Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway line

Aachen – Mönchengladbach

Route number (DB) :

2550

Course book section (DB) :

425, 485

Route length:

~ 62 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Power system :

15 kV 16.7 Hz ~

Legend

		Line from Duisburg
		former route from Krefeld
		Line from Düsseldorf
	63.912	Mönchengladbach Hbf

		Freight route to Rheydt-Geneicken, former route to Stolberg

	62, 000	Landwehr ( Bk )
	60.106	Rheydt Hbf
		Route to Cologne
		Viersen-Helenabrunn freight bypass
		Iron Rhine (former route)
	58.900	Rheydt Gbf
		Iron Rhine to Dalheim
		A 61
	56.163	Wickrath (formerly Bf)
	51.900	Herrath north platform
	51.695	Herrath (formerly Bf)
	47.240	Erkelenz (formerly Bf)
		A 46
	44.410	Tenholt ( Bk )
	41.425	Baal Gbf
		Connection to Ratheim
	40.830	Baal ( Jülich – Dalheim )
	40.650	Baal Bk
		Rur
	38.830	Rur Bridge ( Üst )
	36,607	Fallow
	35.240	Relieve Abzw
	34.654	Alleviate (2007-2013 Hp)
		Route to Heinsberg
	31.600	Müllendorf ( Bk )
	27.415	Geilenkirchen
		Geilenkirchen circular path
	22.766	Übach-Palenberg (formerly Bf)
	19.620	Finkenrath ( Bk )
	19.400	Nievelstein ( Awanst )
		Range from Sittard
		Route from Alsdorf
	16.100	Herzogenrath
	13.800	Pesch ( Bk )
		former route from Würselen
	11.530	Kohlscheid
		former route from Maastricht
		A 4
	8.450	Richterich ( Üst , formerly Bf )
	7.300	Aachen West Esig

	4,777	Aachen West
		Aachen Templerbend ( Inselbahnhof , until 1910)
		Montzen route to Tongeren ( no level )
	3.478	Aachen Schanz

	2.400	Aachen Marschierthor ( Inselbahnhof , until 1905) original start of the route

		Line from Liège
	1.870	Aachen Hbf (since 1905)
		Route to Cologne

Swell:

The Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway is an important main railway line in the western Rhineland and part of the Ruhr area – Belgium route. It is used daily by passenger and freight trains.

The Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft played a key role in the development of this route .

history

Emergence

The planning for the construction of the line was initially carried out by the Aachen-Neuss-Düsseldorfer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, which on August 21, 1846 received the concession from the Prussian state to build the Aachen-Neuss-Düsseldorf-Oberkassel line. Since the company as well as the Ruhrort-Crefeld-Kreis Gladbacher Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft got into financial difficulties during construction, both were placed under the royal management of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn in 1850 at their own request , but continued to exist as joint stock companies.

The route was opened in the following sections:

Route section	Route kilometers	Opened
Mönchengladbach - Rheydt	3.8	August 12, 1852
Rheydt– Herzogenrath	44.0	November 12, 1852
Herzogenrath - Aachen	13.2	January 17, 1853

The Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn was the sole operator of the line until 1854 and remained so until December 31, 1865. From January 1, 1866, the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (BME) , which is majority owned by the Prussian state, took over all routes the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company. The latter was dissolved when it was taken over by BME.

An alternative route via Eschweiler , Jülich and Hottorf (near Linnich) was not considered.

Relocation of the route within Aachen in 1910

The route originally began at Aachen Marschierthor station . This was located at the level of the Marching Gate at the point where the Aachen workshop of the DB Regio is today on the north side of Aachen Central Station.

In 1910, due to the demolition of the Aachen Templerbend station, which was replaced by the Aachen West station, part of the route in Aachen was relocated. The Templerbend station was located in a north-south direction immediately behind the current branch of the Montzen route. From there, after a slight left bend at the foot of the Lousberg and Roermonder Straße , the route ran north-east, directly through what is now the western part of Aachen to the former Richterich train station. The former course over a high embankment in Laurensberg can still be traced on aerial photographs.

electrification

After Aachen was reached by electrically powered vehicles in 1966 (via the Cologne - Brussels - Oostende route), the section between Aachen-West and Mönchengladbach was also electrified. On May 22, 1968 the inaugural trip took place.

