It's a project that was thought to be long buried. But park-and-ride site in Viville, near Arlon, is back on the agenda. During a meeting in Brussels, Luxembourg's minister for mobility and public works, (DP), and her Belgian counterpart, Jean-Luc Crucke, reopened a project that is more than 20 years old. The aim is to ease the daily commute for the thousands of Belgian cross-border workers, who work in the grand duchy every day.

According to the latest information, the Belgian railway SNCB considered that the parking facilities at Arlon station were sufficient to absorb the flow of commuters. The P+R project at Viville, deemed not to be a priority in 2020, was . But with 54,000 Belgian workers commuting to Luxembourg every day, Crucke now believes that an alternative is needed. He wants to relaunch "a combined mobility offer that is more comfortable and meets the daily needs of cross-border commuters".

A6 motorway

But parking is not the only thorn in the side of cross-border commuters. During their meeting, the two ministers also raised the issue of widening the A6 motorway. The idea is to extend the infrastructure to three lanes in each direction, reserving a lane for public transport and carpooling, and incorporating cross-border cycle paths.

Backes and Crucke reaffirmed their desire to improve the rail link between Brussels and Luxembourg. A large-scale project is currently underway, with completion of the infrastructure on the Belgian side still scheduled for 2029. This will enable the two capitals to be linked in two hours, compared with three at present. In order to assess the progress of the work, an on-site meeting has already been scheduled for June at the Belgian-Luxembourg border.

It now remains to be seen whether these ambitions will be translated into action, or whether, once again, cross-border workers will have to make do with promises that are a long way off.

Read the original French-language version of this news report /