Review Liège-Guillemins railway station & train from Liège, Belgium to Maastricht in the Netherlands

[@bobke114]

I am a Texan and as a younger man I spent a good amount of time in that area and recall the old Liege Station and later the transition and now the great station. That train from Liege to Lux always a great ride as well.

[@MMTB616]

Very helpful; rode the train in July 2015 and will be doing it again in July 2022.

[@benklomp4616]

Great to see you're tweaking the format of your videos, the drone shots are a great add-on! The security control facilities were indeed installed right after the terrorist attacks in Zaventem and Brussels of 22 March 2016. You find similar facilities at Brussels-Midi and Antwerp-Central. They were used specifically for high speed passengers, Thalys and ICE in the case of Liège-Guillemins, and checks basically consisted of a quick X-ray check of your luggage airport style. The platforms where the high speed trains departed from had to be sealed off from the rest of the passenger flow, for this reason you can still see crowd control barriers on platform 2/3 in Liège and on platforms 21/22 and 23/24 in Antwerp, spoiling the great architecture of both stations somewhat. Currently the pre-departure security checks are not performed anymore, but they may return if deemed necessary by the federal government. About the train: You're right that the 1st class seats and the 2nd class seats of the middle coach are of the exact same model. The only difference is the moquette, which is softer in 1st class. In these trains, 1st class also comes with two power plugs per pair of seats. But otherwise it's exactly the same. About the languages used on board: this is actually regulated by law. On domestic trains, conductors have two options: - Do public announcements only in the language(s) of the region/community the train is currently in (Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, Dutch & French in Brussels, German & French in the German speaking community) - Do public announcements in all three national official languages (Dutch, French and German) plus English. There are some conductors who go the extra mile and do the four language option, but they are rare. Nevertheless, these rules only apply for public announcements: in one to one contact with passengers, the conductor may choose to speak a different language. On international trains you'll always have the announcements in four languages, at least for as long as the train is in Belgium.

[@Trainviking]

So cool, thanks for letting me know. This language laws really go to far. It's not in favour of the passengers, especially because some towns do have totally different names in Dutch or French (i almost missed a train to Tournai once, because the Dutch name is apparently Doornik, but my Dutch ticket was saying Tournai). For this line it will be solved when Arriva will take over this line, the trains that do runn between Maastricht and Aachen do have information in 3 languages (although travelling this way to Aachen really takes much more Time than via Welkenreadt).

[@josephinev9696]

I love Luxembourg Thank you for showing the City Train station It brings back so many memories ,.Now I will look for some more Luxembourg Trains maybe Esch sur Alzette

[@iwilson6651]

I used to do that trip monthly from the uk …loved the coffee shops. I think foreigners are no lo longer able to buy but it was so much fun back in the day.

[@Trainviking]

Hahaha haven't thought about that to be honest. I have no idea of foreigners are welcome in coffee shops or not, on that topic I'm very boring.

[@Modellbahner2007]

Nice, thanks!

[@1970jel]

I love the architecture of Calatrava, in Valencia and Santa Cruz on Tenerife you find also great examples. And I like Liège, we went there quite often on Sundays to the market at the side of the river La Meuse. Lots of Italian food, Liègois waffles, fruit and vegetables. My grandfather worked about 30 years in Liège as a builder, I always go to place t. Lambert because I know he build the bank that is situated there. Liège has a beautiful inner city, walk the steps of Bueren and you have a great view over the city. Nice shot of the koepelkerk in Maastricht, I used to live almost next to it.

[@Trainviking]

Liège does have definitely a nice city center. And the surroundings are also really nice, I like how much green space you'll find here.

[@martinpintamalli1449]

Ahh super leuke video, Was vandaag in België beetje rondgereisd via Roosendaal naar Brussel en ook Train World bezocht was het echt waard, in dat museum ontdekte ik het station van Luik, ik had geen idee dat het zo'n mooi station was en zo kwam ik uiteindelijk op je video terecht:) Denk dat ik hier zelf heen ga volgende keer

[@Trainviking]

Ja zeker doen. Heb zelf nog wat meer gereisd deze lente daar en is echt best mooi. Dit was toen we nog niet echt konden reizen, er komt nog een video dit jaar waarin in wat meer uitleg over goedkope tickets voor deze regio (Euregio ticket). Heb die video in Juni opgenomen. I.v.m. mogelijke reisbeperkingen upload ik nu maar 1 video per 2 weken, tot ik voor een ruime rijd genoeg video's heb. Maar de route naar Luxemburg is mega mooi (neem vooral de rechtstreekse trein vanaf Luik) en ook richting Aachen is het eerste stuk mooi (als je niet met de HSL gaat).

