“On venait de quitter l’équipement et d’un coup, on entend boum et les gens commencent à tomber. On se demandait ce qui se passait concrètement et puis c’est en se redressant et en regardant par la fenêtre qu’on a pu voir que le tram venait de dérailler et qu’on venait de se prendre un bus. Les fenêtres étaient explosées donc on a tout de suite compris qu’il y avait eu un accident. On a pu sortir directement, mais certaines personnes ont dû rester à l’intérieur en attendant les secours. C’est assez choquant de se dire qu’un tram qui ne roule pas très vite, vu qu’il quittait son emplacement, a fait autant de ravages et autant de secouements. Je me suis cogné à la tête et j’ai des douleurs dans le pouce et dans le genou”, témoigne Redouane Agni, passager du tram.
A tram derailment following a collision with a bus in Liège, Belgium, on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, left 21 people injured, according to police reports. The incident, which occurred near the Liège-Guillemins train station, prompted a large emergency response and disrupted tram service.
The collision took place around 1:20 p.m. On Simone Veil esplanade, with the tram striking the rear of the bus, authorities said. The impact caused the tram to leave the tracks.
“We had just left the depot and suddenly, we heard a boom and people started falling,” recounted Redouane Agni, a passenger on the tram. “We wondered what was happening, and then, getting up and looking out the window, we saw that the tram had derailed and we had collided with a bus. The windows were shattered, so we immediately understood there had been an accident. We were able to get out right away, but some people had to stay inside waiting for help. It’s quite shocking to think that a tram, which wasn’t going extremely fast since it was leaving its depot, caused so much damage and so much shaking. I hit my head and have pain in my thumb and knee.”
Emergency services deployed a medical intervention plan and established a security perimeter around the area. Both the bus driver and the tram operator were among those injured, police confirmed. While two individuals sustained more serious injuries, their conditions are not considered life-threatening.
Tram traffic was suspended between General Leman and Blonden, with diversions put in place while crews worked to clear the scene and restore service. The damaged tram has since been removed from the area. The incident underscores the potential for collisions at this intersection, which one tram operator described as dangerously configured.
“This intersection has been reported 36,000 times as being dangerous,” said a tram operator who wished to remain anonymous. “The response we always received was: ‘We’ll see about it later.’”
