The station is transforming into a village square, at the service of customers
A convenience store with CFL cactus shoppi, return of the CFL Evasion travel agency, new Reception and Sales Centre….For 10 years, the CFL have continued to transform the Gare de Luxembourg (Luxembourg Central Station) to meet the expectations of customers and visitors.
The opening on May 10th 2023 of the first CFL cactus shoppi sums up the CFL vision for stations in the future: to make them places of destination rather than places of transit. As the country’s main mobility hub, Gare de Luxembourg (90,000 passengers a day) is logically the focus of CFL’s priority investments.
“We are approaching the transformation of the station with a consistent method based on dialogue with our customers, in the form of polls or surveys, to better understand their needs and respond in a concrete and innovative way”, summarised Marc Wengler, General Director of the CFL, at the inauguration of the CFL cactus shoppi. A “service corner” (press and books, travel accessories, bar, etc.) has also been announced by the two partners for 2024 as an extension of the station’s waiting room.
These new facilities will strengthen and complement the existing offer of two other well-known local brands, which have been present in the station for 40 years and 5 years respectively: Oberweis et Quai Steffen.
CFL Evasion, back to its roots
A few days earlier, on 4 May 2023, the ribbon was cut to inaugurate the new premises of the CFL Evasion travel agency in the very heart of the station, where it all began a quarter of a century earlier. For its 25th anniversary, the 100% subsidiary of CFL is aiming to be closer than ever to its customers and in tune with the need to combine tourism and sustainable development.
A new-generation Reception and Sales Centre
In June 2022, the CFL opened the new Reception and Sales Centre at Luxembourg Station. More than just a sales outlet for national (1st class tickets still have to be paid for in Luxembourg) and international tickets, this user-friendly space also serves as a reception and information point for customers, with areas designed to facilitate the interpersonal exchange of information.
Ten years of “verrière”
To celebrate its centenary in 2012, the station was extended with a glass façade and a transparent roof supported by a metal structure.
For the past 10 years, the so called “verrière” has been an integral part of the character of the station (listed as a national monument since 1989). It has enabled passenger flows to be reorganised between the main hall and the South tunnel, and serves as a backdrop for various social, cultural, humanitarian and memorial events supported by the CFL. Another illustration of the life that expresses itself in stations.
Une configuration revue pour une meilleure ponctualité
On the railway front, the station’s basic “star” architecture is being redesigned to optimise the flow of trains from the various lines of the rail network. The extension of the rail infrastructure means that each line will have its own dedicated track at Luxembourg station. This approach has involved the construction of two new platforms and three new platform tracks, which came into service at the end of 2021. At the end of these major works, the country’s main station will see its capacity boosted to improve train punctuality, with delays on one line no longer systematically being passed on to the others.
If we add the new footbridge inaugurated in September 2021, its 620-space P+R (open since 2010) and the direct connection to other public transport services (tram, CFL bus, RGTR bus and AVL bus) as well as active mobility (walking, vel’OH, cycle path), the station, now 111 years old, is still looking very lively.
