Distelrath – Embken railway line

Distelrath – Embken
Former DKB reception building Merzenich (street side)
Course book section (DB) :	247h (1958)
Route length:	33.8 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	Düren – Bessenich: 600 V  =
Legend from the Düren city network (tram) 0.0 Distelrath ( Bw of the Rurtalbahn , formerly Pbf) Route to the transfer station and to Düren Bördebahn Zülpich ↔ Düren former ring railway to Birkesdorf / Lendersdorf Merzenich beginning 2.1 Merzenich 4.3 Girbelsrath 6.1 Eschweiler ü. Field Bf 6.9 Eschweiler ü. Middle field 8.3 Ollesheim former route from Mödrath 10.5 Norvenich 11.9 Hochkirchen 12.9 Eggersheim 14.5 Lüxheim 16.0 Gladbach 17.8 Müddersheim 19.4 Disternich 20.6 Sievernich 22.3 Bessenich Bördebahn from Düren 24.2 Zülpich KRSB former EKB of Mülheim - Wichterich ( meter gauge ) Bördebahn to Euskirchen former Zülpich industrial railway ( three-rail track ) 26.9 Zülpich city former EKB to Arloff ( meter gauge ) 29.6 Geich - Füssenich 31.4 Juntersdorf 33.8 Embken Swell:

The Distelrath – Embken railway was the normal-gauge trunk line of the Düren circular path . It ran extensively parallel to the Bördebahn from the small station in Düren in Distelrath via Nörvenich and Zülpich to Embken . The section between Nörvenich and Zülpich ran roughly parallel to the Neffelbach and was also known as the Neffeltal section .

In addition to the city ​​network in Düren, which was licensed as a tram , this line was operated as a small train ; like the city network to Bessenich , it was electrified with 600 V = .

history

After many years of planning, the city of Düren received approval in November 1904 to build a passenger and freight line to Zülpich. The West German Railway Company (WeEG) was commissioned with the planning and operational management . The construction took place between 1906 and 1908.

On February 6, 1909, the section from Düren to Bessenich was opened, the section to Zülpich followed on May 1, 1909. With the opening of the route, the Düren district railway was founded.

In 1911 the line from Zülpich to Embken was extended, and the Astraea mine and the associated briquette factory were connected there. A total of 19 bridges were required from Düren to Embken:

• the transfer of the state railway in Düren,
• the underpass of the state railway in Zülpich,
• three overpasses,
• an underpass,
• three underpasses,
• ten underpasses.

The WeEG terminated the lease contract for the line on December 31, 1920, which led to the establishment of Dürener Kreisbahn GmbH, which took over the management of the line. Due to the global economic crisis, operations were stopped between December 1922 and January 1924, only the Distelrath - Nörvenich connection remained in operation for four months until spring 1923 to bypass the French regional railway between Aachen and Buir.

As early as November 1908, the section between Distelrath and Merzenich had overhead lines and the tram line to Rölsdorf - Lendersdorf and Gürzenich was used. In 1927 the electrical operation was extended to Girbelsrath and in 1928 to Nörvenich. The further electrification in the direction of Zülpich began only after the Second World War. The contact line reached Müddersheim in 1955 and Sievernich in 1957. In the process, dispensable material from the 1954 tram lines to Lendersdorf and Gürzenich was reused. Also in 1957 the last section between Zülpich-Stadt and Embken had to be shut down after the Astraea mine was expanded to become the Zülpich open-cast mine . Although the construction of the overhead line as far as Bessenich had progressed in 1958, passenger traffic on the route between Nörvenich and Zülpich-Stadt was shut down as early as 1960, with goods and all traffic following on December 31, 1962.

On April 30, 1963, passenger traffic on the remaining section between Düren and Nörvenich was stopped. With the end of freight traffic to Nörvenich in 1968, the line was completely shut down.

literature

• Bernd Franco Hoffmann: Disused railway lines in the Rhineland. Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt 2014, ISBN 978-3-95400-396-9 .

Web links

• The Düren circular path
• History of the Düren circular path

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
2. ^ Dürener Kreisbahn GmbH (Ed.): 75 years of Dürener Kreisbahn. Düren 1983, p. 14.
3. ↑ Rail network conditions of use of the Rurtalbahn GmbH - special section (SNB-BT). (PDF; 73 kB) Accessed February 10, 2012 . 
4. ^ Dieter Höltge, Axel Reuther: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 7: Cologne, Düren, Aachen. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, p. 124.
5. ^ Dieter Höltge, Axel Reuther: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 7: Cologne, Düren, Aachen. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, p. 127.