The Belgian Minister of Mobility and the French Minister of Transport have signed two objective declarations “on plans to reactivate two cross-border rail links”.

As local trains became popular again, the idea was to “improve the mobility of border residents and expand the full economic potential of the Franco-Belgian border region,” she said in a statement.

Reopening of an abandoned line since the 1980s

“Studies conducted jointly by our railway companies will enable us to assess the financial and technical feasibility of bringing the train back between these border areas,” Federal Mobility Minister George Gilkinette underlined.

Abandoned in the late 1980s, the Givet (Ardennes Department) -Dinant (Namur province) line made it possible to cross the Charleville-Messier‌s in particular through the Muse and connect with Namur. On the French side, the line from Charleville to the border town of Givet has undergone renovations in recent years. On the Walloon side of these railways-de-Zack, another 20 km of tracks still need to be rehabilitated.

At the end of October, the Belgian minister announced that he would begin a new study of the possibilities associated with the reopening of the line to the Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure, which cost 420,000 euros, of which 300,000 were paid. French authorities ..

“Our ambition is not to stay in Givet, but to go further, to this day, to open this Charleville-Givet-Dinant line and move further in Belgium,” Jean, President of the Grand-East Region, underlined. Rotner, July 3 in France.

Further north, the resumption of the Valenciennes (Nord Department) -Mons (Hainaut Province) line, which had been abandoned since the 1960s, was envisioned in the 2000s but was eventually abandoned in favor of Valenciennes tram line 2.

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