However, the ballot boxes decided otherwise. With two seats less, the local reds will have to find a partner. Opposite, the MR made a notable breakthrough of 12.01%. A few kilometers further, in Seraing, also deprived of its tram, a center-right cartel (MR, Engagés, Défi) managed to win 8 seats. So why did the abandonment of the extensions, decided by the Azure coalition, find no response at the ballot boxes?
Abandoning the Liège tram extensions would generate an additional 5,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year
Between “relief” and “disappointment”
In the streets of the Cité des Armuriers, Christine Moeseke does not go unnoticed. At the head of a citizen collective of around a hundred people, the senior, who lives a stone’s throw from the northern extension site, had warned on several occasions about certain problems inherent to the route. “This contained inconsistencies and unnecessarily removed parking spaces. Nobody bothered to listen to us. Today I feel relieved by the cancellation“, she explains. On the weekly market, this sixty-year-old’s walk is punctuated by frequent stops. Time to say hello to a friend, to get news from an acquaintance. “When I discuss the tram, I realize that a large part of the population doesn’t care about it. Whether it’s buses or something else, it doesn’t matter“, she describes, shopping bag in hand. In the crosshairs of opponents of the tram, the fear of endless work, reduced parking availability and sometimes absurd developments. “They were planning a new cycle path even though a ravel exists right next door“, vitupère Christine Moeseke.
At the entrance to the market, José Stiers, black glasses screwed on his nose, does not share these criticisms. Enthroned in front of a shop, this retired Herstalian evokes a “perfectly abnormal decision“. “The authorities are pushing us towards soft mobility, but they are canceling the tram. I have the impression that the Region takes one step forward, then takes three steps back.“, he whispers.
Last Sunday’s vote? It is difficult to explain: “I thought that local residents would be disappointed by the end of the extensions. But, in reality, I have the impression that it didn’t play a role at all“. Strolling slowly between the crowded terraces of Italian cafes, the senior enumerates the advantages of the tram: “Buses often arrive crowded. At certain times I can’t fit in, let alone sit down. A tram runs at a higher frequency, this would have relieved congestion on the roads and saved motorists time.“For many supporters of the extensions, there is an unpleasant feeling in the air of a political calculation.”It is revenge against the red communes whether Liège, Herstal, Seraing, but also Oupeye or Saint-Nicolas who would have benefited indirectly“, regrets José Stiers.
Herstal will lodge an appeal with the Council of State against the stopping of the extension of the Liège tram
Satisfied traders
We leave behind us the noisy alleys of the market to go a few hundred meters below, along the Boulevard Zénobe Gramme. On this paved artery, preparatory work for the tram line has been frozen since the construction site came to a sudden halt at the end of August. A stone’s throw from the tracks, Manuel Beldroegas, a mechanic, is busy. Dressed in overalls with his hands covered in grease, he doesn’t mince his words. The end of extensions? “Not a big loss“, he mocks. “If the tram arrived, I would definitely close the door. The plans called for a cycle path to cut into the entrance to my establishment, my customers would no longer have been able to enter. I had already looked at moving elsewhere“.
In Herstal, the endless work in downtown Liège is on everyone’s mind. On the other side of the road, same story: this reversal relieves the fears of traders. “The route would have been insufficient in any case since the line does not cross the water“, says Lionel Martin, a car dealer. From his office, he scans the panorama: abandoned barriers, damaged roads, gaping holes. The man makes no secret of it: the work, he “would happily do without it. Customers were already hesitant to come. Imagine, once the structural work had started.“
The Liège tram extension project to be classified in the category of unnecessary major works? This is unfortunately far from being the only case
“Of the opinions not always unanimous”
Heading to the south of Liège, to Seraing. In the absence of a tram, we go to the Iron City by car. We have an appointment with Sébastien Clarinval, president of the Chatqueue Neighborhood Committee. At the bottom of the modern municipal administration, he waits for us patiently while rereading his notes. Alerted by our arrival, he surveyed the neighborhood about this aborted project. “Opinions are not always as unanimous as I imagined. Several residents were afraid of the work which dragged on like in Liège. Others, on the contrary, express their regret at not seeing this tram arrive whether in terms of economic revitalization or ecology“, he explains, looking surprised.
On the other side of the water, in Jemeppe, where the tram was to end its journey, Dominique Monjoie sits on the terrace of a café. Cane in hand, this pure Seresian seems to have difficulty moving around. “The tram makes it easier the lives of people with reduced mobility because it stops at the level of the sidewalk. Buses won’t solve anything at all“He describes the government’s decision as ‘incomprehensible’.”A tram that only runs in the city center is ridiculous. Many students or workers have to take two buses to get to Guillemins Station; the tram would have taken them directly there. Some parties advocate work, but it cuts off a means of finding employment. Look for consistency…“.
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