Aachen tram
The tram Aachen made 1880-1974 the backbone of public transport in the city of Aachen and the surrounding areas. The lines, originally built as a horse-drawn tram , were gradually converted to electrical operation from July 1895. The Aachen tram network was one of the most extensive German interurban trams , and at times it also had cross-border routes to Belgium and the Netherlands . With a total route length of 181.4 kilometers and a line length of 213.5 kilometers, it operated the fourth largest tram network in Germany in 1914.
The network was operated from 1880 by the Aachener und Burtscheider Horse Railway Company , which was renamed the Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft (AKG) in 1894 . Some of the lines were built and operated by Rheinische Elektricitäts- und Kleinbahnen AG (REKA) from 1902 onwards , but AKG took over their management after a few years. Both companies merged in 1942 to form Aachener Straßenbahn und Energieversorgungs-AG (ASEAG), which has been providing local public transport in the Aachen city region since then . After the Second World War , ASEAG gradually shut down the route network, most recently in September 1974 on line 15 from Vaals to Brand. ASEAG is now a pure bus - transport companies , but introduces the concept tram up to the present on their behalf.
history
Horse tram
As early as 1873 and 1874, the Belgian entrepreneur van der Velde and the Banque de Bruxelles tried to get a permit to build and operate a tram in Aachen. After lengthy preliminary planning, the Belgian bank withdrew from the project in 1877, on the grounds that a horse-drawn tram in Aachen was impossible due to the steep inclines in the city. At the same time, the use of a steam tram was proposed. Steam storage locomotives should be used to avoid the nuisance caused by smoke and soot. This project also failed, the Aachen city council looked elsewhere for possible entrepreneurs.
On April 13, 1880, the city council was able to successfully conclude negotiations with the Berlin entrepreneur Carl Liman , whereupon the necessary license was granted on September 4 of that year by the Aachen police chief . The Aachener und Burtscheider horse-drawn railway company , founded on September 25, 1880, took over the Liman's concession and began building the first lines in autumn. After a short construction period, the first horse-drawn tram rolled on December 16, 1880 from Hotmannspief via Kölntor (later on Hansemannplatz) to the Aachen-Jülich railway station , later Aachen Nord station . The network was laid out in standard gauge (1435 mm gauge).
The second route followed on December 25th, 1880, from Kölntor to Kaiserplatz and via Adalbertsteinweg to Elsaßstraße. In 1881, the horse-drawn railway company quickly put further routes into operation, for example to Burtscheid , to the Rheinischer Bahnhof (now Aachen Hauptbahnhof ), to the Polytechnikum (later RWTH Aachen ) near the former Templerbend station , to the Ponttor and across the market to Jakobstrasse. At the end of the year, the network was already 15 kilometers long. In 1881 the horse-drawn tram also opened the first line outside of Aachen: from the Rheinisches Bahnhof Stolberg (Rh.) (Today Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf , at that time still in the urban area of the neighboring town of Eschweiler ) to Stolberg-Hammer with a total length of 4.4 Kilometers.
Because of the steep inclines in the Aachen city area, the wagons were not pulled by one horse, but by two horses, as is usual. After 1881 only a few new lines were built, in 1882 a line to the Frankenberg district and in 1883 to Haaren . In 1889, on November 6th, the first international line to Vaals , the Netherlands, was opened after plans for a steam tram to Vaals had failed.
The complex two-horse operation caused economic problems for the horse-drawn tram. The demand was also not satisfactory on all routes. Therefore, as early as 1883, after a few years of operation, individual short branch lines were closed again, such as the lines to the Marschiertor and the Polytechnikum, followed in 1885 by the Neumarkt - Elsaßstraße section of the Frankenberg line and the branch line to the Rheinischer Bahnhof (today's main station ). In addition, all lines in Aachen were converted from conductors' operations to a payment box system in order to reduce personnel costs. Only the Stolberg line kept their conductors. This enabled a dividend to be paid after deficits in the first few years from 1884 onwards , although the average was 1.5%. The company's share capital had to be reduced twice in 1882 and 1884.
| designation | Line route |
|---|---|
| A. | Kölntor (Hansemannplatz) - Aachen-Jülich train station - Haaren |
| B. | Elisenbrunnen - Kaiserplatz - Forst / Rothe Erde train station |
| C. | Burtscheid - Kaiserplatz - Kölntor - Market - Stromgasse / Zoological Garden |
| D. | Burtscheid - Elisenbrunnen - Ponttor - Lousberg |
| E. | Wilhelmstrasse - Kaiserplatz - Kölntor - Market - Zoo - Vaals Blumenthal |
| F. | Neumarkt - Frankenberg - normal clock |
| G | Stolberg Rheinischer Bahnhof - Stolberg Post - Stolberg Hammer |
In 1894, the last year that was only operated by horses, the Aachen tram had a network length of 22 kilometers after the last extension to Rothe Erde was built . The horse tram depots were set up at Aachen-Jülich train station and on Scheibenstrasse, and the Stolberger line was set up near the main train station there.
| date | route | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| December 16, 1880 | Hotmannspief / Seilgraben - Hansemannplatz - Nordbahnhof | |
| December 25, 1880 | Hansemannplatz - Kaiserplatz - Elsaßstrasse | |
| April 16, 1881 | Kaiserplatz - normal clock - Burtscheid | |
| May 17, 1881 | Theater - Theaterstraße - normal clock, Theaterstraße - Rheinischer Bf (today the main train station ) | Section to the train station re-set in 1885 |
| May 22, 1881 | Hotmannspief / Seilgraben - Markt - Jakobstrasse | |
| June 6, 1881 | Theater - Elisenbrunnen - Seilgraben - Pontdriesch - Polytechnic | Section Pontdriesch - Polytechnic discontinued in 1883 |
| July 10, 1881 | Theaterstraße - Marschiertor station - Pontdriesch - Ponttor | Hired again in 1883 |
| August 3, 1881 | Elsaßstraße - Forst train station - Jakobstraße - Karlsgraben - Stromgasse | |
| 17th September 1881 | Elisenbrunnen - Kaiserplatz | |
| September 28, 1881 | Ponttor - Ludwigsallee - Lousbergstrasse | |
| October 20, 1881 | Stolberg Rheinischer Bf - Stolberg main post office | |
| November 3, 1881 | Stolberg Main Post Office - Stolberg Hammer | |
| April 29, 1882 | Normal clock - Lothringer Strasse - Neumarkt - Elsaßstrasse | Neumarkt - Elsaßstrasse section discontinued in 1885 |
| July 7, 1883 | Nordbahnhof - Haaren Markt | |
| June 16, 1888 | Karlsgraben - Zoological Garden (today West Park) | |
| November 8, 1889 | Zoological Garden - Westfriedhof - Vaals - Vaals Blumenthal | |
| June 21, 1891 | Elsaßstrasse - Rothe Erde |
Soda train
The expensive operation with two horses led to the search for alternatives. In 1884/1885 a fireless soda locomotive developed by Moritz Honigmann went into trial operation. The locomotive was used between the normal clock and Cölnthor for several months. This reduced the operating costs, but the fear that the caustic soda used would eat away at the steam boiler in the long term caused the operators to give up the tests again. In addition, the track substructure proved too weak for the heavy locomotives.
The operation as a horse tram continued until 1895. From the beginning of the 1890s, plans for electrification were developed.
Electric tram
The gradients in the urban area set tight limits to the further expansion of the horse-drawn tram. As early as 1892, the horse-drawn railway company began planning to switch to electrical operation and to expand the network in the Aachen district. The Prussian Small Railroad Act of 1892 also promoted these plans, as it provided for considerably simpler building and operating regulations.
Electrification and re-gauging of the horse-drawn tram
In accordance with the planned change in the type of drive and the new concession base, the Aachener and Burtscheider Horse Railway Company renamed itself on April 6, 1894 to Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft (AKG). On November 8 of the same year, AKG received approval for the construction and operation of electric tram and light rail lines in and around Aachen. Even before the formal approval was granted, the AKG received a special permit to start converting the horse-drawn tram immediately.
The previous standard gauge stood in the way of an expansion into the district, a change to meter gauge enabled cheaper construction costs and tighter curve radii. By the end of 1894, almost all routes in the city network had already been re-tracked, and they were initially still served with the horse-drawn tram cars that had also been re-tracked. It was not until the spring of 1895 that the commissioned company Schuckert & Co. from Nuremberg began building the overhead and feed lines. The power supply with 600 volts direct current was ensured by the municipal power station in Borngasse, also operated by Schuckert.
On July 10, 1895, just in time for the Aachen Shrine Tour with its large number of pilgrims, electrical operation began on the first line from Hansemannplatz to Haaren. A month later, the connection followed via the market to Vaals, making this route also the first electric tram in the Netherlands. The other stretches followed quickly. The last horse tram in Aachen was closed at the end of 1895, only the Stolberger line remained as a horse tram until it was also electrified in 1897.
