UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series

Sustainable urban rail integration: the case of the city of Maastricht

Jo Coenen & Luc Soete #2026-002

Rail integration in the urban setting of medium-sized border cities, as in the case of the old medieval town of Maastricht with its relatively small city centre, raises many challenges. The physical space occupied by underutilized rail tracks in the centre of the city is huge, occupying proportionally a substantial part of the centre city’s surface. The “urban rail integration” proposal detailed here can be considered an example of how to implement sustainable mobility transformation in medium to small cities. Up to now, large cities have taken the lead in implementing European Green Deal goals such as decarbonization, renewable energy transformation and circular economy. A smaller city such as Maastricht can add to this “large city” lead in sustainable development by focusing on what is specific, one could say unique, to its own urban development potential: in this case, the particular large availability of so-called non-descript rail space in the centre of the city offering a unique opportunity for sustainable urban rail integration. How to monetize the advantages of such integration is a discussion which takes place in many medium sized cities in Europe. In large cities, the pressure of the densely populated areas in the city is such that rail integration proposals find relatively easily public policy support, even if the complexity in carrying out such urban rail integration involves complex infrastructural interventions. In medium sized cities, the necessity of these more radical interventions is no longer led by rail mobility demand, rather it will have to emerge out of alternative, local funding mechanism such as leaseholds. Maastricht represents an ideal example for such situations.

JEL Classification: O18, P25, L92, R31, R58

Keywords: transport infrastructure, urban rail integration, local housing, leaseholds

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53330/LXYF9718

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