Renovation 2007

Between Übach-Palenberg and Rheydt Central Station the route in 2007 was to the electronic interlocking (CBI) Grevenbroich connected. During the construction work in 2006 and 2007, a. New Ks signals set up and the last form signals removed from the route in Lindern station and between the Herrath block point and Rheydt main station. The Wickrath , Übach-Palenberg and Erkelenz train stations were converted into stops , and the Lindern train station into a stop , as the Lindern stop was connected locally to the junction where the Lindern – Heinsberg (Rheinl) railway line began. To resume local rail passenger transport on the route to Heinsberg, Lindern was converted into a train station again in autumn 2013.

A new ESTW was also built in Aachen main station by 2007, which is why Ks signals are replacing the old light signals there too.

Congested railroad

On November 11, 2019, the route between Aachen Hauptbahnhof and Aachen West was declared a congested rail route.

Current operation

Regional traffic on the route is operated by DB Regio . The hourly Wupper Express (RE 4) and the hourly Rhein-Niers-Bahn (RB 33) ensure the basic supply on the Aachen - Mönchengladbach section. The regional train serves all stops, the regional express all stops with the exception of Kohlscheid, Brachelen, Herrath and Wickrath. From Mönchengladbach the two trains use separate routes (Rhein-Niers-Bahn on the Duisburg-Ruhrort-Mönchengladbach line to Duisburg, then via Mülheim to Essen, Wupper Express on the Mönchengladbach-Düsseldorf line to Düsseldorf, then via Wuppertal and Hagen To Dortmund).

Since December 15, 2013, the Rhein-Niers-Bahn in Lindern has been winged to serve the route to Heinsberg . There is also a direct regional express connection from Aachen to Düsseldorf Airport Terminal train station at night . The section between Herzogenrath and Aachen is also densified every half hour by the Euregiobahn (RB 20), which runs from Herzogenrath to Alsdorf and every hour via Alsdorf to Stolberg (Rhineland) main station .

The section between Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof and Rheydt Hauptbahnhof is also used by the Rhein-Erft-Express ( RE 8 ) and the Rhein-Erft-Bahn ( RB 27 ) to Koblenz and the Schwalm-Nette-Bahn ( RB 34 ) to Dalheim .

Train sign of the InterRegio 2646

In long-distance traffic there was an interregio in the direction of East Germany between 1991 and 2001 , which served Aachen, Mönchengladbach, Herzogenrath and Geilenkirchen (between 1999 and 2001 also Erkelenz and Rheydt), before that until 1981 there was only significant long-distance traffic with the D-train pair 340/341 between Aachen and Berlin Friedrichstrasse. Since the timetable change on December 13, 2009, the IC 1918/1919 has been running scheduled long-distance services to and from Berlin for the first time since the Interregio was discontinued, with stops in Mönchengladbach, Rheydt, Herzogenrath and Aachen on the route.

The route is currently used as an alternative to the Iron Rhine in freight traffic . Trains from Belgium to the Ruhr area come from the Montzen route and run from Aachen West station at least to Rheydt freight station. There you have the option of using the Mönchengladbach freight bypass train , or the trains continue on the route to Duisburg via Mönchengladbach main station.

In terms of frequency, freight train traffic is higher than on the section between Aachen West and Mönchengladbach, however, on the shorter section of the route between Aachen West and Aachen Central Station, which runs directly through Aachen city center. The reason for this is that the route to Liège, which already branches off from Aachen main station to Belgium, is densely occupied by local and long-distance passenger trains. a. is topographically more difficult due to the Ronheider ramp . That is why most of the freight trains from or via Cologne to Belgium and vice versa do not use this route, but the Montzen route.