In the course of electrification, the depot in Scheibenstrasse was expanded, while the smaller depot at Aachen-Jülich train station was given up.
Expansion of the route network into the district
As early as 1896, after successful negotiations with the district of Aachen, the AKG began to expand its network, which had previously been largely limited to Aachen, to include overland routes to the neighboring towns and communities in the Indian and Worm districts . In contrast to the existing network, the concessions were granted directly to the district, and AKG only built and operated the routes on a lease basis. While the city network was referred to as Bahnnetz I , the new district routes operated as Bahnnetz II or leased network . At the end of 1896, the first lines to Linden , Bardenberg and Eilendorf could be put into operation, new depots were not necessary due to the relatively short distances.
Shortly after the completion of these routes, the AKG began building the rail network III , which this time was directly licensed. This network comprised the lines to Eschweiler and the Stolberger horse-drawn tram line that had yet to be tracked. On September 11, 1897, electrical operation began in Stolberg , and at the same time the line from Eilendorf to Atsch and on to Eschweiler was extended. The other routes of the network to Alsdorf , Vicht , Hamich and the Eschweiler main station followed quickly until the end of 1898. In contrast to the previous network, the electrical equipment now came from the Union-Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft . In total, AKG created four new depots, in Eschweiler-Pump , Eschweiler Dreieck, Hamich and Mariadorf Dreieck. The old depot of the Stolberger horse-drawn railway was given up. A new power plant was also built in Pump. At the same time, the railway network II was expanded to include the route to Brand.
In addition to passenger transport, the AKG also introduced freight transport on the overland lines from 1898 onwards . In addition to coal mines, brickworks , quarries and sand pits were mainly served. The iron and steel works in Rothe Erde were also connected, and AKG obtained its rails from there. At the end of 1899, there were already 18 freight connections. In contrast to other trams with freight operations, there were initially no special freight trains, the loaded wagons were usually attached to the passenger trains. Part of the freight traffic was internal traffic within the network, but part was also handled in the transition to the Prussian State Railroad . For this purpose, transfer tracks to the railway were built at the Aachen-Rothe Erde and Eschweiler Tal train stations. In Stolberg, mail was also transported from the main station to the city post office with special post sidecars. From 1920 to 1928, postal multiple units in Aachen served traffic between the main train station and the main post office.
From 1901 onwards, the AKG expanded the Aachen city network again. This year, the forest railways in the Aachen forest to Alt-Linzenshäuschen , Osterweg and Siegel, soon popular as excursion railways , were opened, and the circular railroad over Monheimsallee was also completed. A year later, AKG began to double-track its previously single-track network in Aachen city center, initially on Ludwigsallee. Other sections of the circular line D in Burtscheid and on the Pontdriesch soon followed. Until the war , the entire network within the avenue ring was expanded to two tracks.
| designation | Line route |
|---|---|
| A. | Hansemannplatz - Nordbahnhof - Haaren |
| B. | Goethestrasse - Theater - Kaiserplatz - Forest |
| B1 | Goethestrasse - Theater - Kaiserplatz - Rothe Erde |
| C. | Normaluhr - Market - Waldschenke - Osterweg |
| D. | Siegel - Burtscheid - Theater - Pontthor - Hansemannplatz |
| D1 | Central Station - Theater - Pontthor |
| E. | Theater - Zoo - Vaals Blumenthal |
| F. | Frankenberg Victoriaallee - normal clock - Linzenshäuschen |
| designation | Line route |
|---|---|
| G | Stolberg Hbf - Stolberg Market - Vicht |
| J | Hansemannplatz - Haaren - Kaninsberg - Weiden - Mariadorf |
| K | Hansemannplatz - Haaren - Kaninsberg - Würselen - Bardenberg |
| L. | Elisenbrunnen - Eilendorf - Atsch triangle |
| M. | Atsch triangle - Eschweiler town hall - Nothberg - Hamich |
| N | Eschweiler town hall - valley station - Eschweiler main station |
| O | Elisenbrunnen - Forest - Fire |
| P | Eschweiler Town Hall - Kinzweiler - Mariadorf - Alsdorf |
From 1906 the construction of the extensive railway network IV began , with which the AKG opened up the southern part of the Aachen district and the neighboring Eupen district . For the first time, the Aachen district took on an interest rate guarantee for these routes, which is why the routes were also referred to as guaranteed lines . In addition, rail network III was expanded to include individual branch lines. The purchase of electricity from the new Urft reservoir was also part of the agreement . In the following years, AKG converted its entire network to electricity from third-party power plants and was able to close its own small plants in Aachen and Eschweiler-Pump or convert them into switching stations . New depots were built in Brand and Eynatten .
After the last line opened to Elgermühle had to be designated with the letter X, the alphabet was no longer sufficient for new lines. Therefore, on May 1, 1909, the AKG changed its line designations from letters to numbers; from then on, the lines were numbered 1 to 31. In the years up to the First World War, smaller network expansions followed both in the city and overland networks. In 1914 the AKG reached a distance of 181.4 kilometers. Due to the proximity to the border, there was direct contact with the companies in the Netherlands and Belgium. One route even led to Vaals in the Netherlands . In addition, AKG began converting pantographs to grinding hoops and expanded its depot systems.
| date | route | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1895 | Electrification of all horse-drawn tram routes (except the line to Stolberg) | |
| 1895 | Main Post Office - Boxgraben | according to other sources it was not opened until 1898 |
| 1895 | Theaterstrasse - Central Station and Stromgasse - Schanz - Preussweg - Waldschenke | according to other sources it was not opened until 1897 |
| August 22, 1896 | Haaren - Kaninsberg - Linden and Kaninsberg - Würselen - Bardenberg | |
| October 12, 1896 | Rothe Erde - Eilendorf | |
| September 11, 1897 | Eilendorf - Atsch triangle - Eschweiler Aue and Stolberg Rheinischer Bf (today Stolberg Hbf) - Atsch triangle - Stolberg market | Conversion and extension of the Stolberger horse-drawn railway |
| December 16, 1897 | Eschweiler Aue - Eschweiler Dreieck - Eschweiler Town Hall and Eschweiler Town Hall - Eschweiler Rheinischer Bf (today Eschweiler Hbf ) | |
| April 16, 1898 | Eschweiler town hall - Bergrath and Stolberg market - Finkensief - Vicht triangle - Vicht | |
| June 23, 1898 | Bf Rothe Erde - Fire | |
| September 24, 1898 | Theater - Main Post Office - Karlsgraben | |
| November 17, 1898 | Bergrath - Hastenrath - Hamich, Linden - Mariadorf and Eschweiler Dreieck - Kinzweiler - Mariadorf | |
| December 23, 1898 | Mariadorf - Alsdorf | |
| April 30, 1900 | Neumarkt - Viktoriaallee | |
| January 12, 1901 | Lousbergstrasse - Monheimsallee - Hansemannplatz | |
| May 18, 1901 | Normaluhr - Eupener Straße - Diepenbenden - Linzenshäuschen | |
| July 12, 1901 | Burtscheid - seal | |
| August 2, 1901 | Waldschenke - Osterweg - Unterer Backertsweg / Maria im Tann | |
| December 6, 1905 | Boxgraben - Goethestrasse | |
| July 19, 1906 | Linzenshäuschen - Köpfchen - Eynatten - Eupen Bahnhof and Eynatten - Raeren | |
| September 14, 1906 | Brand - Kornelimünster | |
| 4th December 1906 | Mariadorf - Hoengen | |
| March 27, 1907 | Lower Backertsweg - Altenberg (Kelmis) | |
| May 5, 1907 | Kornelimünster - Walheim | |
| July 10, 1907 | Eschweiler - Weisweiler | |
| October 31, 1907 | Walheim - Sief - Raeren | Sief - Raeren section discontinued and dismantled during World War I. |
| November 3, 1907 | Brand - Elgermühle | |
| June 20, 1908 | Eschweiler - Dürwiß | |
| April 30, 1909 | Hamich - Gressenich - Vicht triangle | |
| August 31, 1909 | Elgermühle - Büsbach | |
| May 4, 1910 | Goethestrasse - Ronheide, Viktoriaallee - Elsaßstrasse and Hauptbahnhof - Hackländerstrasse - normal clock | |
| July 10, 1910 | Eupen train station - Eupen town hall | |
| September 2, 1910 | Eupen Town Hall - Bellmerin | |
| December 2, 1910 | Eupen Town Hall - Herbesthal | |
| December 15, 1910 | Büsbach - Finkensief | |
| December 17, 1910 | Vicht - doubts | |
| August 11, 1912 | Ponttor - Westbahnhof | |
| March 28, 1913 | Kornelimünster - Breinig | |
| October 15, 1913 | Seal - Bismarck Tower | |
| June 26, 1914 | Ronheide - Eberburgweg | discontinued and dismantled in the First World War |
The Rheinische Elektricitäts- und Kleinbahnen AG
In the north-west of the district, AKG initially saw no prospects for new routes due to the parallel Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway line. The district municipalities then signed a contract for the supply of electricity with the Berlin company Gieldzinski. On March 21, 1900 the Rheinische Elektricitäts- und Kleinbahnen AG (REKA) was founded, which took over the Gieldzinski company and began planning and building additional small railroad lines. In 1902 the first section from Ponttor to Kohlscheid was put into operation, and in the same year it was extended to Herzogenrath . However, REKA only received one license for the Aachen district. In order to drive in the city of Aachen, she leased the connecting route to the Ponttor built by AKG. Since the state railway had not allowed the tracks of the Templerbend station located there to cross, there was initially no track connection to the AKG network. It was not until 1912, after the station was shut down and the new railway line via the new Westbahnhof started operating, that REKA trains were able to travel to downtown Aachen. REKA built its depot in Kohlscheid.
