An air-rail-road alliance to strengthen the attractiveness of the Liège region
Liege Airport and Liège Logistics Intermodal (LLI) announced on 27 August 2024 a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening the connectivity of the Liège region for freight transport. This partnership, marked by Liege Airport taking a stake in LLI’s capital (via a purchase of 10% of LLI’s shares held by Novandi), will enable the development of a new multimodal platform integrating air, rail and road transport modes.
Investment and expansion
The first phase of this ambitious project foresees an investment of 22 million euros by 2030 to modernize and extend the current rail-road platform managed by LLI. This phase will include works such as the upgrading of the railway tracks to European standards, the installation of gantry cranes and the repair of accesses.
A second phase will allow the creation of access and adaptation of roads, the construction of a new storage and processing slab for goods as well as the creation of a horizontal piggyback loading platform.
These developments will enable the rail-road platform to handle up to 45 trains per week, representing an annual capacity of 180,000 containers.
A strategic asset for the region
Located just 1.5 km from Liege Airport, on the edge of the conventional railway line and the TGV line linking Liège to Brussels, the rail-road platform also benefits from a strategic location on the RTE-T network (European Union transport infrastructure development programme).
Owned by the economic development agency SPI, the rail-road platform is managed by LLI. Since 2024, LLI has been handling 9 trains per week to Italy and 3 trains per week from China.
With this new infrastructure, the Liège region will position itself as a key logistics hub, offering versatile transport solutions for local and international companies.
A favorable context
This partnership is part of a European context favourable to the development of rail and river transport, in line with the objectives of the Green Deal and the EU’s sustainable mobility strategy. In addition, the increase in road transport costs could strengthen the attractiveness of rail freight in the years to come.
Liege Airport strengthens its position in terms of multimodality
“ In line with its strategic vision, Liege Airport intends to position itself as a provider of multimodal and sustainable solutions. This partnership with LLI is the first realization of this vision. Liege’s location offers unique assets in Europe by bringing together efficient air/road/rail/river and sea logistics solutions in a restricted area. The offer for logisticians will be comprehensive and more attractive. We are looking forward to working with LLI on the economic development of our region,” says Laurent Jossart, CEO of Liege Airport.
Original article
Image source: liegeairport.com