Railway route Wegberg Klinkum – test center Wegberg-Wildenrath
| Klinkum-Wildenrath | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Transfer of an ICE near Arsbeck
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| Route length: | 5.2 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Wegberg Klinkum – Wegberg-Wildenrath test center is an approximately five-kilometer-long connecting line in the Heinsberg district that is operated in accordance with the ordinance on the construction and operation of connecting railways . It connects the Wegberg-Wildenrath (PCW) test center operated by Siemens with the Mönchengladbach – Dalheim railway line . The connection is made via the alternative connection point Klinkum assigned to the Wegberg train station . It was operated by the railway infrastructure company West Gleis GmbH, a subsidiary of WestVerkehr GmbH , until 2015 . At the beginning of 2016, operational management was transferred from West Gleis GmbH to Siemens PCW.
The siding for the Wegberg-Wildenrath commercial and industrial park has not yet been used (until 2018).
history
The route, which was never used in public passenger transport, emerged from the works railway of the RAF Wildenrath military airfield of the Royal Air Force , which was previously located on the premises of the test center , and was used to connect the airfield to the rail network from the 1950s to the early 1990s. After the airfield was abandoned by the Air Force, the site was converted into an industrial park and the Siemens test center was established. Since 1997 the railway line has been used as a feed and discharge route for the rail vehicles tested there.
Structurally interesting is the almost level crossing (designation: Covering point Kr13) of the siding with the (outer) test ring 1 of the test center. This crosses the test ring by means of a bridge construction that is inserted only during operating trips. The difference in height between the two tracks is only 30 centimeters.