REKA also set up freight traffic on its network. She used special railcars to transport loaded coal heaps from the Voccart mine to the coal washing plant and loading it at the Laurweg mine . The section between Kohlscheid and Pannesheide was expanded to double-track for this purpose. In 1912, however, this traffic ended again after the underground connection between the pits had been established. However, domestic coal was still transported from Laurweg to Aachen.
In the first few years of operation, there were several accidents on the downhill section between Kerkrade and Herzogenrath due to failing brakes, some with fatal consequences. As a result, speed restrictions and compulsory stops were introduced. A special feature of the REKA route was its route over Neustraße / Nieuwstraat , which to this day represents the border with the Netherlands for around two kilometers. The small railroad cars were therefore subjected to customs inspections twice on their journey . The further planning of REKA also aimed at the Netherlands. In 1909, under the leadership of AKG, a contract was signed for the construction of a line from Horbach to Heerlen , but due to various delays, this planning, as well as that for further routes in the Limburg mining district, was initially postponed in 1910. In January 1914, a bus line between Horbach and Heerlen was set up as a replacement. This first Aachen bus line had to be discontinued when the war broke out in August 1914.
On January 1, 1916, AKG officially took over the operation of the 23-kilometer REKA network. The majority of the shares in the younger company had been owned by the Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft since 1907, and the lines were also integrated into the AKG numbering scheme. The official merger of the two companies did not take place until January 1, 1942.
| date | route | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| February 12, 1902 | Ponttor - Laurensberg - Richterich - Kohlscheid | |
| May 28, 1902 | Kohlscheid - Kerkrade - Herzogenrath | |
| July 24, 1905 | Kohlscheid - Kohlscheid Market | discontinued and dismantled in the First World War |
| April 29, 1909 | Richterich - Horbach | |
| June 24, 1910 | Herzogenrath - Merkstein |
First World War
In 1914 the AKG planned to expand its network again. As early as 1912, the construction of a railway line from Vaals to Maastricht was contractually agreed between the AEG and the Dutch government. The line was to be double-tracked and built on its own track, and the existing line to Vaals was also to be double-tracked. Construction materials had already been delivered when the First World War ended all planning. The war also ended all planning for the following routes:
- Hoengen - Aldenhoven - Jülich
- Aachen - Würselen - Bardenberg - Alsdorf
- Merkstein - Nordstern - Alsdorf
- Herbesthal - Lontzen
- Forst - Hitfeld
From August 1914, operations were initially hampered by the German troops marching into Belgium. In addition, large parts of the staff were called up, over 60% of the staff was drafted. Women filled the gaps, initially as conductors, from 1916 also as drivers. In the city network, many stops were abolished from 1915 and reinforcement lines were discontinued. In return, the number of passengers increased noticeably, in 1917 they were 50% higher than in 1914. For reinforcement, the AKG was assigned 23 confiscated railcars from Belgium and France.
In contrast, freight traffic was expanded considerably. Until now, traffic was largely limited to coal, sand and stones, but soon flour, potatoes and all kinds of general cargo were also being transported. Additional state railway connections were built in Walheim and Eupen, and the number of company connections also increased significantly. 1918 was also one at Aachen Westbahnhof industrial railway built on the AKG with trolley zustellte standard gauge freight cars to the local industries. In 1914 just under 67,000 tons of goods were transported, in 1918 it was over 144,000 tons.
From 1916 the copper contact lines had to be replaced by iron. Since this was not enough to meet the required copper quotas, branch lines that were less popular were discontinued from May 1916, initially due to the dismantling of the contact line :
- Mariadorf - Hoengen
- Eschweiler - Dürwiß
- Herzogenrath - Merkstein
- Richterich - Horbach
- Seal - Bismarck Tower
- Kohlscheid - Kohlscheid Market
- Kornelimünster - Breinig
- Raeren - Sief
- Ronheide - Eberburgweg
The track structure was also removed on the last five stretches. With the exception of the Raeren - Sief, Ronheide - Eberburgweg and the Kohlscheid local line, all of the disused lines were gradually put back into operation after the war, the last being the line to the Bismarck Tower in 1933.
Interwar period
After the Armistice of Compiègne , tram traffic came to a complete standstill because of the retreating German troops. The subsequent Belgian occupation forces imposed a curfew. It was not until January 1919 that the small railroad trains could run normally again.
From January 13, 1920, the territorial assignments decided in the Versailles Treaty became effective under international law. The AKG routes to Eupen and Altenberg were thus in Belgium. Initially, the AKG continued to operate the routes, their conductors now collected the fare in Belgian Francs . It was not until 1923 that the routes were placed under sequestration . The entire Eupen network was finally transferred to the Belgian SNCV at the end of 1923 , together with ten railcars and two sidecars. Only the line leading to Kelmis / Altenberg remained in the ownership of AKG after various quarrels, as it was not advisable for SNCV to operate the isolated Belgian section separately. In 1932, the SNCV expanded the Eupen network with a new line from Eupen to Verviers , which provided a direct connection to the local tram and the SNCV line from Verviers to Spa . From 1940 to 1944 AKG / ASEAG took over the operation of the Eupen network again, the modern railcars procured by SNCV ran on line 24 from Eupen to Aachen with AKG / ASEAG.
From 1922 onwards, inflation resulted in constantly rising fares and costs. Various shorter lines were converted to one-man operation, and some sections were temporarily taken out of service. The occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops and thereby introduced Regiebetrieb the railroad made for crowded lanes as the population the traits of the Director boycotted. For example, travelers from Aachen to Cologne used the AKG to Weisweiler in the summer of 1923, from there they walked to the terminus of the Düren railway in Pier , from where they went to Düren . From Düren, the Düren district railway led to Nörvenich , from there, after a short walk, the Reichsbahn line in Oberbolheim , which was not part of the government , could be reached, where there was a connection to Cologne. It was not until the end of 1923 that AKG was able to halfway normalize its operations.
The network was hardly expanded between the wars, but the AKG continued to expand the city network to two tracks and improve the traffic management of its existing routes, especially at the main station and the theater. New turnouts were created in the overland network. In 1923, a few hundred meters long branch to the station of the new steam tram Vaals - Maastricht of the Limburgsche Tramweg Maatschappij (LTM) was built in Vaals , in 1928 the line from Aachen to Horbach was extended to the Dutch border in Locht. There was also a direct connection to a line of the LTM to Heerlen , but in contrast to Vaals it was an electrically operated line. Since the LTM was laid out in standard gauge, the originally planned through traffic was no longer possible. However, LTM and AKG offered joint transit tickets.
Planning for a high-speed tram from Aachen via Würselen to Alsdorf was well advanced in 1929. The loan in the USA intended for financing, however, failed due to the global economic crisis , as a replacement the line Aachen – Mariadorf was extended to Alsdorf in 1930 and finally in 1944 the first Aachen trolleybus line was opened on the planned express tram line.
| date | route | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| March 29, 1923 | Vaals - Vaals LTM train station | |
| May 15, 1928 | Horbach - Locht border | |
| May 15, 1932 | Eupen Town Hall - Dolhain (- Verviers) | Line of the SNCV, temporarily to the Aachen network during the Second World War |
The global economic crisis also led to a serious decline in passenger numbers. While AKG and REKA together carried around 29.7 million passengers in 1929, it was only 19.0 million in 1933. In 1931, the AKG therefore discontinued reinforcement lines and shortened some lines, and one-man cars were also used again. The volume of freight traffic also fell noticeably.
