LGV 3

LGV 3 (HSL 3 in Dutch) is a Ligne at Belgian high speed , however limited to 260 km/h. It is the third part of the Belgian project of LGV including/understanding 4 lines (LGV 1, LGV 2 and LGV 4). It connects the town of Liege to the German border , in prolongation of LGV 2. The line measures 56 km, including 42 at high speed and 14 on modernized historical line. Its opening is delayed for problems of indication: the ETCS, European novel mode, is not implemented on the trains having to circulate on the line. The infrastructure will be ready at December 15th, 2007, but the trains should circulate only in 2009.

Connected to LGV 1 and LGV 2 to Brussels and the France, it will be used to improve the relations Paris - Brussels - Germany. The line will be used by Thalys, ICE and express train buildings, following the example LGV 2.

Way

The convoys leave the Gare of Liege-Guillemins by the modernized historical way, at a speed reaching 160 km/h gradually. Chênée mark the beginning of the line at high speed itself, where the trains must be able to reach the speeds ranging between 220 and 250 km/h. The line crosses then the Vesdre, then the Tunnel of Soumagne, between Be worth-under-Chèvremont and Soumagne.

The layout is then parallel to the highway E40 (as for LGV 2), then shortly after the village of Walhorn crosses this road by a covered trench, joining the historical line then. On this one, the trains circulate to 160 km/h, cross the Viaduc Hammerbrücke and further cross two kilometers the border.

Behind the border, the trains will circulate on the historical line modernized towards the station of Aachen, using control on the left, not rocking on the right, traditional in Germany, that with height of this station.

Stations

At Liege will be located only the new station of the line, adapted to accommodate the Thalys, ICE and express train buildings. It will be marked by a roof very out of glass and steel, as well as a vast commercial complex. This news Gare of Liege-Guillemins was drawn by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, to which one owes in particular the station of Lyon-Saint-Exupéry.

Infrastructure

The major project of infrastructure is the Tunnel of Soumagne of 6,505 km, which became the longest railway tunnel of Belgium. The section dug measurement really 5,940 km, it is prolonged by covered trenches of 177 and 388 meters. Many geological layers, of nature sometimes very different were crossed, requiring shootings of mine sometimes. The Tunnel reaches its maximum depth with 127 meters, will have an average slope of 17 per thousand, reaching 20 per thousand on the level of the exit side Soumagne. The tunnel allows 69 m ² usable surface, which restricts despite everything speed to 200 km/h. The Tunnel was built between on May 14th, 2001 and August 2005.

See too

Bonds

  • the branch Is Belgian network TGV on the site belrail.be
  • Vidéo of the first tests on the line, in October 2007

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