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HSL 2

Belgian high-speed rail line

Field	Value
name	HSL 2
color	003399
image	HSL 2 Hoegaarden.jpg
caption	HSL 2 near Hoegaarden alongside A3/E40
type	High Speed Rail
Heavy rail
system	Belgian HSL
status	In operation
locale	Belgium
start	Leuven
end	Ans
stations	0
open	15 December 2002
owner	Infrabel
operator	Thalys, ICE, SNCB/NMBS
depot	Forest, (Leuven, Ans)
stock	Thalys PBKA, ICE 3M, SNCB Class 18 or Class 13 + I11 or I6 or I10
linelength	66 km
tracks	2
gauge
electrification	[25 kV, 50 Hz AC](25-kv-ac)
speed	300 km/h
map
map_state	collapsed

Heavy rail The HSL 2 (, ) is a Belgian high-speed rail line between Leuven and Ans (near Liège) and is 66.2 km long, all of it on dedicated high-speed tracks, which began service on 15 December 2002. As part of the Belgian railway network, it is owned, technically operated and maintained by Infrabel.

Since the extension to the German border was completed (the HSL 3), the fastest journey time between Brussels South and Cologne Central Station is 1 hour and 47 minutes. HSL 2 is used by Eurostar (previously Thalys) and ICE trains as well as fast internal Belgian Railways InterCity services.

Route

At Leuven, trains pass through the existing station at 160 km/h. Just outside, HSL 2 proper commences with a speed initially limited to 200 km/h. After the Bierbeek tunnel (758 m), maximum speed is increased to 300 km/h alongside the E40 motorway. Over the last few kilometers, curbing away from the E40, speed is limited to 220 km/h. Quitting HSL 2, trains run to Ans station at 140 km/h. Between Ans and Liège-Guillemins station, passenger trains run on the modernised line 36 at a speed of 70 km/h (downwards to Liège) or 140 km/h (EMUs upwards to Ans).

Other

HSL 2 is used by 300 km/h Thalys PBKA sets (now operated by Eurostar), ICE 3neo EMUs on international services, and 200 km/h domestic InterCity services run by sets of Class 18 or Class 13 locomotives with I6, I10 or (mostly) I11 carriages. Trains with the new SNCB Class 18 locomotives appeared on the line. probably in 2010. The DB Velaro D (BR407) was planned to use the route on its way to London, however these plans have since been shelved due to technical and financial problems, and it is unknown if the units will find use on the current ICE International services from Brussels to Germany.

Maintenance bases for the line are situated at Leuven and Ans.

ETCS 1 has been installed on the HSL 2. It is operated from Block 12 in Brussels.

HSL 2 is standard gauge, double track, electrified at 25 kV, 50 Hz AC.

References

"Tranchée couverte de Bierbeek". Structurae.
"SNCB/NMBS 18 series". www.railcolor.net.
(12 March 2010). "45 nouvelles locomotives de la SNCB inutilisables". La Dernière Heure.
(17 June 2018). "Plans for UK-Germany high speed rail services shelved due to 'significantly changed economic environment'".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

high-speed-railway-lines-in-belgium railway-lines-opened-in-2002 standard-gauge-railways-in-belgium 2002-establishments-in-belgium railway-lines-in-flanders railway-lines-in-wallonia

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