The local freight traffic on the route has become meaningless after the collieries of the Aachen hard coal mining area and changes in services on the part of the railways, for example through the Mora C program , and is limited (as of February 2014) to occasional fertilizer traffic with Tds wagons to the rail connection of WestEnergie and Traffic in Geilenkirchen.

Current operation
Rhein-Niers-Bahn between the stations of Herrath and Wickrath
The Wupper Express near Geilenkirchen
Block train between Übach-Palenberg and Herzogenrath
Combined cargo traffic train at Herrath
Occasionally, long-distance trains such as the Thalys are diverted over the route

Route description

Route

Aachen Central Station

The route has its starting point in Aachen Hauptbahnhof , the common start and end station of the routes from Belgium and Cologne with the route to Mönchengladbach. Shortly after its exit signals comes the Aachen Schanz stop , which opened in 2004 . In the adjoining Aachen West train station , the Montzen route to Belgium , which is used exclusively for freight traffic, branches off .

After the route is first led past a high embankment on the western part of Aachen, a deep cut follows in which the former train station and today's Richterich transfer point are located. The branch of the Aachen – Maastricht line via Simpelveld to the Schaesberg – Simpelveld line there was also located at Richterich station . The Kohlscheid train station following the transfer point is the end of the 4.2 kilometer long Kohlscheider ramp with a gradient of 14 per thousand. In the past, heavy trains had to be pushed in the direction of Aachen from Herzogenrath to Kohlscheid in order to overcome the incline of the ramp. In addition, Kohlscheid was the starting point for the Stolberg – Kohlscheid railway line via Würselen, which is now almost completely dismantled .

The Stolberg – Herzogenrath railway and the Sittard – Herzogenrath railway branch off in Herzogenrath and are used by the euregiobahn . In addition, the Saint-Gobain glass factory in Herzogenrath has a connection. In this area the route runs through the valley of the Wurm , which in sections forms the border with the Netherlands.

The Geilenkirchen train station , which follows the Übach-Palenberg stop , once served as a transfer hub for the Geilenkirchen circuit to Tüddern and Alsdorf. At present, only the standard-gauge rail connection of WestEnergie und Verkehr is evidence of the Kreisbahn era. From the Lindern train station, where a branch line branches off to the district town of Heinsberg , the terrain becomes flatter. Behind Lindern, in the Lindern – Brachelen – Baal section, the route leads on a high embankment through the Rurn lowlands , the river of the same name is crossed with a concrete bridge.

The next junction is finally reached with the Baal tower station . At that station, the Jülich – Dalheim line crossed in the lower part of the station with the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line in the upper part of the station until 1980 . Behind the Baal train station, the route crosses the predominantly agricultural land of the Erkelenzer Börde .

The former Krefeld – Rheydt railway line and today's Mönchengladbach freight bypass line branches off at the Rheydt freight yard, allowing freight trains to bypass the busy section between Rheydt Hauptbahnhof and Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof in order to get to the Mönchengladbach – Duisburg line at Viersen-Helenabrunn station . There is also a parking facility for the trains to the Siemens test center in Wegberg-Wildenrath .

The Iron Rhine from Dalheim runs between the freight yard and Rheydter Hauptbahnhof on a track parallel to the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line. The routes from Cologne and Dalheim end in the main train station .

The meeting of these lines in Rheydt leads to high utilization of the last section of the line to Mönchengladbach main station. From there routes continue via Krefeld to Duisburg and via Neuss to Düsseldorf .

Aachen-Mönchengladbach railway line
Passage from the time the line was built for the Beeck flow in the railway embankment between the Geilenkirchen and Lindern stations
Erkelenz train station
Form signals in Wickrath train station
Mönchengladbach main station

Aachen Central Station

On the east side of Aachen Central Station there are butt tracks that are often used to park locomotives

Aachen Hauptbahnhof is the largest of the three operating train stations in the city of Aachen , which also has two stops . It belongs to station category 2. The long-distance trains Thalys (from Essen via Liège and Brussels South to Paris North ) and Intercity-Express ( Frankfurt - Cologne - Brussels South) as well as local trains on the RE 1 ( NRW Express ), RE 4 ( Wupper-Express ), RE 9 ( Rhein-Sieg-Express ), RB 20 ( Euregiobahn ), RE 29 ( euregioAIXpress ) and RB 33 ( Rhein-Niers-Bahn ). With the exception of the Euregiobahn, all of the above-mentioned local public transport lines end and begin in Aachen Central Station.

