Just curious, are people from liège happy with it ?
At 04:22 on Monday, 28 April 2025, I joined many others in boarding the first Liège tram in passenger service at Liège Expo, embarking on the inaugural service to Standard [1][2][3][4]. TEC employees, other transport enthusiasts, reporters and government officials packed out the tram. The atmosphere onboard the trams was ecstatic, and many passengers, including myself, gave interviews to the reporters.
Trams in Liège date back to horsecars, which were replaced by electric trams from 1893 onwards. However, the Belgian city abandoned the old tram network by the end of 1967. The modern Liège tramway started construction in late 2018 [5]. Test runs began in October 2023, with the first tram reaching the city centre under its own power on 20 August 2024. The tramway consists of a single line running roughly north to south along the west side of the Meuse River between Stade de Sclessin, the home stadium of Standard Liège, in Sclessin and Coronmeuse, with a 1.8 km branch crossing the Atlas Bridge to the tram depot in Bressoux, next to the city’s new exhibition hall, Liège Expo. The tramway passes by Liège-Guillemins railway station and Place Saint-Lambert in the city centre [. The total length of the line is 11.7 km long, and there are 23 stops, 21 of which are on the west side of the Meuse and the remaining two along the branch.
Between Place Saint-Lambert and Place des Déportés, tracks branch into two single-track routes. The route via Féronstrée is bidirectional, whilst the route via La Batte is unidirectional. From Monday to Friday, trams to Standard run via Féronstrée, and trams to Coronmeuse run via La Battle. However, to accommodate the historic Marché de la Batte, trams to Coronmeuse also run via Féronstrée on Sundays [1].
CAF, a Spanish railway rolling stock manufacturer, has supplied 20 Urbos trams, which are 2.65 metres wide and 45.4 metres long and have seven sections each. Each tram can carry up to 372 people, including 62 seated. The trams have onboard batteries to operate on the three sections of the line without overhead wires [6].
Trams run daily from around 05:00 to 01:00, every five minutes during peak hours and every seven to 15 minutes during the off-peak [1][4]. The average speed of the trams in the city centre is around 19-20 km/h, compared to 10-13 km/h for buses.
I made videos of the whole inaugural tram journey from Liège Expo to Standard [7], the subsequent three journeys on the same tram [8][9][10], and then complete driver’s perspective journeys taken from behind the driver’s cab from Standard to Coronmeuse [11], Coronmeuse to Général Leman [12], Standard to Liège Expo [13], Liège Expo to Standard [14] and Coronmeuse to Standard [15].
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TEC is making trams now ? odd
Just curious, are people from liège happy with it ?
At 04:22 on Monday, 28 April 2025, I joined many others in boarding the first Liège tram in passenger service at Liège Expo, embarking on the inaugural service to Standard [1][2][3][4]. TEC employees, other transport enthusiasts, reporters and government officials packed out the tram. The atmosphere onboard the trams was ecstatic, and many passengers, including myself, gave interviews to the reporters.
Trams in Liège date back to horsecars, which were replaced by electric trams from 1893 onwards. However, the Belgian city abandoned the old tram network by the end of 1967. The modern Liège tramway started construction in late 2018 [5]. Test runs began in October 2023, with the first tram reaching the city centre under its own power on 20 August 2024. The tramway consists of a single line running roughly north to south along the west side of the Meuse River between Stade de Sclessin, the home stadium of Standard Liège, in Sclessin and Coronmeuse, with a 1.8 km branch crossing the Atlas Bridge to the tram depot in Bressoux, next to the city’s new exhibition hall, Liège Expo. The tramway passes by Liège-Guillemins railway station and Place Saint-Lambert in the city centre [. The total length of the line is 11.7 km long, and there are 23 stops, 21 of which are on the west side of the Meuse and the remaining two along the branch.
Between Place Saint-Lambert and Place des Déportés, tracks branch into two single-track routes. The route via Féronstrée is bidirectional, whilst the route via La Batte is unidirectional. From Monday to Friday, trams to Standard run via Féronstrée, and trams to Coronmeuse run via La Battle. However, to accommodate the historic Marché de la Batte, trams to Coronmeuse also run via Féronstrée on Sundays [1].
CAF, a Spanish railway rolling stock manufacturer, has supplied 20 Urbos trams, which are 2.65 metres wide and 45.4 metres long and have seven sections each. Each tram can carry up to 372 people, including 62 seated. The trams have onboard batteries to operate on the three sections of the line without overhead wires [6].
Trams run daily from around 05:00 to 01:00, every five minutes during peak hours and every seven to 15 minutes during the off-peak [1][4]. The average speed of the trams in the city centre is around 19-20 km/h, compared to 10-13 km/h for buses.
I made videos of the whole inaugural tram journey from Liège Expo to Standard [7], the subsequent three journeys on the same tram [8][9][10], and then complete driver’s perspective journeys taken from behind the driver’s cab from Standard to Coronmeuse [11], Coronmeuse to Général Leman [12], Standard to Liège Expo [13], Liège Expo to Standard [14] and Coronmeuse to Standard [15].
[1] [https://nouveaureseau.letec.be/](https://nouveaureseau.letec.be/)
[2] [https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1554166/historic-moment-liege-tram-leaves-station-on-monday](https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1554166/historic-moment-liege-tram-leaves-station-on-monday)
[3] [https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1547366/liege-tram-to-finally-open-on-28-april](https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1547366/liege-tram-to-finally-open-on-28-april)
[4] [https://www.railwaygazette.com/light-rail-and-tram/early-morning-launch-for-liege-tram-services/68717.article](https://www.railwaygazette.com/light-rail-and-tram/early-morning-launch-for-liege-tram-services/68717.article)
[5] [https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/liege-has-a-tramway-again/](https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/liege-has-a-tramway-again/)
[6] [http://www.tautonline.com/first-caf-urbos-arrives-liege/](http://www.tautonline.com/first-caf-urbos-arrives-liege/)
[7] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZm4YJXoLRU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZm4YJXoLRU)
[8] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEop94YDe9I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEop94YDe9I)
[9] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZwIzfye40s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZwIzfye40s)
[10] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLJ2Uh91s3s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLJ2Uh91s3s)
[11] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjUoZlGYqMY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjUoZlGYqMY)
[12] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StamNBdSb6c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StamNBdSb6c)
[13] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N9oqdEM8PQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N9oqdEM8PQ)
[14] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-9PpDNClLU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-9PpDNClLU)
[15] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhuUwZRbIDo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhuUwZRbIDo)
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