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Transport En Commun Liège-Verviers/
ACEC VAU #001
5 june 2009 - Liege (BE) – museum Natalis. This passenger information display inside Car 1 gives a clue to where the Liege TAU would have run – it would have been lit from behind when in use, so it’s rather difficult to photograph. It gives some idea of the original plan, though. They say that at least one tunnel is still there, but closed off. Now Liege is just a city of buses, having scrapped all its trams, too.
Author: dvigar
Author: dvigar
5 june 2009 - Liege (BE) – museum Natalis. The ‘secret’ metro that never was…..in 1985, the city of Liege began to construct a metre-gauge light metro, based on VAL principles, called the Transport Automatise Urbain (TAU). Some tunnels were started and a test track was installed behind the TEC depot in Jumet (Charleroi), where these two prototype cars ran for some time- then the project was suddenly (and very quietly) abandoned. The two cars now stand in the Natalis Transport Museum.
Author: dvigar
Author: dvigar
5 june 2009 - Liege (BE) – museum Natalis. The control desk in TAU Car 1, which would normally be closed, as operation would have been entirely automatic.
Author: dvigar
Author: dvigar
ACEC VAU #002
5 june 2009 - Liege (BE) – museum Natalis. The second prototype car. These are reported to have run many km on test at Jumet, but the whole project was kept very quiet, and it is difficult to find out much information today. Why was it suddenly abandoned, I wonder? ACEC is now part of Alstom, of course – perhaps they killed off the project when they took over? Now, Liege again has plans to reintroduce trams, or maybe make another attempt to build a metro.
Author: dvigar
Author: dvigar
Comments: 2
5 june 2009 - Liege (BE) – museum Natalis. Inside VAU car 2 – like travelling to work in a cupboard! I think the outside dimensions are a little less than a Lille VAL car, which makes them very small indeed. Seven dwarves would fit OK, but Snow White would need to take the bus.
Author: dvigar
Author: dvigar
Comments: 1
5 june 2009 - Liege (BE) – museum Natalis. The very odd wheel arrangement of the TAU cars. There were four independent driving wheels per car, each with a small guide wheel, designed to turn corners of only 10m radius. That would have been worth seeing! No VAL-style rubber tyres here, but just steel wheels on steel rails. Current collection was by outside third rail.
Author: dvigar
Author: dvigar