The present reception building, taken before 1938

The Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft opened the Rheinische Bahnhof in 1841 as the terminus of the Cologne – Aachen railway line. The present reception building and the station hall date from 1905, when the station was rebuilt in the course of merging with Aachen Marschierthor station , the end of the Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway line. In the run-up to the electrification of the station, the tracks within the station hall were rearranged in 1966.Since then, Aachen's main station has had nine platform tracks, four of which are designed as system separation points : the overhead lines are switched in such a way that they can handle both the 15 kilovolt AC voltage used in Germany 16.7 Hertz as well as the DC voltage used in Belgium with 3 kilovolts. A 3-S control center has been housed in the reception building since 2003 .

All local and long-distance trains stop at Aachen Central Station; With the exception of ICE International , Thalys and the Euregiobahn , all trains start and end here. To the west of the station there is a depot of DB Regio NRW , in which the vehicles of the NRW-Express , the Rhein-Sieg-Express and the Euregiobahn are maintained.

Aachen Marching Gate

The era of the railroad began in Aachen on September 1st, 1841 with the opening of the line from Cologne to Aachen by the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft . To this end, the Rheinische Eisenbahn built the Rheinische Bahnhof in the classical style outside the city walls west of the Burtscheider Viaduct . In 1853 the railway line from Mönchengladbach built by the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft reached the city of Aachen. The end point of this route was Aachen Marschierthor train station , which had four platform tracks, an independent, 4½-storey reception building, several goods sheds and loading streets and a workshop. Aachen Marschierthor station was built in the vicinity of the Marschiertor and immediately west of the Rheinischer Bahnhof; there was a connecting track between the two stations.

Towards the end of the 19th century, both the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft were nationalized and merged with the Prussian State Railways . The Prussian State Railways, however, did not need two adjacent railway stations.

In addition, due to the growth of the city, the development enclosed the two train stations, and the level tracks caused difficulties with the increasing traffic. Therefore the Prussian State Railroad decided to build a new central station. Aachen Central Station was built on the site of the Rheinischer Bahnhof, Aachen Marschierthor was demolished. The Aachen Central Railway Station depot was built on the site of the Aachen Marschierthor station that is no longer required.

Aachen Schanz stop

Mixed freight train with a class 28 of the SNCB at the Aachen Schanz stop

The refurbishment of the Aachen Schanz train station in 2004 was part of the transport policy step-by-step concept for Aachen 2000-2010. For the barrier-free access to the western platform systems, part of the former sports field of the first gym in the Rhineland, which was built in 1866 by city architect Friedrich Joseph Ark , had to be used. The name Schanz goes on at the beginning of today's Liege street located Liege Schanze , a medieval kennel of the outer city wall Aachener back.

The barrier-free stopping point is located between Aachen Hbf and Aachen West train station at the western end of the city center. It is the station with the shortest footpath to the old town or to Aachen Cathedral . The stop in station category 5 has two outside platforms with a useful length of 145 meters and a platform height of 760 millimeters. The platforms can be reached via entrances from Vaalser Straße and from the Boxgraben / Lütticher Straße intersection.

Aachen West train station

Aachen West train station (around 1920)

Templar station

On the area between Templergraben and Tower Street, which today for parking , institute building and the lecture hall of the RWTH Aachen is used earlier was inside the station Aachen Templerbend . This was built in 1858 as a replacement for a temporary arrangement that had previously existed at the same location and served as a border station between Germany and the Netherlands . It was designed as an island station and was originally used by both the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and the Aachen-Maastricht Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft for the Aachen-Maastricht line. In 1872 the later Montzen route to Belgium was also connected to the Templerbend train station.

