Ahaus – Enschede Zuid railway line
| Ahaus – Enschede Zuid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route number : | 9204 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book range : | last 224 h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 20.68 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ahaus – Enschede Zuid railway was a railway line in the north-west of Münsterland , which crossed borders between Germany and the Netherlands . It was operated by Ahaus-Enscheder Eisenbahn AG and its successor companies until 2007.
prehistory
Since 1903, trains have been running on the Ahaus-Enschede Railway from Ahaus via Alstätte to Enschede . The border region west of Borken , Ahaus and Gronau was generally considered structurally weak. Only the towns of Ahaus, Epe and Gronau, which were opened up by the railroad early on , as well as Enschede on the Dutch side, had a well-known textile industry .
This is where the actual need for rail traffic was based: the looms and spinning machines were powered by transmissions from steam engines. The steam boilers were fired with coal , which had to be brought over long distances on carts. From 1875 coal came from the Ruhr area by train via Gronau to Enschede. The coal was delivered free from the border by the mines . So only the freight from the border to the factory in Enschede had to be paid. In order to make the distance between the border and the factories in Enschede even shorter, the local textile barons joined forces and pushed ahead with the construction of a railway from Ahaus to Enschede. The aim was to collect transport costs from the mines to the border on its own route . So you drove across the border on your own route practically for free.
Outwardly one pretended to provide the rural population with the long-awaited connection with the "big, wide world". That was certainly not entirely wrong, but the main thing was to transport coal. There were no difficulties for the Prussian part of the route. In 1890 a provisional license was granted. The Small Railroad Act of 1892 regulated the construction and operation of private branch lines . Since all the requirements for a license were soon met, there should have been no delays. But this small railway was not a normal railway, as it crossed the state border into the Netherlands. In other words, it was an international small train, and that did not exist often in Prussia. So first had to be auditioned in The Hague to advertise the train. A state treaty was then negotiated with the Dutch government . The Hague was sympathetic to the railway project, and on June 27, 1899 the State Treaty between the Netherlands and the German Empire was signed, and on August 2, the final concession for the Prussian part was granted.
Ahaus-Enscheder Eisenbahn AG
As stipulated by the concession, the initiators of the railway founded a public limited company that traded as Ahaus-Enscheder Eisenbahn AG. Now there was another difficulty to be overcome. The new railway company did not want to procure its own fleet of vehicles with the associated infrastructure , because the construction of the railway was costly enough despite the favorable terrain . That is why she was looking for a suitable operator for the railway.
First of all, the Dortmund-Gronau-Enscheder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (DGEE) was to take over operational management. This Prussian private railway, which ran from Dortmund via Coesfeld and Ahaus to Gronau since 1875 and from there operated the section to Enschede together with the Münster-Enschede Railway Company ( Dortmund – Enschede railway ), delayed negotiations for fear of competition. In the end, they turned to the Dutch Railway Company (HSM) , which had also taken over the management of other small railways in Gelderland , and signed a 25-year management contract with them.
After construction work had started on July 31, 1901, operations on the AEE were opened on February 18, 1903. The start of regular passenger traffic , with five pairs of trains a day, was delayed by a few weeks due to poor construction work and a general strike. Only when the last construction defects had been remedied could full operation be started. In the following years, up to the outbreak of the First World War , traffic developed favorably and the railway company could point to positive results . With the mobilization on August 4, 1914, the cross-border traffic for the AEE was stopped. The HSM was forbidden to use its resources on German soil. Since the Netherlands remained neutral , an emergency schedule could be introduced from March 29, 1915. On the German section of the route, KED Münster took over the forced operation and provided the vehicle fleet. The HSM trains were only allowed to travel as far as Alstätte. There the travelers had to change trains to Ahaus. For fear of espionage, travelers and railway personnel were monitored at every turn.
After the war and the times of emergency that followed, the railway did more badly than well. It was not until 1924 that coal transports were possible again. Not least thanks to the favorable management contract with HSM, the continued existence of the company was secured. When the contract expired in 1928 , things therefore looked bad for the AEE. The Dutch part of the route was nationalized on April 1, 1928, and nationalization was also envisaged on the German side. The AEE tried with all means to avert this. Only the empty coffers of the Deutsche Reichsbahn saved the railway from disbanding. Since there was no longer an operator, the German section of the route also came under compulsory management on April 1, 1928. The Reichsbahn commissioned the Dutch State Railways Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) as the successor to HSM with the transport service. Although the legal conditions had changed considerably, everything externally remained the same.
Only after three years was it possible to sign the Bentheimer Eisenbahn (BE) as the new operator for the AEE. This connection was to last for 59 years and have a lasting impact on the company. After Dutch vehicles had previously dominated the scene, BE vehicles were now used, which made up their vehicle fleet from Prussian series . For heavy coal traffic to Holland the BE even sent its heavy Train Locomotive of the genus G 7.1 . The old site became the center of operations. The customs shed was converted into a locomotive shed and for the first time the AEE received vehicles that did not only belong to it in the books. In 1933, BE procured a Wismar rail bus on behalf of and on behalf of AEE . With it, the passenger traffic should be handled more cheaply, especially in the outskirts of the day.
