Belgian railway line 36 : Inclined Planes of Liège Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Belgian railway line 36

Railway line between Brussels and Liège, Belgium

4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gaugeElectrification3 kV DC

Route map

Legend

					Line from Brussels-South
				0.0	Brussels-North
					Line from Namur
					Line to Ghent
				2.4	Schaarbeek
					Line to Antwerp
				5.5	Haren-Zuid
					Line Halle–Vilvoorde
				7.0	Diegem
				9.4	Zaventem
					to Brussels Airport
				12.0	Nossegem
				14.7	Kortenberg
				17.8	Erps-Kwerps
				21.1	Veltem
				24.0	Herent
					to Aarschot
					from Mechelen
					from Aarschot
				28.8	Leuven
					to Ottignies
					HSL 2 to Liège
				40.0	Vertrijk
				47.4	Tienen
				53.8	Ezemaal
				57.0	Neerwinden
				60.7	Landen
					to Hasselt
				74.5	Waremme
				77.2	Bleret
				79.8	Remicourt
				83.2	Momalle
				85.4	Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher
				87.8	Voroux-Goreux
					freight line to Angleur
				89.9	Bierset-Awans
					HSL 2 from Leuven
				93.4	Ans
					from Tongeren
				99.9	Liège-Guillemins
					Line to Namur
					River Meuse
					to Seraing
					Line to Maastricht
					Line to Aachen

The Belgian railway line 36 is a railway line in Belgium connecting Brussels to Liège. Completed in 1866, the line runs 99.3 km.^[1] Trains running between Brussels and Aachen in Germany use the line as far as Liège, and then line 37 between Liège and the German border, the last stop in Belgium being Welkenraedt.^[2]

Between Schaarbeek and Leuven, the line is 4-track; the outer tracks serve local trains with many stops, while the central tracks carry intercity and high-speed trains; these are called L36N, and branch off after Leuven onto a separate route that mostly follows the E40 motorway towards Liege. The Diabolo project connects L36 to the station under Brussels Airport.

The following stations are located on the line:

Inclined Planes of Liège

Between Ans and Liège the railway line has to descend 358 feet within less than 5 miles. This steep incline was initially negotiated with the help of a fixed engine driving an endless rope that was used to haul the trains without the help of a locomotive.^[3] After the late 1860s, special banking locomotives were used and the fixed engine was discarded. Another line (line 36A) was built to bypass the incline but this line is only used by freight trains.^[4]

When line 36 was electrified in 1955, most of the trains still needed a banking engine. Currently, some trains are powerful enough to climb the incline without a helper and the rest are provided with two locomotives. The rear engine is no longer removed at Ans in order to save time.

References

^ "Ligne 36: Bruxelles-Nord - Liège-Guillemins". BelRail.be.
^ "Ligne 37: Liège-Guillemins - Hergenrath - (D)". BelRail.be.
^ The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal: Exhibiting a View of the Progressive Discoveries and Improvements in the Sciences and the Arts. A. and C. Black. 1845.
^ "Les plans inclinés de Liège - Rixke Rail's Archives". rixke.tassignon.be (in French). Retrieved 2018-11-08.