Since the RWTH Aachen expanded at the beginning of the 20th century and took up the space occupied by the Templerbend train station, the new Aachen West train station was built in the immediate vicinity. The relocation of the station also made it necessary to relocate the line to Mönchengladbach between Aachen Templerbend and Richterich . It used to run from the Templerbend train station along the Lousberg, parallel to Roermonder Straße. Most of the old course can still be seen today in aerial photographs . In Laurensberg the old embankment is still used today as a high promenade for the “White Way” in the horse park.

Westbahnhof

The Aachen West freight yard was opened on October 1, 1910 together with the new route , the passenger station on October 30, 1910, one day after the Templerbend station was closed and the old route was closed. In 1911 the Templerbend station was finally blown up . The station building from 1910 was destroyed in the Second World War and replaced by a simple new building after the war. However, this was only used as a reception building until the 1990s, after which a discotheque used the building until it was demolished in 2012 . At the same time, the depot was also demolished. Parts of the site have given way to the West Campus of RWTH Aachen University.

Richterich train station

The Richterich district used to have its own train station on the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line and a branch to the Aachen – Maastricht line via Vetschau . Passenger traffic for the Richterich station was given up in 1966. In 1992 the line to Simpelveld was closed and dismantled in Vetschau over a length of a few hundred meters. The junction switch has been expanded. Today there is only one transfer point in Richterich .

It is planned to build another stop at this point, which will be served by the Euregiobahn . The prerequisite is the planned electrification of the Euregiobahn. For the stop, the city of Aachen, the Aachener Verkehrsverbund, Nahverkehr Rheinland and Deutsche Bahn Station & Service commissioned a feasibility study for the so-called "north variant" in 2013 as a supplement to a study made in 2008 for a "south variant" ".

Kohlscheid station

Euregiobahn in Kohlscheid station

The station was built in 1853 by the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in Kohlscheid (since 1972 part of Herzogenrath). On June 1, 1892, the station was also connected to the line to Stolberg . Passenger traffic in the direction of Stolberg was stopped on May 20, 1951 and the station building was demolished in 1976. The Kohlscheid station is now a category 6 station and has a distance of 12.2 kilometers. The station has four tracks; the two outer platforms are on the continuous main tracks behind the exit signals towards Herzogenrath. The station's dispatcher interlocking Kf is remotely controlled by the dispatcher interlocking Hf of the Herzogenrath station .

Herzogenrath station

In 1852 Herzogenrath was connected to the Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway line, and the station building, which still exists today, was inaugurated a year later. In 1857, a loading track for coal was laid for the Anna mine in neighboring Alsdorf . At Herzogenrath station, the line to Sittard, which went into operation in 1892, branches off via Heerlen and Landgraaf , as well as the Stolberg – Herzogenrath railway line , which was newly built in 1890 and is served by the euregiobahn . The Herzogenrath station at kilometer 19.6 is the starting point of the route to Stolberg. From 1890 to 1950 there was a railway depot in Herzogenrath . Due to the Saint-Gobain Glass Deutschland glassworks located in the immediate vicinity of the train station and the previously heavy coal traffic in the train station, there are track systems for freight traffic in the Herzogenrath train station.

In December 2004 the line to Stolberg with the stops Herzogenrath-Alt- Merkstein and Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz was reopened and in December 2005 the line was extended to Alsdorf- Annapark . From 2007 to 2008, the platforms were rebuilt to a height of 76 centimeters and the usable length was greatly reduced. In addition, the station was given lifts for barrier-free access to the platforms. Since the timetable change on December 13, 2009, Herzogenrath train station has been reconnected to the long-distance network with some Intercity trains on the Aachen - Berlin and Leipzig - Cologne routes.

Übach-Palenberg train station

Entrance building in 1912

The Übach-Palenberg station is a former station and is now a stopping point with station category 5 in Übach-Palenberg at the southern tip of the Heinsberg district . Here keep Wupper Express and Rhein-Niers-Bahn . With the closure of the Carolus Magnus mine in 1962, the station lost much of its importance.

