The Express Tramway project seems to be making progress. On Thursday morning, Minister for Mobility François Bausch and Mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette Georges Mischo presented a project to link Esch to Luxembourg City. The project will also include a connection to France.
In a statement published by the ministry, it is stated that the conducted analyses suggested that there will be a strong demand for mobility in the Esch-Audun region in the coming years. The ministry explained that on the French side the strongest population growth would take place away from the Audun-le-Tiche station, particularly in Micheville. In Luxembourg, the "Lentille Terre-Rouge" district and the wastelands of Esch-Schifflange would become both destinations and important sources of local and regional travel.
By 2035, the Upper Alzette Valley could have "as many residents as the municipality of Esch has today". That is to say nearly 36,000 inhabitants. It would therefore be necessary to improve the access of these localities to the CFL railway station in Esch and to create attractive connections with the future express tramway and express cycle paths.
In order to make this work, a "high-service bus" will shuttle between the Micheville interchange, the P&R at Audun-le-Tiche, the "Lentille Terre-Rouge" district, the CFL station in Esch, the Esch-Schifflange wasteland (with the express tram and BHNS "East-West" stop linking Pétange to Dudelange), and the future interchange planned near the Monkeler business park (A4).
According to the statement, the reliability of an attractive journey time would be guaranteed by an exclusive lane through the area of Esch-Schifflange, by a substantial easing of traffic in front of the Esch-sur-Alzette railway station, and by another exclusive lane in the form of the current rail shuttle to Audun.
Prior to this project, other initiatives were considered, such as increasing the frequency of trains. However, this idea was abandoned in view of the low number of people per train (only 12 passengers per train) and the lack of space on the railway tracks.
A timetable has not been announced so far, as the project is to be negotiated with the responsible elected representatives in France.