In 1933, the AKG introduced a comprehensively revised new line network based on an expert report prepared by Robert Hans Wentzel , holder of the professorship for railway engineering at RWTH Aachen University , on the development of traffic flows in the tram service area. City and overland lines have been combined in bundles and the previously existing obligation to change between city and overland lines has been lifted. The main lines in the city network were supplemented by overland lines each with the same final number. For example, lines 5 and 15 from Trierer Platz and Brand ran parallel to overland lines 25 from Stolberg and 35 from Sief to Aachen. In addition, on Wentzel's recommendation, the Ringbahn (line 3/13, later R) was set up, which enabled passengers to quickly reach their destination on the outskirts of the city center without having to go through it. This system of identical final digits can still be found in the Aachen public transport network today.
| number | Line route | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grundhaus - Preussweg - Market - Hansemannplatz - Haaren | |
| 11 | Altenberg - Preussweg - Markt - Hansemannplatz - Haaren - Kaninsberg - Weiden - Mariadorf - Alsdorf | |
| 21st | Osterweg - Preussweg - Markt - Hansemannplatz - Haaren - Kaninsberg - Würselen - Bardenberg | |
| 31 | Mariadorf - Hoengen | |
| 2 | Brand - Elsaßstrasse - Kaiserplatz - Theater - Hanbrucher Strasse | |
| 12 | Eilendorf - Elsaßstraße - Kaiserplatz - Theater - Hanbrucher Straße - Vaals LTM | Connection to LTM steam tram to Maastricht |
| 3 | Burtscheid - main station - theater - Ponttor - Lousberg - Kaiserplatz - normal clock - Burtscheid | |
| 3a | Bismarck tower - normal clock - Kaiserplatz - Lousberg - Ponttor - theater - main station - Bismarck tower | |
| 4th | Westbahnhof - Ponttor - Theater - Normaluhr - Linzenshäuschen | |
| 14th | Westbahnhof - Ponttor - theater - normal clock - brains | Connection to the SNCV line to Eupen |
| 5 | Ronheide - Theater - Kaiserplatz - Rothe Erde station | |
| 15th | Ronheide - Theater - Kaiserplatz - Eilendorf - Atsch Dreieck - Eschweiler - Weisweiler | |
| 25th | Ronheide - Theater - Kaiserplatz - Brand - Büsbach - Stolberg Market | |
| 35 | Ronheide - Theater - Kaiserplatz - Brand - Walheim - Sief | |
| 45 | Kornelimünster - Breinig | |
| 6th | Elsaßstraße - Frankenberg - normal clock - theater | |
| 16 | Elsaßstraße - normal clock - theater - Ponttor - Richterich - Kohlscheid - Herzogenrath - Merkstein | Connection to LTM in Kerkrade |
| 26th | Elsaßstraße - normal clock - theater - Ponttor - Richterich - Horbach - Locht border | Connection to LTM to Heerlen |
| 7th | Central station - normal clock - Kaiserplatz - market | |
| 8th | Stolberg Hbf - Atsch triangle - Stolberg market | in operation only from 1934 to 1935 |
| 18th | Stolberg Hbf - Atsch Dreieck - Stolberg Markt - Vicht Dreieck - Zweifall | |
| 9 | Eschweiler Hbf - valley station - Eschweiler town hall | |
| 19th | Eschweiler Hbf - valley station - Eschweiler town hall - Kinzweiler - Mariadorf - Alsdorf | |
| 10 | Dürwiß - Eschweiler - Nothberg - Hamich - Gressenich - Mausbach - Vicht Dreieck | initially referred to as line 20 |
The system of line numbers was adjusted several times by 1940, the most serious change was the relocation of line 15 to Brand and the introduction of line 22 between Vaals and Weisweiler. However, major construction work was no longer carried out, only individual new switches and double-track sections were created. The small depot in Hamich was also given up in 1934, followed by the wagon hall in Eschweiler Dreieck in 1938. The Eschweiler - Alsdorf line also had to be relocated here due to the construction of the Aachen - Cologne motorway . Until 1940, even longer stretches along country roads were given special railway bodies that were elevated and separated from the road by curb stones , for example between Brand and Walheim or between Richterich and Kohlscheid. In the first years of the war, various island stops were built in the city network.
Second World War and Reconstruction
The Second World War again led to restrictions in the AKG network. As in 1914, staff were drafted, and the first female conductors drove into the car as early as October 1939. The routes to Belgium and the Netherlands as well as in the border area have been discontinued. The number of passengers rose again noticeably, from 26.2 million passengers in 1939 to 58.2 million in 1943. Over time, the AKG increased the weekly working hours, reduced the number of stops and simplified its tariffs. Above all, the freight traffic was expanded significantly, so the AKG served various bunker construction sites in the city area, resumed the operation of briquette factories and coal mines and served markets and the bread factory. However, it also provided railcars for the transport of the last remaining Jews to the deportation trains in the direction of Auschwitz and Theresienstadt ; there are records of journeys from Mausbach to Stolberg Central Station and from Haaren to Aachen Nord Station in 1942 .
After the start of the western campaign on May 10, 1940, the area of Eupen-Malmedy was rejoined to the German Reich with effect from May 18. As early as May 31st, AKG was transferred to operation and on July 1st it set up a continuous line 24 from Aachen to Eupen. Numbers 34 to 64 were given to the other routes in the Eupen network, including the line to Verviers built by SNCV in 1932 to the new border point in Dolhain. The importance of line 24 was demonstrated by the fact that, despite the war, AKG was able to install new, heavier rails on more than ten kilometers of the route between Aachen and Eupen and received new four-axle trailer cars to supplement the former SNCV railcars used. The line was approved for 60 km / h after the brakes of the SNCV railcars had been expanded and converted.
On July 30, 1942, AKG and REKA merged to form Aachener Straßenbahn- und Energieversorgungs-Aktiengesellschaft (ASEAG) . In the same year ASEAG introduced a new numbering system for its vehicle fleet. Sidecars were given three-digit numbers, railcars four-digit numbers. In the case of the railcars, the first digit indicated the engine type and power class, the second characterized the design. Accordingly, the first digit changed in many railcars after modifications, sometimes even several times.
There were first air raids on Aachen as early as 1940, but they did little damage. The first major raids by the Royal Air Force followed in July 1941 , which also damaged AKG routes. As a countermeasure, the AKG began to park their vehicles no longer in the depots at night, but outside of Aachen on the open road. The worst attack hit Aachen on July 14, 1943, in which 294 people died. ASEAG got a direct hit in its main workshop in the Scheibenstrasse, which burned out together with 16 motor coaches and sidecars and was completely destroyed. The main workshop was then temporarily relocated to the Eynatten depot . More and more routes were also permanently unusable, from mid-1944 large parts of the city network were no longer passable. The freight railway at the Westbahnhof was also completely destroyed. ASEAG, which had no longer operated its own bus routes before the war, received buses from other cities as replacements.
From 1942 ASEAG worked on setting up an O-Bus line from Aachen to Baesweiler . The Aachen trolleybus operation on the new line 31 was started on January 2, 1944. In some cases, he also used the tram's power supply facilities.
In September 1944, the allied troops reached the frontier south of Aachen for the first time. Eupen was liberated on September 11th, and ASEAG stopped operating the Eupen network the day before. The civilian population of Aachen was largely evacuated on the same day, and on September 12th the last railcar drove into the city. In the overland network, the operation could be maintained a little longer, here the last cars drove from Mariadorf to Alsdorf on September 23. The trolleybus line to Baesweiler was also damaged and had to cease operations at the beginning of September. During the Battle of Aachen , allied troops loaded trams with explosives and ammunition and used them as rolling bombs on the sloping stretches from Siegel and Grundhaus into the city center, although they did relatively little damage. Based on the “Wunderwaffe” V2 and the line number of the route to Siegel, the GIs labeled the misappropriated sidecar as “V13”, a photo of the vehicle, which had been painted with further slogans and a Hitler caricature before departure, appeared in the American Soldier's newspaper The Stars and Stripes . On October 21, Aachen was the first major German city to be occupied by US troops.
Although the American military government had already given permission to restart operation on December 4, 1944, the operation of the Aachen tram was still for months due to the extensive destruction. The Kaiserplatz – Brand connection was the first line to go back into service on August 24, 1945, initially with only two railcars every 30 minutes. This was followed by the important route to Kohlscheid, which was also used to supply Aachen with domestic coal. The ASEAG freight vehicles also carried rubble and debris to various dumps in the surrounding area.
The reconstruction lasted until December 1950, in that month the last section of line 18 from Scherpenseel via Gressenich to Vicht was restored. The line was badly damaged as a result of the battle in the Hürtgenwald , and some of the railway systems had been razed to the ground by fire. The lines to Locht, Hoengen and Westbahnhof were no longer in operation, as was the freight railway at Westbahnhof. Likewise, the line from Bildchen to Kelmis / Altenberg, which is partly in Belgium, was no longer in operation, due to the change in the border from 1949 as a result of the Belgian annexation plans, the route ended directly at the barrier in Bildchen that was pulled across the siding there. The remaining lines in Belgium, which the SNCV took over again, all went back into operation with the exception of the Köpfchen Grenz - Eynatten and Eynatten - Raeren lines, but only for a few years. As the last section of the Eupen network, the SNCV closed the connection to Verviers in 1956.