[@DanielsUKT]

wow liege guillemins station so beautiful and modern the fact that you can juts walk in and go on a train is great (not so great when it can attract fare evaders) but anyway well done for over 50 trip reports on your channel

[@KoelnDL10]

Nice Trip Report! I really would like to see a tripreport about the RE29 from Aachen to Spa-Géronstere

[@Trainviking]

Haha that train is on my list, I was actually planning to do this late August but than the travel advice for that part of Belgium changed. So I will do this. I will make videos on all international trains in and between The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (4 videos to go, when I don't count the Izy, Eurostar and TGV)

[@jmsmilfajt]

I did this trip all the way from Brussels to Geilenkirchen and then back to Prague. This train really surprised me. Not only that it did look like a trashcan from the outside in a huge, beautiful station but also the interior was much better than I expected to be by looking at the exterior, the seats were fine and I think at some point we ran at around 140 km/h with this regional train and the ride was smooth - smoother than in the connecting, much newer Arriva Stadler train. That was really surprising as here in CZ, similar looking trains (EMU class 460, 560) are known for their outdated interior and some of them still have the original leatherette seat covers that are iconic for the USSR times...

[@Leopold_van_Aubel]

They actually needed a special train that was able to go on both the Belgian and the German networks. So this line actually had the very oldest trains in Belgium. It's not very representative. But nowadays the trains that go to Germay are newer.

[@dollydas5979]

Beautiful videos. I would request u to draw red lines showing the route instead of black arrows.

[@Trainviking]

Aaahh yes, I might look to play a bit more with after effects later on.

[@GondaArends]

Ik ga met de boot naar Luik en de stad bezoeken. Heeft U advies welke parron moet hebben dan.

[@jorisvanhandenhove5865]

the diffrence in the chairs is that in first class you have 2 powersockets for 4 seats

[@Trainviking]

I get it... I 1st class you can experience the electric train even more.

[@KayoMichiels]

This station was also in the movie 'The Fifth Estate'

[@aselwyn1]

also in Guardians of the galaxy and Gemini man

[@danielliu9616]

The only difference between first and second class of this train is that first class has sockets for every seats, while second class has only one per coach

[@Trainviking]

Aaahhh, that's not worth a 1st class ticket to me. Thanks.

[@bartelmyjean27]

Hello, yes its true that the secuirty check is used sporadically by the Belgien Railway Police and Securail (Private Security Service of the Belgian Railways SNCB/NMBS) to check the luaggage of passengers traveling aboard the ICE Brussels-Frankfurt and the Thalys Paris-Dortmund

[@Trainviking]

Aaahhh thanks for letting me know 😊

[@dirk6001]

The north of Belgium?

[@AodhanP]

Good video but I didn't think Liege was in the North of Belgium?? Liege is in the east of the country

[@Trainviking]

Yup, well north for this part. Its more in the east indeed.

[@hanneshendryckx4902]

Vanwege de taalwetgeving in Belgie mag er enkel info gegeven worden in de taal van waar je zich bevindt. Geen keuze van NMBS dus, maar gewoon de wet. In 1e klasse zijn in deze trein per 2 zitplaatsen een stopcontact voorzien, onder het tafeltje. Voor het overige idd geen merkbaar verschil.

[@Trainviking]

Aaaahhh er is dus toch een verschil, dank. Tja die taalwetgeving slaag wat mjj betreft een beetje door. Ik weet dat dit intern een gevoelig onderwep is en ik als Nederlander heb wel mijn idee hierover maar ik vind dat voor internationale treinen dit anders moet. Bijvoorbeeld de Thalys en ICE worden wel in meer talen omgeroepen terwijl dat bij deze lijn niet zo is. Overigens, de treinen van Arriva die hierbgaan rijden (die nu tussen Maastricht en Aachen rijden) zijn de omroepen nu al 3 talig.