In 1912, the Carolus Magnus pit was given a siding and a new wooden reception building was built on the site of today's park-and-ride car park , which was created in the 1990s . After Palenberg and the train station became part of the new municipality of Übach-Palenberg in 1935, a year later a new station building was built on the eastern side for the train station now renamed Übach-Palenberg .

In November 2007 the switch connections were cut, the third track and the Üf signal box were abandoned. The station was converted into a stop. These reconstruction measures were carried out with the connection of the section between Übach-Palenberg and Rheydt Hauptbahnhof to the electronic signal box (ESTW) Grevenbroich . In 2009, renovation work began in which the platforms were provided with barrier-free access. The no longer usable, but still existing third track was dismantled as part of this work.

Geilenkirchen station

former signal box in Geilenkirchen

The first train station in Geilenkirchen was opened in 1852 with the opening of the Herzogenrath - Rheydt section . In 1900 the second train station, which belonged to the Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn , was opened. Because of its central location, it became the largest station on the circular railway. There was a locomotive shed and workshops in the district station. Because of the circular track's meter gauge system, it was not possible to shunt freight wagons directly onto the tracks of the state railway. These had to be handled on special loading tracks. In 1938, the roll-head system made it possible to move the standard-gauge wagons on the meter -gauge tracks of the Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn. The station facility thus consisted of two reception buildings, a warehouse for goods and baggage handling, a loading ramp and a head track for loading wagons with vehicles. After the end of rail operations on the circular railway in 1971, the bus depot of the later district works Heinsberg was built on the site of the Geilenkirchen circular railway . In 2008 the city of Geilenkirchen took over the station building from Deutsche Bahn and began urgent renovation work .

Geilenkirchen train station has a reception building. There is a waiting hall and a travel center in it . The series 103 and 101 used to run regularly to Geilenkirchen station with the Interregio Aachen – Berlin. With the introduction of the summer timetable 2001, this connection was canceled. As of the 2013 winter timetable, IC trains on the Aachen – Berlin route will stop at Geilenkirchen station once every weekday.

Lindern train station

Arriving RB 33 in Lindern

The lindern station is a railway station in Geilenkirchener district alleviating and has the station category 4. It is the separation station of the railway line Alleviate-Heinsberg (Rheinl) from the Aachen-Mönchengladbach railway. The station in Lindern, including the station building, was completed in 1852 and in the same year passenger and goods handling on the new Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter railway began. Today the station building is used by a restaurant and a kiosk,

Between 2007 and the end of 2013, Lindern was a stopping point. For the resumption of local rail passenger transport on the Lindern – Heinsberg line, the station was again converted into a train station. The Lindern – Heinsberg (Rheinl) railway line has only been used for freight traffic since 1980. Local public rail passenger transport on the route to Heinsberg was resumed on December 15, 2013. Construction work in this regard, including at Lindern train station, began in 2012. They now ended with the activation of the Lindern train station on the Rheydt electronic signal box.

Brachelen stop

Brachelen is a stop ( station category 6 ) on the Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway line. Formerly owned Brachelen addition to the two track rails three tracks for freight, but are no longer available today. The small terminal building was demolished as part of the renovation work in 2004, because the traffic station was completely modernized in 2005.

Baal train station

Baal train station in the district of Baal was the main train station in Hückelhoven city. However, it has lost its importance as a junction for passenger traffic gained with the construction of the tower station in recent years due to the closure of the Jülich – Dalheim railway on this section. Since 2002, the remaining stop on the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line has been signposted with Hückelhoven-Baal , even if the name of the operating point in the operating point directory is still Baal .