Dismantling and decommissioning
In 1950 ASEAG again operated 23 trams and one trolleybus line. In order to meet the competition from motorized individual transport and buses, ASEAG introduced high-speed and long-distance lines on several external routes from 1951 . These lines only stopped at important junctions and were therefore able to run considerably faster in some cases. After the success of corresponding crash courses on line 22 between Aachen and Eschweiler (referred to as S / 22), lines A (Aachen Theater - Eschweiler Rathaus), B (Aachen Theater - Walheim - Sief) and C (Aachen Theater - Herzogenrath - Merkstein) introduced. The operational management on the predominantly single-track lines, however, proved to be difficult; As a result, the timetables of long-distance lines and parallel lines 22, 35 and 16 have been changed again and again. Line A was already discontinued in 1953 when ASEAG introduced bus line 52 between Aachen and Eschweiler, which runs on the motorway. Lines B and C were renamed H and W in 1956 after their destinations - now they only drove to Herzogenrath and Walheim.
When rebuilding the old lines, however, ASEAG and the city and district of Aachen failed to adapt the network to the changed settlement structures. Only a few lines have been modernized, relocated to their own railway tracks or expanded to double tracks. In 1949, line 28 was relocated again between Hehlrath and Eschweiler due to the BIAG Zukunft open- cast lignite mine ; it was given its own route parallel to the road to Eschweiler Lederfabrik. This means that there is no longer any need to drive through the town in Hehlrath. In 1951, the narrow and winding route over the Dahmengraben in Aachen's city center was replaced by a new straight route over Peterstrasse and Komphausbadstrasse, combined with a new bus stop at Elisenbrunnen. In 1953, ASEAG built a turning loop in Vaals to cope with the increasing number of passengers on the butter tram due to the shopping traffic. In the mid-1950s, new tracks followed at various inner-city junctions, for example at Hansemannplatz and Hotmannspief, and lastly in 1959 Kaiserplatz was rebuilt and provided with a pedestrian underpass. However, the new tracks on Heinrichsallee were only used by trams for three years. Individual sections in the direction of Brand and Haaren were expanded to double tracks. From 1958, ASEAG also equipped its single-track lines with electrical signaling systems in order to end staff security and operation with intersection books.
After 1945 ASEAG received only 24 new railcars and seven new trailer cars . However, it took over a large number of older, used vehicles from the tram companies in Luxembourg , Neuwied , Paderborn , Wuppertal , Düsseldorf , Mönchengladbach , Rheydt and Oberhausen , some of which were only used in Aachen for a few years.
The changeover from tram to bus operation began on August 26, 1951 with the discontinuation of line 26 to Horbach. In 1953, an expert opinion on behalf of ASEAG suggested the closure of large parts of the overland network, but also the expansion and modernization of certain routes in the city and overland network. ASEAG essentially only implemented the decommissioning recommendations. By the end of 1959, a large part of the overland network was shut down, the remaining routes were in the Brander and Eschweiler networks. Individual routes were still served by emergency vehicles during rush hour, while the bus had already taken over other traffic, for example the routes on line 8 between Stolberg and Zweifall and line 6 between Aachen and Pannesheide. By 1962, the city network was also reduced to lines 12 (Vaals - Eilendorf) and 5/15 (Ronheide - Brand). In the overland network only lines 22 (Eilendorf - Eschweiler), 25/35 (Aachen - Stolberg / Walheim) and 28 (Alsdorf - Eschweiler) existed. In 1966, part of the route served by lines 22 and 28 between Eschweiler Lederfabrik and Eschweiler Busof was re-routed and relocated to its own railway body. Both lines were discontinued on October 6, 1969 as the last overland routes.
For the remaining city routes, ASEAG had a comparatively modern fleet of vehicles since the late 1960s due to its second-hand purchases in Oberhausen and Mönchengladbach and was able to dispense with the use of the last pre-war vehicles from 1969. In 1968, however, the city of Aachen commissioned Professor Hermann Nebelung from RWTH Aachen University , in which, above all, a possible switch to bus operation was to be examined. Even at that time, the report was accused of a one-sided and tendentious assessment, which was based on different requirements for buses and trams. Based on the results of the study, the Aachen city council decided almost unanimously to discontinue the tram in 1972, only the then city councilor Dieter Schinzel voted in favor of maintaining the tram. In 1973 the sections to Eilendorf and Ronheide / Goethestrasse were shut down, the remainder was served by line 15 from Brand to Vaals. When they were discontinued, the Aachen tram service ended on September 29, 1974. The trolleybus line, however, was discontinued on February 3, 1974.
| date | route | line | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 1, 1937 | Vaals - Vaals LTM | 12 | Shutdown of the subsequent LTM steam tram Vaals - Maastricht |
| September 1, 1939 | Vaals border - Vaals Blumenthal | 12 | |
| 1944 | Horbach - Locht border | 26th | destroyed in war, no reconstruction |
| 1944 | Mariadorf - Hoengen | 31 | destroyed in war, no reconstruction |
| 1944 | Ponttor - Westbahnhof | 4.14 | destroyed in war, no reconstruction |
| 1944 | Picture - Altenberg (Kelmis) | 27 | destroyed in war, no reconstruction |
| 1944 | Little brains - Eynatten | (24) | destroyed in the war, not reopened by SNCV |
| 1944 | Eynatten - Raeren | (34) | destroyed in the war, not reopened by SNCV |
| August 8, 1951 | Richterich - Horbach | 26th | |
| October 1, 1951 | Eynatten - Eupen | (24) | shut down by SNCV |
| 1953 | Eupen - Bellmerin | (54) | shut down by SNCV |
| 1953 | Eupen - Herbesthal | (44) | shut down by SNCV |
| 3rd November 1953 | Hair Monument - Kaninsberg - Linden - Mariadorf | 11 | |
| 3rd November 1953 | Kaninsberg - Würselen - Bardenberg | 21st | |
| February 15, 1954 | Eschweiler Town Hall - Dürwiß | 18th | |
| May 22, 1954 | Eschweiler Town Hall - Eschweiler Hbf | 22nd | |
| May 22, 1954 | Eschweiler Town Hall - Hamich - Gressenich | 18th | |
| 17th October 1954 | Hair Monument - Hair Market | 1 | |
| 1956 | Eupen - Dolhain - Verviers | (64) | shut down by SNCV |
| 3rd November 1957 | Kornelimünster - Breinig | 45 | |
| November 10, 1957 | Walheim - Sief | 35, W. | |
| June 1, 1958 | Elsaßstrasse - Kaiserstrasse | 2 | |
| June 1, 1958 | Haaren Markt - Metzgerstrasse | 1 | |
| August 11, 1958 | Normal clock - Burtscheid - seal - Bismarck tower | 3, 13 | |
| August 28, 1958 | Preusweg - little picture | 17, 27 | |
| October 6, 1958 | Gressenich - Vicht triangle | 18th | |
| March 31, 1959 | Eschweiler Town Hall - Weisweiler | 28 | |
| August 16, 1959 | Köpfchen Grenz - Diepenbenden | 4, 14 | |
| 5th October 1959 | Stolberg Hbf - Atsch triangle - Stolberg market | 8th | |
| November 23, 1959 | Pannesheide - Herzogenrath - Merkstein | 16, H. | |
| May 29, 1960 | Diepenbenden - House Eich | 4th | |
| June 27, 1960 | House Eich - normal clock | 4th | |
| October 24, 1960 | Ponttor - Richterich - Kohlscheid - Pannesheide | 16 | |
| June 24, 1961 | Kaiserstraße - Lothringerstraße - normal clock | 2 | |
| June 24, 1961 | Hansemannplatz - Seilgraben - Market - Karlsgraben - Preusweg | 2, 7 | |
| 5th October 1961 | Stolberg Finkensief - Vicht Dreieck - Zweifall | 8th | |
| January 29, 1962 | Hansemannplatz - Ponttor - Seilgraben - Elisenbrunnen | R (3, 13) | |
| January 29, 1962 | Theater - main station - normal clock - Kaiserplatz | R (3, 13) | |
| March 19, 1962 | Eschweiler Town Hall - Eschweiler Bushof | 22, 28 | |
| May 27, 1962 | Metzgerstrasse - Hansemannplatz - Kaiserplatz | 1 | |
| January 8, 1967 | Brand - Kornelimünster - Walheim | 35, W. | |
| January 8, 1967 | Brand - Büsbach - Finkensief - Stolberg Market | 25th | |
| October 6, 1969 | Eilendorf - Atsch triangle - Eschweiler Aue - Eschweiler bus station | 22nd | |
| October 6, 1969 | Eschweiler Bushof - Kinzweiler - Mariadorf - Alsdorf | 28 | |
| 17th August 1970 | Goethestrasse - Ronheide | 5, 15 | |
| March 11, 1973 | Main Post Office - Goethestrasse | 5, 15 | |
| March 11, 1973 | Elsaßstrasse - Eilendorf | 12 | |
| 29th September 1974 | Brand - Elsaßstrasse - Kaiserplatz - Elisenbrunnen - Main Post Office - Vaals | 15th |
Relics
After the tram was shut down, the tracks were removed from Aachen's streets over the years. For a long time they were still present, for example, in Heinrichsallee and Franzstraße, where they were only overturned in the meantime and are, for example, repeatedly visible in Heinrichsallee due to eruptions of frost. In 2003 there were also remains of track in Gartenstrasse, Goethestrasse and Kaiser-Friedrich-Allee. Another track relic can be seen behind the Aachen theater .
