PASSENGER services restarted on a 19km section of line in Germany’s Moselle Valley on March 3 after a gap of over 40 years and the completion of a €150m restoration project. Work included track and overhead electrification upgrades, and the construction of five new stations at Trier-Hafenstrasse, Trier-Pallien, Trier-West, Trier-Euren and Trier-Zewen.
Passenger trains last used the section of line running on the west bank of the River Moselle in 1983. Now, regional trains on newly-introduced RB83 and RB84 services run at 30-minute intervals throughout the day, also providing improved cross-border connections to Luxembourg.
Although planning for the reactivated line started in 2014, construction work did not begin until 2023. The majority of the cost (€141m) was funded by federal government, in partnership with German Rail (DB), the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the city of Trier and local public transport authority SPNV-Nord.
"For decades, only freight trains ran on the Trier West route, meaning that destinations along this section of line were not accessible to passengers by rail,” says Katrin Eder, Rhineland Palatinate’s minister for climate protection, environment, energy and mobility. “With modern stations and good connections to bus, bicycle and pedestrian traffic, a gap in local public transport is being closed. We are currently looking at a further 12 routes for potential local public transport reactivation."
