Credit: CFL
On Monday 17 April 2023, Luxembourg's national railway company, the CFL, inaugurated the new Park+Rail (P+R) car park in Rodange, in the presence of Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Mobility and Public Works, François Bausch and members of the management of CFL.
The new CFL P+R is located a few hundred metres from the Belgian and French borders and close to the main roads used daily by many cross-border workers. The P+R is thus aimed at encouraging multimodality, namely the combined use of the car and the train at Rodange station.
"With the commissioning of the Rodange P+R, the CFL are once again demonstrating their commitment to multimodality. In their design of interchange hubs, the CFL take into account customers who wish to combine their car with the use of public transport. The ease of the transition from the car to the train respectively to the bus is one of the essential conditions for achieving the modal shift targeted by the objectives of the National Mobility Plan 2035", stated Minister Bausch.
Initiated in mid-2019, the P+R works resulted in the creation of 1,600 parking spaces spread over seven floors, accessible by car via two spiral ramps. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the car park provides direct access to the station platforms via a covered walkway on the third floor.
The CFL is gradually equipping its P+Rs with solar panels on the roof, starting with new projects such as Rodange, where the installation will produce 200 kW.
"If the CFL wish to confirm their role as the backbone of public transport, they must offer attractive mobility solutions. Alongside the multimodal nature, it is above all the criterion of comfort that contributes to the attractiveness of public transport. With its 1,600 parking spaces, the new P+R in Rodange offers unprecedented simplicity for changing modes of transport," said Marc Wengler, CEO of CFL.
During this inauguration, the CFL announced the launch of its new "P+R CFL" application, now available in preview for users of the P+R Rodange. Features include entry and exit from the car park without contact or tickets thanks to the automatic reading of licence plates. Optional geolocation allows free parking for 24 hours if the use of the car park is combined with the continuation of the journey by train, bus, on foot or by bicycle outside a radius of 1.5 km of the P+R. On the occasion of the opening of the P+R, parking will be free for the first 24 hours for all users of the application until 15 May 2023.
In addition to this new P+R, the CFL has been carrying out transformation works on the Rodange station since mid-2019 by deploying a concept specific to each of the country's strategic stations converted into an interchange hub. Rodange station has thus been equipped with longer and wider platforms to accommodate longer trains and increase the number of seats. The station redesign work is also expected to improve the punctuality of trains in the south-west of the country through a new track plan. While the eastern part (in the direction of Luxembourg) of the station has already been completely revised, works on the western part (in the direction of Longwy/Athus) will continue until the end of the year.
Eventually, trains on line 60 (Luxembourg – Esch-sur-Alzette – Rodange) and line 70 (Luxembourg – Rodange – Athus/Longwy) will have their own platform track at Rodange station.
Until the end of 2023, other work will enable the Rodange interchange to be fully commissioned, in particular the finishing work on the station forecourt and the new underground on the west side. Added to this is the development of a pedestrian path linking the new west underground to the P+R.