There are hardly any structural traces left of the large overland network, the area of most of the routes running on or parallel to roads was used to widen the carriageway during road construction work. Until the renovation in spring 2018, there was a last section of track in the overland network in Büsbacher Galmeistraße. Dams and cuttings are still visible from the off-road routes, for example on the former line 18 between Hastenrath and Hamich or on the route of lines 17/27 in the Aachen forest. Some of the earlier routes are also used as footpaths or cycle paths, such as the route 22 between Bayerhaus and Atsch and between Aue and Eschweiler Lederfabrik. The area of the former Vicht triangle is still visible today.
Most of the depots were also demolished. A monument between the residential buildings now standing there reminds of the central depots on Scheibenstrasse, Oberstrasse and Talstrasse; Dreieckstrasse is located at the site of the old Eschweiler triangle. The depots in Brand and Eschweiler-Pump are still used as a hardware store or warehouse; the former depot in Herzogenrath-Kohlscheid is now a shopping center.
The name of the carnival club KG Fidele Trammebülle 1949 eV in Eschweiler, founded in 1949 by members of the company sports association ASEAG Station Eschweiler , is also a memory of the tram .
vehicles
Horse tram
For commissioning, the horse-drawn tram procured a total of 45 two-axle wagons from Herbrand in Cologne and the Ludwigshafen wagon factory in 1881 . This was too large a fleet of vehicles for the actual volume of traffic; there were never more than 30 vehicles in use at the same time. In the course of re-gauging the track system, the horse-drawn tram cars were also re-gauged and finally used as a trailer behind the electric railcars. The last horse-drawn tram cars were retired by 1933.
Electric tram
Railcar
1895 until the First World War
From 1895 to 1896, AKG procured a total of 60 small two-axle railcars with a wheelbase of just 1.6 meters from Herbrand for electrification, which remained in operation until 1933 at the latest, some of which were used as work cars for a few years longer. With the expansion of the overland network and the start of freight traffic, AKG procured additional railcars from Union-Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft from 1898 , including four-axle vehicles for the first time. However, these extremely small vehicles did not prove themselves due to the lack of frictional weight and were soon converted into two-axle vehicles. Initially still on the road with open platforms, from 1901 the railcars were given platform glazing.
Apart from other 16 Herbrand railcars acquired by REKA from 1902, only one of which was still in service after the Second World War, the next vehicles did not come to Aachen again until 1907. In addition to 32 two-axle vehicles with 3.0 m wheelbase, which were significantly larger than the initial acquisitions, in 1908 AKG was the first to have ten four-axle railcars with maximum bogies , which were primarily intended for use on the new line to Eupen. The original division of these railcars into two car classes , which was very rare among trams , was abolished after just a few years. Since they proved their worth, another ten cars followed in 1910, this time from the Talbot wagon factory , which was to become AKG's “house supplier” over the next few years. After 1923, some of the maximum railcars remained with the SNCV, which took them over again after 1944, but returned them to ASEAG after the Eupen lines were closed. In the early 1960s the last ones were retired. Also in 1910 another 22 two-axle vehicles similar to the series from 1907 were procured for AKG and REKA from the Falkenried wagon factory , a subsidiary of today's Hamburger Hochbahn . The first five two-axle vehicles from Talbot followed in 1912. From 1910 onwards, a start was made on converting the railcars and catenary network from roller to more reliable Lyra pantographs . The AKG lines crossed lines of the state railway at different points, here when operating with pantographs there was the risk that the wagons would stand still on the level crossings due to rollers jumping off the contact wire .
First World War and the interwar period
During the First World War, AKG procured 21 railcars from Talbot in 1915, based on the model of the series procured in 1912, with the lantern roof extending over the driver's cab, which is typical of the older Aachen carriages. Followed largely unchanged after the war another series of 31 vehicles, supplemented by four similar cars of the later in the DÜWAG risen wagon factory Schöndorff . Eighteen of these railcars were extensively modernized from 1956 and remained in service until the end of the 1960s, the others were taken out of service by 1961 at the latest.
From 1926 to 1928 Talbot then delivered two series of 20 two-axle vehicles each with a total length of 9.6 and 10.5 meters. The vehicles were equipped with seats with leather upholstery and served for many years as the backbone of Aachen tram traffic; the last cars were retired in 1970. After that there were no more purchases until the Second World War. However, the AKG began to convert their vehicle fleet to use the Aachen regenerative brake . This was Marcel Cremer-CHAPE , director of AKG, issued on 4 March 1932, a corresponding patent to ensure that vehicles achieved an energy saving of up to 28 percent.
The takeover of operations in the Eupen network from 1940 onwards also brought eight railcars of the SNCV standard type into the possession of AKG, which they used on the heavily frequented line to Eupen. In 1944 these were returned to the SNCV.
post war period
After the war, which resulted in considerable vehicle losses, ASEAG was not able to procure two new railcars from DÜWAG until 1948, two-axle superstructures on old chassis. Both stayed with the Aachen tram until it was closed. In 1951, eleven more railcars of this type followed, now from Talbot, which were converted into four-axle articulated wagons for use on line 12 Vaals-Eilendorf in 1958 at the Rastatt wagon factory . In the same year ASEAG took over the vehicle fleet of the discontinued Neuwied tram , old two-axle vehicles from 1912 and 1913, which were used in the overland network for a few years.
In 1956 the age of open- plan cars began at ASEAG . Talbot supplied eleven cars from the 1001 to 1011 series , which were mainly used on the lines of the 5-series to Brand, Walheim and Stolberg. These were also the last brand new wagons from ASEAG. Various used car purchases followed, initially five four-axle vehicles built in 1936 from the Benrath network of the Düsseldorf Rheinbahn in 1963 , which were to be in service on line 28 until it was discontinued in 1969. From 1967, six open - plan cars and five six-axle articulated cars of the Duewag standard car type came from Mönchengladbach and five articulated cars from Oberhausen. ASEAG drove with this fleet until the shutdown.
After they were discontinued, some of the vehicles were scrapped, and ASEAG was still able to sell some of its newer railcars. Aachener vehicles came as the tram Augsburg , the tram Mainz and Trams in Geneva . The electrical equipment of the Talbot open-plan cars was bought by the railways of the Isle of Man and is still in service there today in vehicles whose car bodies are now well over 100 years old. Individual tram cars have survived in museums, and ASEAG also bought back one of its earlier cars from Mainz and placed it as a memorial on its premises. In September 2014 - 40 years after his last assignment in Aachen - he was transported back to his first place of work in Mönchengladbach and will remain there.