In 1852 the Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway was opened by the Aachen-Neuss-Düsseldorfer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , and Baal received a passenger and freight station at kilometer 41.6 . This station was equipped with a reception building, a ramp for goods handling, a small turntable and a small transfer table , which were used for goods traffic. In 1911 the passenger station was relocated to the west. The occasion was the newly opened Jülich - Dalheim railway line . In order to be able to serve the two railway lines, a tower station was built consisting of an upper stop on the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line and a lower stop on the Jülich – Dalheim line. The line to Dalheim was connected directly to the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line via a connecting line at Baal Güterbahnhof / Baal West, which was particularly important for freight traffic to the Sophia-Jacoba colliery . The street name Am alten Bahnhof and the retaining wall of the old foundation still reminds of the original location .

Today, at the site of the old Baal station, there is still the Baal freight station, the associated dispatcher interlocking, which has not been used since the end of 2007, and the branch to the connecting curve to Ratheim . As a junction, the freight yard was still important for traffic to the Sophia-Jacoba colliery until 2007 , because despite the colliery's closure on March 27, 1997, Deutsche Bahn coal trains continued to run between the Baal freight station and the Ratheim colliery station on Mondays and Wednesdays , as the SJ- Briquette and Extracitfabrik GmbH continued to produce charcoals from anthracite on the old colliery site in Hückelhoven. After the briquette factory was closed in September 2007, the line between Baal and Ratheim was shut down on October 1, 2007.

Erkelenz stop

RB 33 at the entrance to the Erkelenz train station

The Erkelenz stop is a former train station in Erkelenz in the Heinsberg district . It belongs to station category 4. The station building, which was built when the railway line opened in 1852, was completely destroyed in the Second World War, so a new station building was built by 1952. This was rebuilt in 2012 according to the changed requirements. The stop now has two side platforms.

While the train station Erkelenz in freight transport with the relocation of heavy goods traffic from rail to road in the 1980s lost its importance, the passenger has developed in such a way that the station today - to get in and out numbers - the most important stop between Aachen and Moenchengladbach is . From 1992 to 2001, the Erkelenzer station for some years was Interregio -Stop towards East Germany (- Chemnitz Aachen). With the conversion of the railway line to ESTW operation in November 2007, the switch connections were cut, making the station operationally a stop, and new Ks signal systems were put into operation. The third track, which was available until then, but has not been used for passenger train stops since the reconstruction of the central platform, was completely dismantled.

Stop at Herrath

Class 186 of the Cobra company near Herrath

The Herrath stop takes a special position as the border station between the Aachener Verkehrsverbund (AVV) and the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR). The stop belongs to station category 6 . It was built in 1897. In 1906 the breakpoint was converted into a stop with goods traffic, in 1931 a train station, but later rebuilt into a stop with a block . With the changeover of the route to ESTW operation in 2007, Herrath lost its function as a block station again, until then a dispatcher from the station building controlled the two signals of the block station and the level crossing, which is still used to access the central platform. The red brick station building dates from 1931 and has not been used for rail operations since 2007, but is privately owned.

Wickrath stop

Former entrance building of Wickrath train station

The Wickrath stop on the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line belongs to station category 6 and is served every hour by the Rhein-Niers-Bahn between Essen main station and Aachen main station.

There used to be a train station in place of the stop. The former tracks and buildings for loading goods were dismantled at the beginning of the 2000s, and in their place there is now a supermarket. In the direction of Rheydt, however, three sidings from the station were initially preserved. The station was equipped with form signals until the end of 2007 , the operation was controlled by the mechanical signal boxes Wf and Ws. Since the connection of the section to the ESTW Grevenbroich, the interlockings are out of order and the form signals have been replaced by Ks signals . Since all switches from the station have also been removed, it has been a stop again since then. Only a section of a siding at the northern end of the station remained as a butt track , but this now belongs to the Rheydt Gbf station.

The reception building of the former Wickrath train station has been preserved to this day, but is no longer used as such. Since October 27, 2011, the Wickrath stop has had a new outside platform for trains in the direction of Aachen; the previous intermediate platform was put out of service and the level crossing was blocked by a fence. The intermediate platform was dismantled at the beginning of 2012.

