An appeal for more EU funds has so far not been successful, despite the fact that 2021 is the European Year of Rail and Brussels wants to push greener mobility as part of its European Green Deal.

“Ministers of all political colours constantly announce how important the railway is to replace air traffic. And then, for an important centrepiece like Brussels-Luxembourg--to connect two European capitals--the European Union doesn’t manage. This cannot be,” Bausch told journalists at the press conference. “We are permanently exerting pressure for the European Union to move.”