| Company number AKG (until 1942) | Company number ASEAG (from 1942) | Year of construction (acquisition by AKG / ASEAG) | number | Manufacturer | Number of axles | Retirement | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40-79 | - | 1895/1896 | 40 | Herbrand / Schuckert | 2 × | 1922-1934 | |
| 80-81 | - | 1896 | 2 | Herbrand / Schuckert | 2 × | 1928-1934 | |
| 82-88 | - | 1899 | 7th | Herbrand / UEG | 2 × | 1928-1934 | |
| 89, 94-99 | - | 1898 | 7th | Herbrand | 2 × | 1919-1928 | 1919 conversion of Tw 89, 97 to Post-Tw, 1923 a Tw to SNCV |
| 90-93 | - | 1896 | 4th | Lindner / UEG | 2 × | 1922-1934 | |
| 100-109, 131 | - | 1901 | 11 | Talbot / UEG | 2 × | 1925-1933 | |
| 110-130 | - | 1899 | 21st | Falkenried / UEG | 4 × | 1928-1934 | 1901 6 Tw at Talbot extended, remainder conversion to two-axle vehicles, 1923 one Tw at SNCV |
| 224-240 | 1709 | 1901-1909 | 17th | Herbrand / Siemens | 2 × | 1925-1935 | procured by REKA (Tw 1–17), only Tw 236 taken over by ASEAG |
| 150-181 | 2901-1919 | 1907/1908 | 32 | Herbrand / AEG | 2 × | 1928-1957 | 1923-1940 3 twos to SNCV, 1945 8 twos to SNCV |
| 191-200 | 6209-6218 | 1908 | 10 | Herbrand / AEG | 4 × | 1959-1961 | Maximum bogies, 1923–1940 5 tws to SNCV, 1945 four tws to SNCV, 1954 three tws back to ASEAG |
| 421-430 | 2001-2010 | 1910 | 10 | Falkenried / AEG | 2 × | 1958-1960 | |
| 431-440 | 5219-6228 | 1910 | 10 | Talbot / AEG | 4 × | 1954-1961 | Maximum bogies |
| 280-291 | 2801-2812 | 1911 | 12 | Falkenried / SSW | 2 × | 1954-1960 | procured by REKA |
| 182-190 | 2701-2706 | 1912/1915 | 9 | Talbot / SSW | 2 × | 1958-1968 | 1923 three twins at SNVC, 1958 one tw with a new body (new series 64) |
| 400-419 | 4401-4420 | 1915 | 20th | Talbot / SSW | 2 × | 1953-1971 | 1956–1958 10 Tw with new body (new series 64) |
| 470-500 | 6421-6451 | 1925 | 31 | Talbot / AEG | 2 × | 1959-1971 | 1956–1958 9 Tw with a new body |
| 501-504 | 6501-6504 | 1926 | 4th | Schöndorff / AEG | 2 × | 1958-1960 | |
| 1-20 | 2601-2620 | 1926/1927 | 20th | Talbot / AEG | 2 × | 1960–1962 | Tw 2603 in the Liège Transport Museum |
| 21-40 | 6301-6320 | 1927/1928 | 20th | Talbot / AEG | 2 × | 1962-1970 | |
| 41-48 | 7201-7208 | 1930-1932 (1940) | 8th | Various | 4 × | SNCV-Standard-Tw, 1945 returned to SNCV | |
| - | 6101 + 6102 | 1948 | 2 | Düwag / Kiepe | 2 × | 1972-1974 | Construction car, 1951 Tw 7101 + 7102 |
| - | 2914, 2920-2927 | 1912/1913 (1950) | 9 | Rastatt / AEG, MAN / BBC | 2 × | 1956-1958 | ex tram Neuwied |
| - | 7103-7113 | 1951 | 11 | Talbot / Garbe-Lahmeyer | 2 × | 1973 | 1959 Conversion at Waggonfabrik Rastatt into four-axle articulated multiple units with trailer, car 7106 retired in 1965 after fire damage, sold 10 Tw to the Augsburg tram in 1972 and delivered in 1973 (there only used as an electric car for rush hour traffic and for school traffic and retired in 1976; car 7104 still available in Augsburg, remainder scrapped) |
| - | 1001-1011 | 1956/1957 | 11 | Talbot / Kiepe | 4 × | 1974 | Open seating car, 1974 7 Tw on the railways of the Isle of Man, Tw 1006 in the Liège Transport Museum |
| - | 1021-1025 | 1936 (1963) | 5 | Düwag / SSW | 4 × | 1969 | ex Rheinbahn Düsseldorf, number 1021 in the Bergisches Tram Museum |
| - | 1012-1017 | 1957 (1967/1969) | 6th | Düwag / Kiepe | 4 × | 1973 | Open seating car, ex Mönchengladbach tram, sold to Mainz tram in 1973; The Tw 1016 bought back from Mainz stood as a memorial at the ASEAG depot from 1994 to 2014 |
| - | 1101-1105 | 1958 (1969) | 5 | Düwag / Kiepe | 6 × | 1974 | Articulated Tw, ex Mönchengladbach tram, 1974 to Geneva tram |
| - | 1106-1110 | 1961/1962 (1968) | 5 | West wagon / SSW | 6 × | 1974 | Articulated Tw (3x + 3x), ex Oberhausen tram, Tw 1110 Conversion from two three-axle superstructure railcars for the Rheydt tram |
sidecar
As a distinct overland railway, the Aachen tram only required sidecars on a few lines . In addition to the city lines, these were primarily the lines in the Aachen district, on which a high number of passengers was recorded when the shift changes. On most overland lines, however, the use of single multiple units was sufficient. In contrast to very big city operations, there were always significantly more railcars than sidecars.
1895 until the Second World War
After the conversion to electrical operation, the old horse-drawn tram cars were initially used as sidecars, two of which were converted as post office cars. From 1896 used summer cars were bought first, and from 1902 new summer cars from Talbot were also bought. These wagons were retired by 1939 at the latest. In 1906, Weyer and Talbot began procuring new sidecars, still with open platforms that were glazed from 1928 onwards. REKA also procured sidecars, initially small two-axle vehicles and then used large four-axle vehicles from the Kleinbahn in the Mansfeld mountain area . The four-axle vehicles remained in service on ASEAG's line 16 until 1959. From 1908 onwards, AKG procured a total of 34 small two-axle sidecars of various designs from Talbot in several series, which were retired by 1959. From 1920 to 1925 AKG bought various used sidecars, including from Düsseldorf, Halle and Paderborn, some of which were soon scrapped. Together with the new Talbot railcars acquired from 1926, the Kleinbahn also received eleven sidecars.
In 1942, Talbot supplied seven large four-axle trailer cars for use behind the acquired SNCV railcars, some of which initially remained with the SNCV after 1945. In 1956 ASEAG got the cars back and used them until 1968. During the war she also bought three smaller sidecars from Luxembourg .
post war period
Together with the Neuwied motor coaches, three sidecars came in 1951, but they were taken out of service again in 1956. The only new purchase after the war were seven association-type sidecars that Talbot delivered from 1955. Then there were used purchases, four four-axle vehicles built in 1925 from Wuppertal, which ASEAG extensively modernized, as well as a two-axle and three four-axle trailer trailer from Rheydt. With the exception of the two-axle sidecar from Rheydt, which was in reserve until 1974, all sidecars were retired in 1971 at the latest. In contrast to the railcars, however, there were no buyers, so that almost all of them were scrapped.
| Company number AKG (until 1942) | Company number ASEAG (from 1942) | Year of construction (acquisition by AKG / ASEAG) | number | Manufacturer | Number of axles | Retirement | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-45 | - | 1880/1881 | 45 | Herbrand, Ludwigshafen wagon factory | 2 × | 1899-1933 | Horse-drawn tram, changed to meter gauge in 1894/1895 and used as a sidecar |
| 201-204 | - | 1894 (1896) | 4th | Herbrand | 2 × | 1933-1939 | Summer car, ex Cologne tram |
| 241-250 | - | 1901 | 10 | Talbot | 2 × | 1925-1942 | Bw 241–244 procured from REKA |
| 251-257 | 200-206 | 1899 (1901) | 7th | Hofmann | 4 × | 1958/1959 | ex Mansfelder Kleinbahn |
| 205-209 | - | 1902 | 5 | Talbot | 2 × | 1939 | Summer car |
| 132-139 | 600-607 | 1906 | 8th | Weyer | 2 × | 1953-1959 | |
| 146-149 | 650-653 | 1906 | 4th | Weyer | 2 × | 1959 | |
| 260-271 | 700-711 | 1906 | 12 | Weyer | 2 × | 1948-1959 | |
| 210-215 | - | 1907 | 6th | Talbot | 2 × | 1939 | |
| 221-230 | 750-756 | 1908 | 10 | Talbot | 2 × | 1941-1959 | |
| 441-450 | 450-459 | 1911 | 10 | Talbot | 2 × | 1958-1960 | |
| 451-464 | 500-511 | 1908 | 14th | Talbot | 2 × | 1959/1960 | 1940 Conversion from 2 Bw to 1 4 × -Bw (ASEAG 207) |
| 216-220 | - | 1915 | 5 | Talbot | 2 × | 1939 | Summer car |
| 272-277 | 350 + 351 | 1911 (1920) | 6th | ? | 2 × | 1928-1955 | ex Halle / Saale tram |
| 292-297 | 400-405 | 1900 (1920) | 6th | Grief | 2 × | 1941-1959 | ex tram Paderborn, in 1910 at Weyer converted to Bw |
| 630-640 | 550 | 1904-1906 (1922) | 11 | Weyer | 2 × | 1933-1944 | ex tram Dusseldorf |
| 641-650 | - | 1896/1897 (1922) | 10 | Weyer | 2 × | 1939 | Summer car, ex Düsseldorf tram |
| 90-101 | 300-311 | 1928 | 12 | Talbot | 2 × | 1964-1967 | |
| - | 208-214 | 1942 | 7th | Talbot | 4 × | 1962-1969 | 1945 3 Bw to SNCV, returned in 1954 |
| - | 800-802 | 1927 (1943) | 3 | Nivelles | 2 × | 1959 | ex tram Luxembourg |
| - | 352-354 | 1910 (1950) | 3 | MAN | 2 × | 1955/1956 | ex tram Neuwied |
| - | 101-107 | 1955/1956 | 7th | Talbot | 2 × | 1971-1974 | First aid vehicles |
| - | 221-224 | 1925 (1958) | 4th | MAN | 4 × | 1969 | ex Wuppertal tram |
| - | 111 | 1950 (1961) | 1 | Talbot | 2 × | 1974 | Body car, ex Rheydt tram |
| - | 231-233 | 1950 (1961) | 3 | Talbot | 4 × | 1968/1969 | Body car, ex Rheydt tram |
| year | Railcar | sidecar | Work / goods railcars | Freight trailer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1902 | 92 | 56 | - | 65 |
| 1911 | 150 | 102 | - | 60 |
| 1937 | 139 | 109 | 27 | 138 |
| 1953 | 129 | 67 | 30th | 120 |
| 1970 | 44 | 8th | 6th | - |
Depots
In the course of its history, the Aachen tram had a total of twelve depots for the tram. The neighboring depots on Scheibenstrasse and Talstrasse to the east of Kaiserplatz always acted as the central depot, which could be reached from Adalbertsteinweg and Jülicher Strasse via Steinkaulstrasse, Scheibenstrasse and Peliserkerstrasse. The ASEAG administration was also located there. After the tram was shut down, bus operations moved to the new central depot in Aachen-Hüls, where the company's administration is now also located.
