BertTrain

Information In v3, the Maastricht Randwyck – Kerkrade Centrum section is added to the route. This section is mainly served by Arriva with the following services: RE 18: Express train Maastricht – Aachen VV. (from the December 2023 timetable this will be the three-country train Liège – Aachen via Maastricht and Heerlen). RS 18: Slow train from Maastricht Randwyck to Kerkrade Centrum VV. Two museum railway lines are included in “Spoorlijnen Zuid Limburg v3”: A Maastricht – Vaals route that once existed, reconstructed as a museum line in the present day. The Miljoenenlijn (section Schin op Geul – Kerkrade/Vetschau) as operated by the ZLSM. The lines are connected between Gulpen and Wijlre, and the Schin op Geul – Valkenburg section is also included in the route. In the past, the ZLSM also continued to Valkenburg. 1) History Maastricht - Vaals. On February 15, 1921, NV Limburgse Tramweg Maatschappij (L.T.M) was founded. One of the first LTM tram lines in South of Limburg was the Vaals – Wijlre – Gulpen line, which was put into operation on 28 June 1923. Two years later, this line was extended to Maastricht NS Station. The line had a length of 28 kilometers and was standard gauge. Due to the height differences, some works of art had to be built. The largest of these was the Gulpdal viaduct of seventeen meters high. Partly due to the rise of public transport by bus, this line was not profitable. On April 5, 1938, the operation of this line came to an end. 2) History Miljoenenlijn The origin of the "Miljoenenlijn" is formed by the railway line Schaesberg - Simpelveld, a branch of the railway line Sittard - Herzogenrath, the construction of which started in 1925 for the coal mines transport. In Schaesberg, the completely double-track Miljoenenlijn connected to the Sittard – Herzogenrath section that opened in 1896, and in Simpelveld to the Aachen - Maastricht railway line that was put into use in 1853. The line section Simpelveld – Spekholzerheide Domaniale Mijn, a branch of Aachen – Maastricht, had been in use since April 16, 1871 and has been included in the Miljoenenlijn. The nickname is taken from the estimated cost per kilometer. The 12.5 km long route cost about 12.5 million guilders at the time. On 28 May 1988, the Kerkrade-Centrum – Simpelveld section was closed. Later, after the cancellation of the train service Maastricht – Simpelveld – Aachen in 1992, the section Schin op Geul – Simpelveld – Bocholtz-Grens, as well as Simpelveld – Kerkrade Center were sold by the Dutch Railways to the ZLSM