18 September 2009 The renewed Liege-Guillemins railway station Belgium

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18 September 2009  is an important date in history for train lovers as me.
Then the renewed railway station of Liège-Guillemins was officially opened
with a big show by Franco Dragone.

Philippe, then Crown Prince of Belgium and with a beard, attended the opening
ceremony in Liège. Pictures on this link (text in Dutch)

Liège-Guillemins railway station in Belgium
own picture taken in 2018

Liège-Guillemins railway station is the main station of the city of Liège. This is
the third largest city in Belgium. This station is used by 15,000 people every
day, which makes it the eleventh busiest station in Belgium and the third in
Wallonia.

Waiting on a train in Liège-Guillemins
own picture taken in 2018

However this futuristic railway station has a real interesting history.

Some history


In 1838, only three years after the first continental railway, a line linking
Brussels and Ans, in the northern suburbs of Liège was opened.  The
first railway station called Liège-Guillemins  (I always have troubles
with the name) was inaugurated in May 1842. In 1843 the first international
railway connection was born, between Liège and Aachen, Cologne in
Germany.

The new station


At the end of the 20th century, high speed trains were introduced such as
the Thalys. However the platforms were too small and the station had a
shabby appearance, so they had to build a new one.

The new Liège-Guillemins station was designed by architect Santiago
Calatrava. It has 9 tracks and 5 platforms.

Liège-Guillemins is made of steel, glass and white concrete. It includes
a monumental arch of 160 meters long and 32 meters high.

The building costs were 312 milion euros!

Nowadays it still has international destinations such as:

Aachen (Germany);
Lille (France);
Maastricht (The Netherlands);
Cologne (Germany);
Frankfurt (Germany).
There are also plans for Eurostar to link Liège directly to London.

Liège-Guillemins railway station Belgium
own picture in 2018

The Liège-Guillemins railway station is the entrance to the city of Liège.
I visited it in April 2018.

Though the railway station is very futuristic, I really like it.
Location: Luik, België

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