The Hasselt – Maastricht tramway ( Dutch: ''Sneltram Hasselt - Maastricht'') was a proposed

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system linking

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...

, Belgian province of Limburg and

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

, Dutch province of Limburg. The project was part of the ''Spartacusplan'' of Belgian Limburg, proposed by the Belgian transport company De Lijn, with the aim of improving the province's transport links. The tramway's opening was originally scheduled for 2017, then postponed until 2025. It was finally cancelled on 10 June 2022 in favour of an electric " trambus". One factor in the project's cancellation was that in order for the tram to reach Maastricht station, the Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas would have needed to be strengthened. The line would therefore have had to terminate at ''Maastricht Mosae Forum''. Between the two towns, the planned tramway was to follow the course of a disused railway line. It would have improved links in a northeasterly direction between Maastricht and the southern part of the Dutch Limburg province and

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, as currently the only rail service from the Dutch province to Belgium runs south to Liège-Guillemins.

Proposed tram stops

Due to the weakness of the Sint Servaasbrug, the original plan to have the line terminate at Maastricht railway station was abandoned. Below is the list of future tram stops, as planning stood in September 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasselt - Maastricht tramway Cancelled transport infrastructure Proposed public transport in Belgium Proposed rail infrastructure in the Netherlands Tram transport in Belgium Light rail in the Netherlands