With the outbreak of the Second World War , rail operations were stopped again. In May 1940, the German troops invaded the Netherlands. After the occupation , emergency traffic was resumed. This time, however, the direct connections remained. Long worker trains with eleven or more cars dominated the scene. When the army had to withdraw, the "strategically important" bridges of the railway were blown up on April 1, 1945. The road bridge over the Enscheder Südbahnhof and the Aa bridge near Alstätte, which was only a few years old , fell victim to the fighting in retreat. Overall, however, the railway got off lightly. On September 13, 1945, an emergency bridge was built over the Aa and traffic ran back to Alstätte. The need for coal in Enschede was still there and from October 18, 1948, block trains loaded with coal were rolling again between Ahaus, Alstätte and Enschede Zuid. However, cross-border passenger traffic was not resumed.
The upswing did not last long. The establishment of the coal and steel union and the associated changes in tariffs for coal transport dealt a severe blow to AEE. From then on, the coal was no longer delivered to the border, instead the customer had to pay for every kilometer transported. In the end, the low tariffs of the NS made a longer transport through the Netherlands cheaper compared to the shorter route over the mostly German tariff area. In 1953, the railway suddenly lost its livelihood. The transport volume of the surrounding area, which the founding fathers wanted to open up, was too small. The BE left no stone unturned to maintain operations under these difficult conditions. The tariffs were reduced by up to 50% so that a smaller part of the coal traffic could be regained.
With funds from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , a 600 hp MaK diesel locomotive of the 600 D type was purchased to replace the uneconomical steam locomotives . The old rail bus also received a successor. The third AEE vehicle was a railcar from Gotha, built in 1934, which was acquired second-hand by the Ankum-Bersenbrücker Eisenbahn . Against the emerging competition from the car, however, an economical railway operation could no longer be carried out.
Therefore, the AEE was released from the passenger transport obligation on September 25, 1966 . Then she brought about the release from the duty to operate up to the border. The line was completely dismantled shortly after its closure on May 1, 1967. The Dutch state-owned section was served until June 30, 1970 and dismantled from Enschede Zuid in 1971. The sale of the locomotives further reduced costs. In order to carry out the remaining operations, the BE assigned the transport service to the Deutsche Bundesbahn , which initially used its Ahauser station locomotive ("Köf"). The locomotive was rented by the hour, the shunter provided by the AEE. Later, after the locomotive was withdrawn, the services of Coesfelder and Münsteraner machines were taken over. The transport volume stabilized at a low level and the AEE made no more profits. Therefore, at the end of 1987, the company applied to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to be released from the obligation to operate the remaining route. In the meantime, considerations have been made as to how operations could be continued.
Ahaus-Alstätter Eisenbahn GmbH
Ahaus-Alstätter Eisenbahn GmbH (AAE) was founded on February 24, 1989 . It took over the rights and obligations from the concession deed of 1899. The Ahaus-Enscheder Eisenbahn AG was not dissolved. It continues to exist as an asset management company. Initially, the new concessionaire did not change the existing operating conditions. But already in the summer of 1990 the management contract with the BE from 1931 was terminated and the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (DEG) entrusted with the management.
From 1991 the Euregio Eisenbahn Ahaus-Alstätte e. V. on the route of the Ahaus-Alstätter railway the museum train " Pengel-Anton ". The museum had to be closed in October 2006. The reason for this is the decision of the Ahaus-Alstätter Eisenbahn to finally shut down the route that is largely only used for its own use (in particular for the transport of spare parts). The spare parts are now transported by truck by road. Since the city of Ahaus did not want to cover the operating costs of the line for financial reasons and the Euregio Eisenbahn Ahaus-Alstätte eV did not have sufficient funds, the line closure was inevitable. “Nikolausfahrten” by Pengel-Anton on December 2nd and 3rd, 2006 and the use of modern railcars on March 24th, 2007 were the last regular train movements on the traditional route. In September 2007 the dismantling of the track system began.
AAE Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn AG
→ see main article AAE Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn
In 2002, AAE relocated its headquarters to Baar (Switzerland) and founded the two joint stock companies AAE Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn AG and AAE Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn Cargo AG there. The focus is on the acquisition and rental of freight wagons , which with over 24,000 freight wagons is one of the largest private freight wagon rental companies in Europe. With effect from January 1, 2015, AAE was taken over by VTG AG .
literature
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 6: North Rhine-Westphalia (northeastern part) . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2000, ISBN 3-88255-664-1 , pp. 223-237
- Evert Heusinkveld, Ludger Kenning: "The Ahaus-Enscheder Railway", Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 1988, ISBN 3-9800952-5-8
- Evert Heusinkveld, Ludger Kenning: "AAE Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn GmbH", secondary line documentation Volume 7, Verlag Kenning, Nordhorn 1993, ISBN 3-927587-16-8
Web links
- Newspaper article about the Ahaus – Enschede Zuid railway line in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Schweizerisches Handelsamtblatt, Bern, volume 120, number 137, p. 18. (PDF; 679 kB) (No longer available online.) July 18, 2002, archived from the original on December 19, 2015 ; Retrieved December 20, 2009 .
- ↑ See products of the AAE. Retrieved December 20, 2009 .
- ↑ Press release from AAE on the takeover by VTG