An air-rail-road alliance to make the Liège region more attractive for freight traffic
On 27 August 2024, Liege Airport and Liège Logistics Intermodal (LLI) announced a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening freight transport connectivity in the Liege region. This partnership, marked by Liege Airport’s acquisition of a stake in LLI (via a purchase of 10% of LLI 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 will involve an investment of €22 million between now and 2030 to modernise and extend the current road-rail hub managed by LLI. This phase will include works such as bringing the rail tracks up to European standards, installing gantry cranes and upgrading access roads.
A second phase will see the creation of new access points and roadway modifications, the construction of a new goods storage and processing area and the creation of a horizontal piggyback loading platform.
These developments will enable the rail-road platform to handle up to 45 trains a week, giving it an annual capacity of 180,000 containers.
A strategic asset for the region
Located just 1.5 km from Liege Airport, alongside the conventional railway line and the TGV line linking Liege to Brussels, the rail-road platform also benefits from a strategic location on the TEN-T network (the European Union’s transport infrastructure development programme).
Owned by the SPI economic development agency, the rail-road hub is managed by LLI. Since 2024, LLI has been handling 9 trains a week to Italy and 3 trains a week from China.
This new infrastructure will position the Liège region as a key logistics hub, offering versatile transport solutions for local and international companies.
A favourable context
This partnership is part of a European context favorable 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, rising road transport costs could make rail freight even more attractive in the years ahead.
Liege Airport strengthens its multimodal position
“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 concrete expression of this vision. Liege’s location offers unique advantages in Europe, bringing together efficient air, road, rail, inland waterway and sea logistics solutions in a small area. The offer for logistics providers will be complete and more attractive. We are delighted to be working with LLI on the economic development of our region” says Laurent Jossart, CEO of Liege Airport.
