This case study presents the cross-border railway line 70 ‘Luxembourg - Rodange - Athus’, which is operated by the Luxembourg National Railways Company (CFL) at the border between the Grand Duchy and Belgium. 

It explores the business model of this service, including its governance arrangements, operational provisions to develop the service and address demand, and its territorial scope. This service is seen as offering a potential solution to the current car-based cross-border commuting from neighbouring border regions which is becoming a serious problem for the sustainable development of Luxembourg City and its surrounding areas. The key obstacles to the service are presented, and solutions to these problems discussed. Before the final section reflects upon the lessons learnt from this example.

This case study report is part of a series of 31 case studies developed in the framework of the study ‘Providing public transport in cross-border regions – Mapping of existing services and legal obstacles’, completed by Spatial Foresight in cooperation with TCP international, TRT trasporti e territorio and EureConsult for the European Commission’s DG REGIO.