[@hanneshendryckx4902]

@@Trainviking ik heb er, zelfs als Vlaming, ook mijn mening over. Ik vind dat er in elke trein van en naar een ander taalgebied, overal in 2 talen moet omgeroepen worden, maar zoals gezegd, het mag gewoon niet in België...

[@Leopold_van_Aubel]

​@@hanneshendryckx4902Ik ben Franstalig en ik heb dezelfde mening over hoe de twee talen zouden moeten gebruikt worden.

[@algodon9133]

Hello, Friend🤗

[@sandervandeweyer7521]

The security office is actually not really because of the terrorost attack on Zaventem, but more because of the attack on a thalys from Brussels to Paris, after that, they did more to secure those trains

[@Doesntmatter64]

Good good mate... can't wait to see some drone views from you. I've been to this station twice, it's nice, but the trains in belgium are often old and dirty...

[@wilgblancquaert9249]

that's not true...

[@mauroortiz3047]

The most interesting part is the station! I lived in Belgium from 2011 to 2012 and they still use the same trains. Not a single new one. Find it crazy, some are very old.

[@Trainviking]

For this line they are using the very old trains. At the end of the video on the route from Aachen to Maastricht i explain something about this situation as well. In Belgium there are more and more new good trains, but on this route it's just old stuff while Arriva wanted to serve this route with brand new trains and hopefully this will happen soon.

[@Trainviking]

In this video I'll explain something more about the situation at the end of the video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKvPgWhthKyZsKs

[@anonomia5535]

I don’t really agree with your comment, I must say. In this video, you saw several Desiro EMU’s, which were definitely not around there in 2012 and can be found all over the country. The train on this route is indeed older, but has been completely modernised (after 2012) and has a pretty modern interior nowadays, I believe. Besides lacking air conditioning, I don’t think there is anything specifically bad about them. Overall, while there are indeed still some older trains left, the situation did improve substantially since 2012 and will continue to do so in the coming years with the introduction of the M7. A bigger issue is the presence of quite some graffiti on the exterior of trains, but that’s another problem...

[@riccardoattilia8219]

I go to leuven everyday and I only take new trains. And most of them are clean, efficient, even when i took older refurbished ones! I dont' understand what's the problem and most trains are new now anyway. I find the old ones more comfortable too

[@Trainviking]

I know it's in general fine in Belgium. The local international trains that will go to The Netherlands and Germany are... well just old stuff. The NMBS / SNCB trains within Belgium, to Luxembourg and to France are way more modern, I do have videos on all those trains haha. But this line, Puurs - Antwerp - Roosendaal and Spa - Aachen... well an upgrade would be nice. In terms of being sustainable with old rolling stock. I've heard different stories about it. Maintenance is more expensive and in general new trains can be more energy efficient, I don't know the exact data for what is more sustainable. These trains between Liège and Maastricht are fine for a small distance to me. The FLIRT trains by Stadler are more modern but you'll see these trains all over Europe (and beyond) nowadays. My next video on the train from Hengelo to Bielefeld via Osnabrück is also on that train type and it's the 4th time that I'm ding a video on that train type, which this channel is only a little over one year old.

[@denjo3131]

Ik heb er nog nooit bij stil gestaan omdat mijn Frans bijna even goed als mijn Nederlands, en beter dan mijn engels, is, maar idd, internationale lijnen naar Nederland zouden ook wel in het Nederlands mogen, zeker omdat Nederlanders over het algemeen geen Frans spreken (i.t.t. België, waar de meeste Vlamingen toch wel iets van Frans verstaan/kunnen).

[@Trainviking]

Haha klopt, ik versta wel een beetje Frans maar naja niet veel en mijn uitspraak... die is niet heel goed. Als de intercity Antwerpen - Lille in het Frans is zou dit ook netjes zijn en andersom ook, dat die in Frankrijk in het Nederlands is. Al is dit een dermate internationale verbinding dat ik Engels ook heel logisch zou vinden. Als dat dan te gevoelig is ivm taalwetten, dan is Engels ook een prima uitweg. Internationale verbindingen zouden principieel in meerdere talen moeten denk ik, op z'n minst voor belangrijke overstapstations.

[@pablopaolo1999]

Liege is in the East of belgium

[@eviv19]

Only difference between 1st and 2nd class is type of material on the seating.