Rheydt Central Station

IC 1919 arrives at Rheydt station

The station is located about 300 meters south of Marienplatz in the center of Rheydt at the intersection of Bahnhofstrasse with the streets Moses-Stern-Strasse and Wilhelm-Schiffer-Strasse, which are part of Rheydter Ring.

On the southern side of Rheydt main station, the line is linked with the Rheydt – Cologne – Ehrenfeld railway and the Iron Rhine from Dalheim . From Rheydt it continues north to Mönchengladbach main station . In the freight yard south of the passenger station, the Mönchengladbach freight bypass line branches off to the north and meets the line from Mönchengladbach to Viersen in Viersen-Helenabrunn . There is also a parking facility for the trains to the Wegberg-Wildenrath test center .

Until 2007, Rheydt Hauptbahnhof had two mechanical interlockings that went into operation in 1907: a dispatcher interlocking (Rpf) and in the north a guard interlocking (Rpn). The dispatcher interlocking (Rmf) and the guard interlocking Rn, Rs and R1 belonged to the former freight station. Until 2007, these controlled the switches and signals at the stations, which were still fully equipped with form signals . The Gbf also included a depot for the maintenance of the locomotives used and two turntables . The depot was closed in 1975.

The station has been connected to the Grevenbroich electronic signal box since November 2007 and the old form signals have been replaced by Ks signals . All signal box buildings were initially preserved, but the signal box Rs was demolished after a fire in 2011.

Mönchengladbach main station

Rail bus on a special trip in Mönchengladbach main station

The routes built by the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft branch off at Mönchengladbach Central Station . The Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway approaches him from Aachen from the south, north of the station the Mönchengladbach – Düsseldorf railway connects to the station and continues in a curve to the east in the direction of Neuss . These two lines together form the KBS 485. The Duisburg-Ruhrort – Mönchengladbach (KBS 425) line also begins north of the station via Viersen and Krefeld to Duisburg . The connecting line to the Krefeld – Rheydt railway line, which used to lead to Mönchengladbach-Neuwerk , ran parallel to the line to Viersen as far as Eicken, but it could no longer be used after the Second World War and has since been dismantled.

At the southern end there is finally the beginning of the Mönchengladbach – Stolberg railway line , which used to be used for trains to Cologne as far as Hochneukirch . However, the tracks only lead to the Rheydt-Geneicken station (industrial area Mitte) and are used exclusively for freight traffic. Since the closure of the Rheydt-Geneicken– Rheydt-Odenkirchen section in the 1980s, trains to Cologne have only run to Rheydt Hauptbahnhof and then via the connecting route from Rheydt Hauptbahnhof to Rheydt-Odenkirchen .

literature

Hans-Paul Höpfner: Railways. Your story on the Lower Rhine . Mercator Verlag, Duisburg 1986, ISBN 3-87463-132-X .
Hans Schweers and Henning Wall: Railways around Aachen . 1st edition. Aachen 1993, ISBN 3-921679-91-5 .

Web links

Commons : Mönchengladbach – Aachen railway line - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: State treaty between the German Empire and Belgium, regarding the Aachen-Mastrichter Railway. April 15, 1897 - Sources and full texts

Description of route 2550 in the NRWbahnArchiv by André Joost

Individual evidence

↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
^ Aachen - Mönchengladbach, The story on www.gessen.de
^ Hans Schweers and Henning Wall: Railways around Aachen, 1st edition, Aachen 1993, page 159
↑ Overloaded railways 2019. In: fahrweg.dbnetze.com. DB Netz AG, November 2019, accessed on December 8, 2019 .
↑ site aachen ground by Stefan from the stirring for freight train occupancy

[1] DB Netze - Infrastructure Register

[2] Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .

[3] Aachen - Mönchengladbach, The story on www.gessen.de

[4] Hans Schweers and Henning Wall: Railways around Aachen, 1st edition, Aachen 1993, page 159

[db-2019-11-5] Overloaded railways 2019. In: fahrweg.dbnetze.com. DB Netz AG, November 2019, accessed on December 8, 2019 .

[6] site aachen ground by Stefan from the stirring for freight train occupancy