The winner of the TopRail photo contest was announced at the third TopRail-RailtoLand Forum on 26 October. We would like to congratulate Bart Troncquo, Operations Officer FBMZ-FOVR at Infrabel, on the winning photo: ‘Belgium, Liège-Guillemins. Modern national and international railway station’.
Mr Troncquo shared the inspiration for the photo:
“Liège-Guillemins is the main railway station of the city of Liège, the third largest city in Belgium. It is one of the most important hubs in the country and is one of the three Belgian stations on the high-speed rail network. The station is used by 15,000 people every day, which makes it the eleventh busiest station in Belgium and the third busiest in Wallonia.
The new station, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, was officially opened on 18 September 2009 with a show by Franco Dragone. It has nine tracks and five platforms (three of 450 m and two of 350 m). All the tracks around the station have been modernised to allow for the arrival and departure of high-speed trains.
The first thing you see is the roof, but then you delve deeper and discover Calatrava’s cathedral-like staircases. This is a place to explore, slowly and quietly.
I got my inspiration from its amazing perspective, open spaces and guiding lines all over the building. By sending this photo for the contest, it is my goal to attract many railway colleague photographers, amateurs and/or pros to one of the most photogenic stations in the world”.
As part of the European Year of Rail, UIC organised the photo competition through its TopRail (rail tourism) group with the aim of encouraging railway employees to act as ambassadors for their railways and share their favourite rail spots to inspire passengers to hop on a train and get to know these places once it becomes possible to travel again.
Participants (UIC member employees) had six months – up to 10 September – to upload a picture of their secret railway spot to the PollUnit platform.
We thank all the participants for their wonderful photos of their favourite rail spots.
The TopRail committee will choose the best photos from different countries to create the UIC TopRail 2022 calendar. A selection of the photos with the most votes will also be published on the UIC Instagram page.