| Depot | opening | closure | Number of tracks | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aachen Scheibenstrasse / Oberstrasse | 1880 | 1974 | 22nd | two-story, with main workshop |
| Aachen Jülicher Strasse | 1880 | 1895 | ? | only horse tram |
| Stolberg Rhine. Bf. | 1881 | 1897 | ? | only horse tram |
| Eschweiler pump | 1897 | 1969 | 12 | with turnout workshop |
| Eschweiler triangle | 1898 | 1938 | 2 | |
| Hamich | 1898 | 1934 | 3 | only goods and work cars |
| Mariadorf triangle | 1898 | 1955 | 5 | |
| Kohlscheid | 1902 | 1960 | 10 | REKA depot |
| Eynatten | 1906 | 1944 | 8th | |
| fire | 1906 | 1967 | 6th | |
| Aachen Talstrasse | 1925 | 1974 | 9 | Used as a bus depot until 1977 |
| Eupen | 1933 | 1956 | 5 | SNCV depot, from 1940 to 1944 to AKG / ASEAG |
Reintroduction plans
Since the end of the tram, there have been repeated initiatives in Aachen to reintroduce this mode of transport in a modern form. In the 1990s, private initiatives made a first attempt to introduce a modern light rail system in Aachen . However, the project failed because of the costs.
Euregiobahn
Since June 2001, several disused railway lines in the greater Aachen area have been reactivated for the Euregiobahn (RB 20). There are now direct connections from several stations in the city of Aachen to destinations in the greater area ( Eschweiler , Herzogenrath , Alsdorf , Stolberg , Langerwehe and Düren ).
Further expansion plans also envisaged a renewed route from the former north station via Jülicher Strasse to the city center of Aachen and the reconnection of Würselen . The Talent railcars (class 643.2) used on the Euregiobahn are, based on the Zwickau model , already designed for operation on routes according to BOStrab . The planning has been continued as a regional tram since 2018 .
Campus train
With the plans for the expansion of the RWTH Aachen campus , the plans for a tram / light rail were resumed in a modified form, with a campus train running across the middle of the campus from the Super C or bus station over part of the premises of the Aachen West train station planned Campus West and the Campus Melaten, which is currently under construction, up to the university clinic already located there.
On January 11, 2012, Aachen's mayor, Marcel Philipp, presented a new concept for the campus train . This should become a city-wide light rail system. The concept consisted of an entry concept and the so-called target concept, which was to be implemented later. An infrastructure for electromobility was to be implemented at the same time as the infrastructure of the light rail . For example, it was planned to create charging stations for car sharing stations, electric taxis, private electric cars and electric bicycles at the light rail substations . The electricity should come mainly from renewable energy sources. In a rough cost-benefit calculation ( standardized assessment ), the campus railway was rated with a cost-benefit indicator of 1.5. To implement this, the city had applied for funding under the Municipal Transport Financing Act (GVFG) for the route. The federal government and the state had recognized the project's eligibility in principle.
On December 19, 2012, the Aachen city council voted with a large majority of the CDU, SPD, Greens and Left Party in favor of building the campus railway. At the same time, the city council decided that the population of Aachen should make a final decision on the transport project on March 10, 2013 with a calculated investment sum of 243 million euros. With a majority of 66.34% of the votes, the construction of the campus railway was rejected by the citizens.
Regio tram
On September 27, 2018, the city region committee of the city region of Aachen commissioned the administration to work out a regional tram project together with the municipalities of the northern district, the city of Aachen and the Aachener Verkehrsverbund (AVV) and to keep the technical committee informed. In March 2020, the AVV commissioned a working group of the companies TransportTechnologie-Consult Karlsruhe GmbH (TTK) and PTV Transport Consult GmbH from Karlsruhe with the preparation of a two-stage feasibility study, from which the first results are expected for summer 2020.
literature
- Reiner Bimmermann: Aachen tram. Volume 1: History . Schweers + Wall, Aachen 1999, ISBN 3-89494-116-2
- Hans Schweers, Henning Wall: Pictures of the Aachen tram . Schweers + Wall, 2nd edition, Krefeld / Aachen 1981, ISBN 3-921679-18-4
- Ottmar Krettek, Peter Herberholz: Trams in the Aachen tri-border region . Alba-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1980, ISBN 3-87094-323-8
- Dieter Höltge, Axel Reuther: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 7: Aachen, Düren, Cologne . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, ISBN 3-88255-338-3
- Marcel Cremer-Chapé: ASEAG - 50 years of energy supply, 70 years of trams - A look at the past and present , Aachen 1950 (ASEAG commemorative publication)
- Reiner Bimmermann, Wolfgang R. Reimann , Euregio Tram-Revue, Aachen - Eupen - Verviers, Verlag Wolfgang R. Reimann, ISBN 978-3-00-035974-3
Web links
Historical
- Aachen railway history
- Virtual tram rides through Aachen
- Historical photos at Drehscheibe Online
- Early documents and newspaper articles on Aachener Straßenbahn- und Energieversorgungs-AG in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Current developments
Individual evidence
- ^ Dieter Höltge, Axel Reuther: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 7: Aachen, Düren, Cologne EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, p. 6
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 5
- ↑ Hans Schweers; Henning Wall: Pictures from the Aachen tram . Schweers + Wall, 1981, p. 6
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 17
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 23
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 48
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 62
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 62 f., Hans Schweers; Henning Wall: Pictures from the Aachen tram . Schweers + Wall, 1981, p. 31
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 67
- ↑ Hans Schweers; Henning Wall: Pictures from the Aachen tram . Schweers + Wall, 1981, p. 31
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 95
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 98 ff.
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 102
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 104
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 117
- ↑ a b Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 124
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 119
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 130
- ↑ Hans Schweers; Henning Wall: Pictures from the Aachen tram . Schweers + Wall, 1981, p. 41
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener Straßenbahn, Volume 1: Geschichte , Schweers + Wall 1999, p. 209 ff.
- ↑ What was left of the Aachen tram ... ( Memento from November 7, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Tram relics in Stolberg | | Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved on August 21, 2017 (German).
- ↑ Jürgen Lange: Obere Galmeistraße and Hammstraße are being renewed. In: Aachener Zeitung. November 15, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Fidele Trammebülle: History ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 1, 2015
- ^ Dieter Höltge, Axel Reuther: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 7: Aachen, Düren, Cologne , EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, p. 82
- ↑ Marcel Cremer-Chapé: ASEAG - 50 years of energy supply, 70 years of trams - A look into the past and the present , 1950, p. 39ff.
- ^ Jan Schnettler: The last tram car returns home . In: Rheinische Post . August 30, 2014 ( rp-online.de [accessed August 24, 2019]).
- ^ Dieter Höltge, Axel Reuther: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 7: Aachen, Düren, Cologne , EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, p. 99
- ^ Dieter Höltge, Axel Reuther: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 7: Aachen, Düren, Cologne , EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, pp. 26, 48
- ↑ Feasibility study on the campus railway ( memento of the original from January 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 4.9 MB)
- ^ Stephan Mohne: Green light: Federal government wants to promote Aachen campus railway . In: Aachener Zeitung . ( aachener-zeitung.de [accessed on August 21, 2017]).
- ↑ Gerald Eimer and Achim Kaiser: Council puts the campus train on the rails . In: Aachener Nachrichten . ( aachener-nachrichten.de [accessed on August 21, 2017]).
- ↑ City council wants campus train . In: Aachener Zeitung . ( aachener-zeitung.de [accessed on August 21, 2017]).
- ↑ Bernd Büttgens: Crystal clear no to the Aachen campus train . In: Aachener Zeitung . ( aachener-zeitung.de [accessed on August 21, 2017]).
- ↑ Template - 2018/0352. In: Citizen Information System of the Aachen City Region. Accessed March 31, 2020 .
- ↑ Regio-Tram: Feasibility study awarded. Aachen Transport Association , March 4, 2020, accessed on March 31, 2020 .
