Coo railway tunnel

Tunnel at Coo on line 42 of the railway.

Line 42 is a 58 km railway line running from Rivage to Gouvy as part of the Liège-Luxembourg connection.

The original connection from Liège to Luxembourg went via Spa. The Trois-Ponts - Luxembourg section was inaugurated in 1867.

The part of the railway between Rivage and Trois-Ponts was technically not easy to build . The railway had to follow the winding valley of the Amel , which is often characterized by steep walls here. Several tunnels were built between Remouchamps and Trois-Ponts. The 618 meter long Remouchamps tunnel cuts through a loop in the river and shortens the route by almost three kilometers. Also in Stoumont, where the valley is relatively narrow, three tunnels had to be built: those of Targnon (279 m, below the village of the same name), Xhierfomont (127 m) and Cheneux (250 m) . The Rivage - Stoumont section was inaugurated on January 20, 1885 and on July 1, 1890 the connection between Stoumont and Trois-Ponts was made.

The railway runs almost the entire length from Rivage to Gouvy. A kilometer and a half north of Gouvy station, line 42 reaches its highest point: around 490 meters (TAW). Here the railway line crosses the watershed between the Ourthe (near Gouvy) and the Amel in the north.

Many tunnels and bridges are built of brick and therefore require a lot of maintenance.

In 2019, Infrabel proposed to close line 42 if no budget was available for its maintenance.

Willem Vandenameele