Railways in Luxemburg
Subpages on this website:
Industrial railways
In Luxemburg sevearl industrial railways exist or have existed. I will show you
some information and a few fotos about the ARBED (steel factory in the south of
the country), fotos of the harbour of Mertert and fotos of Intermoselle.
Choose one of the named links below.
The Arbed works
The ARBED works in Luxemburg were situated in a lot of places. Most of them in
the south of the country. The reason is, that in the past iron ore was found around
the French border. Steel factories, balst furnaces and other related industry came to
be present. The start was as soon as the railways were present. For the last decades
this industry has diminished a lot. There exist some works, bot others have been
closed.
For the ARBED a large privately owned network of railways has existed. Several
factories and iron ore digging locations were connected with own railway lines.
On these lines and sites a lot of privately owned locomotives were present. For
some years ago, the ARBED decided that the ownership of rolling stock was no more
good for the firm. The locomotives and personel were taken over by the CFL, who
nowadays runs the internal transport on the factory terrains, but also on yards
of the CFL in other places.
Railways of ARBED
What is today the Arcelor-Mittal steel works, was for a long time the ARBED
factories.
And in a very long time ago, the factories were separate entities. Just around
1920 they merged into the ARBED works.
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Normal gauge railways
We count 4 normal gauge railways of the ARBED works:
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1. ARBED Terres-Rouges - ARBED Belval
This line was a connection between the works of Terres-Rouges (south west of Esch-sur-Alzette) and the works
of Belval (west of Esch-sur-Alzette). Where the CFL railway viaduct in Esch-sur-Alzette ends and the line
comes to normal level, we can still see the large viaduct leading over the Route de Belval and over the
CFL railway lines.
| | Length | : | ca. 1,3 km |
| | Opened | : | 1927 |
| | Closed | : | around 1972 (at clusure of Terres-Rouge) |
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2. ARBED Terres-Rouges - ARBED Esch-Schifflange
This line was a connection between the works of Terres-Rouges (south west of Esch-sur-Alzette) and the works
of Esch-Schifflange (east of Esch-sur-Alzette). It ran from Terres-Rouges via a tunnel under the CFL line
between Esch-sur-Alzette and Audun-le-Tiche, alongside the railway station (at the southern side), and then
via a large viaduct over the tracks of CFL to the Esch-Schifflange works.
| | Length | : | ca. 2,0 km |
| | Opened | : | 1927 |
| | Closed | : | around 1972 (at clusure of Terres-Rouge) |
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3. ARBED Belval - ARBED Esch-Schifflange
Part of this line existed for a longer time as a factory owend line to the dump of iron slack, rests of the
process of making iron out of ore. This area was situated north of the Belval works. In 1991 there was made
a connection from this area alongside the motorway north of Esch-sur-Alzette to the northern side of the
Esch-Schifflange works.
| | Length | : | ca. 6,0 km |
| | Opened | : | 1991 |
| | Closed | : | ?? (for me it is nog clear if the line still is in use) |
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4. ARBED Belval - Differdange
To make a better connection between the ARBED works of Belval and that of Differdange, a new line was
created under mount Soleuvre. In this line there is a tunnel of 895 meters. Because of this new line
the ARBED internal transport did not have to pass the CFL tracks between Belval and Differdange.
Around 1985 plans existed to make a new public railway line from Pétange via this tunnel to the area
of Belval-Usines. Plans existed to share the ARBED-owned line and traffic of the CFL. In this plans
the old line from Differdange via Belval-Rédange, Belvaux-Soleuvre would be abandoned. But plans
changed, and the new line was no more in the picture. The allready aquired area for the new line
has now been converted into a roadway from Soleuvre to Pétange.
| | Length | : | ca. 4,9 km |
| | Opened | : | 1974 |
| | Closed | : | - (still in use) |
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Narrow gauge railways
In most of the factories of ARBED ant its predecessors there has existed a network of narrow
gauge railways, all of 700 mm track width. It was used for site internal transport. In the
beginning there were steam locs, from about 1920 on there were (simple) electric locs,
of 500 V direct current.
Besides the lines for site internal transport, there were several lines of narrow gauge.
Some of them are:
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A. Differdange - Oberkorn
To bring iron ore from the site where it was excavated in Oberkorn to the blast furnace of Differdange
there existed a narrow gauge railway. As there was place available alongside the PH railway, the
factory and PH agreed to lay the line besides the PH railway.
| | Length | : | ca. 1,2 km |
| | Opened | : | ? |
| | Closed | : | ? |
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B. Differdange - Thillenberg
From the year when the factory in Differdange was opened, there existed a short line from the iron
ore loading site to the works in. In .... the line was lengthened and run by the PH railway. In 1933
the line was taken over by the factory itself. The two steam locs of the line also went to the
factory. The line was closed around 1972.
| | Length | : | ca. 2,3 km |
| | Opened | : | ? |
| | Closed | : | 1972 |
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C. Schifflange - Höhltal
From the iron ore loading places in the Höhltal (south of Esch-sur-Alzette) there was a line
to the works in Esch-Schifflange. It ran just south alongside the railway station of
Esch-sur-Alzette.
| | Length | : | ca. 3,4 km |
| | Opened | : | ? |
| | Closed | : | ? |
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D. Dudelange - Reiterskopf
From the ireon ore loading places west of Dudelange works there was a line to this works.
| | Length | : | ca. 1,0 km |
| | Opened | : | ? |
| | Closed | : | ? |
To se fotos, click in the menu
Foto's of Arbed railways
No fotos available
Foto's of Arbed Dudelange
No fotos available
Foto's of Arbed Belval Usines
No fotos available
Foto's of Arbed Differdange
No fotos available
Foto's of Arbed Schifflange
No fotos available
Foto's of Arbed Rodange
No fotos available
Port Mertert
In 1964 the river Moselle was canalized. That means that by means of dams and locks
the water height in the river could be regulated. As a consequence of that, ships
with a greater tonnage could sail over the river. In the years 1964-1966 a new
port was established nearby the village of Mertert. And ofcourse a railway link
was made to that port.
In recent years (1954) the local railway from Wasserbillig to Grevenmacher was closed.
This trace could be used partly to make a new, now electrified, railway branche
from the station of Wasserbillig to the new port in Mertert.
Foto's of Port of Mertert
No fotos available
Intermoselle
In 1973 a new factory of cement was founded near Dudelange. The lime was digged
just near the factory just south of the border between Luxemburg and France. From
the digging area the chalk was transported by means of a conveyor belt to the
newly made installations. From there the chalk is transported by train to the
factories in Esch sur Alzette and to a factory in Germany.
To make transportation by railways possible a new short railway branch was made
from the station of Tétange.
Foto's of Intermoselle loading area
No fotos available