Farewell to the Z2 series: CFL says goodbye to an iconic train after more than 30 years

It was the end of an era last weekend as an iconic train operated by Luxembourg’s national rail company CFL made its final journey after more than three decades in service.

The last railcar from the Z2 series pulled out of Diekirch at 15:21 on 29 November, en route to Luxembourg’s capital for the final time.

Each of the Z2 series trains, introduced in Luxembourg in 1990, covered around four million kilometres during their time in service with the CFL. The youngest of the CFL’s 22 railcars in the series is now over 33 years old, having been delivered in May 1992.

At the beginning of April this year, the first four trains from the series left the Grand Duchy to start a second life in Romania, and another six have since followed.

The remaining trains will remain on call in Luxembourg until the end of this month, in case they should be required in the coming weeks, but the ultimate plan – following a complete overhaul of the trains in question – is for them to eventually be transferred to Romania.

Only one of the series will remain in Luxembourg: the railcar with the number 2014, which will be handed over to the National Institute for Architectural Heritage (Institut national pour le patrimoine architectural, INPA) in a few weeks and is set to be housed permanently in the planned railway museum in Pétange.

The view from the train driver’s seat shortly before the last departure from Diekirch © Photo credit: Frank Weyrich

The designation “Z2” came from the identically constructed trains of the French state railway SNCF, and the interior of the trains exudes an ambience of times long past.

Passengers were particularly fond of the comfortable seating, as the upholstered seats with their fabric covers always gave the feeling of sitting in a cosy armchair.

A touch of home

The fabric curtains for the windows also conveyed a touch of home, with a sliving room atmosphere. Another nostalgic touch was the crank mechanism used to lower the windows – a feature hardly imaginable today in times of air conditioning and hermetically sealed passenger areas.

The Z2 series was characterised by a cosy living room atmosphere © Photo credit: Frank Weyrich

Another feature inextricably linked to the Z2 trains was the announcement made before every station entry: “Passt wannechgelift op, datt dir op der reicheger Säit erausklammt!” (Please make sure you alight on the correct side!) And passengers sitting close enough to the driver’s cab always knew exactly when the journey would resume after a stop. The ringtone that signalled the driver to proceed was unmistakable.

Speaking of the driver, Raoul Pettinger was behind the controls for the final journeys last month. When asked whether he was glad to be rid of the old trains, he replied: “What do you mean, glad? These are the best we have!”

However, residents living along the railway lines are unlikely to mourn their departure – the noise level of the Z2 was significantly higher than that of the new generation of vehicles.

(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by John Monaghan.)