‘Three-country train’ Liège-Maastricht-Aachen runs from June 30

The Liège-Maastricht-Aachen ‘three-country train’ was inaugurated in Liège on Wednesday. The train connects Liège-Guillemins with Dutch Maastricht and German Aachen.

The connection will be open to the public from June 30. The new direct train is the result of a collaboration between Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB, Dutch transport company Arriva, and Dutch public railway company NS.

Two trains per hour between Liège and Aachen

In Belgium, the ‘three-country train’ has stops in Liège-Guillemins, Bressoux and Wezet. In the Netherlands, apart from Maastricht, there are also stops in Heerlen and Valkenburg, among others. In Germany in Herzogenrath, Aachen West, and Aachen. There are connections every hour. Train tickets are available through the different companies’ sales channels.

The ‘three-country train’ connects the current train connection between Liège-Guillemins and Maastricht with Arriva’s existing connection between Maastricht and Aachen.

This eliminates the need for passengers to change trains in Maastricht and creates a direct connection between Liège and Aachen. NMBS/SNCB is thus doubling its train offer to and from the German city.

Difficult process

NMBS/SNCB provides the route between Liège and Wezet (border), NS between Wezet and Maastricht, and Arriva for the last part to Aachen.

The Maastricht-Aachen part of the connection was already launched in early 2019. Belgium could not be served then because the Belgian authorities imposed additional conditions.

Afterward, the start-up date was pushed forward to the end of 2023, but that subsequently became the first half of 2024 due to “unforeseen, technical challenges” in making carrier Arriva’s trains suitable for the different security systems used in the three countries.