Elze – Löhne railway line
The Elze – Löhne railway line (sometimes also called Weserbahn ) is a non- electrified and now single-track main line from Elze ( Lower Saxony ) via Hameln and Rinteln to Löhne in North Rhine-Westphalia , which runs from Hameln to Vlotho between the Weser and Weser Mountains .
The line used to be part of the main line from Berlin via Hildesheim , Elze, Löhne, Osnabrück , Rheine and Almelo to Amsterdam, also for freight traffic. At the beginning of the 1980s, the formerly double-track main line was dismantled on one track. The route can be driven at up to 120 km / h.
history
From Elze to Löhne, the route was put into operation on May 19, 1875 for freight traffic and on June 30, 1875 for passenger traffic by the Hanover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (HAE). It was aimed at the Hildesheim – Goslar railway line, which was also planned by the HAE . Between Elze and Hildesheim, the trains used the Hannöversche Südbahn and the Lehrte – Nordstemmen line , which were opened by the Royal Hanover State Railways in 1853. On January 1, 1880, the HAE became the property of Prussia , which had owned the Hanoverian railway lines since 1866. The Elze – Hameln section was expanded to two tracks in 1902, the Hameln – Löhne section in 1908/11. From 1892 to 1991, the Elze-Hameln section was part of Germany's first express train connection, the D 31/32 between Cologne and Berlin . After the Löhne-Hameln section runs almost completely along the Weser , from which the name is derived, there were considerations to extend the route to Holzminden or Bodenfelde . However, due to the lack of demand, this did not materialize.
Since in Hildesheim the connection to the railway line to Vienenburg and thus a transport line to Central Germany was possible, the line developed into an important connection between the Dutch seaports, the Rhine-Ruhr area and the eastern industrial region. From 1876, however, new steel rails had to be used because of the inferior quality. Freight traffic increased sharply after the nationalization, as passenger traffic on the Minden-Hanover route did not allow any further use for goods transport.
Freight traffic had to cope with a steep incline on the way to Hildesheim between Hameln and Coppenbrügge. It took them up to half an hour for the 13 km long Ith ramp (often despite the call from Hessisch Oldendorf). Pushing locomotives were often used as support. There was also heavy freight traffic with building materials in the 1930s due to the construction of today's Autobahn 2.
A further expansion in 1933 was carried out due to the Reichserntedankfest , which took place near Hameln. Among other things, a new train station was set up in Afferde . Besides the special trains, there was very little long-distance travel on the Weserbahn. The course book from 1934 shows E 287/288 from Bad Bentheim to Hameln to D 31/32 and E 133/134 Hildesheim – Löhne.
Development after the division of Germany
The importance of the route declined sharply from 1968 onwards, due to the relocation of traffic flows after the Second World War and the electrification of the Hanover – Minden and Minden – Löhne routes . Furthermore, an increase in motorized individual transport from the 1960s onwards has a negative impact on transport volumes. Numerous train stations and stops , especially between Hameln and Vlotho , were closed, some of which could actually be important for the development of the upper Weser Valley ( Fischbeck , Eisbergen , Veltheim ). An entire shutdown was also discussed in the 1980s. The Bad Oeynhausen Süd train station was converted into a simple, single-track stop and the pedestrian underpass was closed, creating handicapped accessible ground level access.
Route as a freight bypass from Hanover
In the course of drawing up the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan in 2003 , the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing examined plans to double-track the Braunschweig - Hameln - Löhne axis as a southern bypass of the Hanover railway junction for freight traffic. As a result, this project was included as No. 7 in the urgent requirements of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003.
In the result of the requirement plan review for the federal railways published on November 11, 2010, the southern bypass of the Hanover railway junction via the Weserbahn was rated with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.5. A two-track expansion and electrification of the line are planned as the second construction phase of this project . There was opposition to this planning in Bad Oeynhausen, for example, because it was feared that the southern part of the city and the spa area would become noisy . Due to the expected significant increase in rail noise, further resistance arose in affected cities and communities against this project, known as “Planfall 33”.
In the course of drawing up the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 , the double-track expansion and electrification of the line was classified as “no need” due to a benefit-cost ratio of 0.5 and thus deleted from the plan. Instead, the Hanover – Minden railway line is to be expanded. The "Association of Freight Car Owners in Germany" and the "Network of European Railways" continue to demand the expansion of the Elze – Löhne railway line.
The electrification of the Hameln – Elze section is urgently needed according to the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030. This creates the prerequisites for a southern bypass of the Hanover junction and the Lehrte – Braunschweig bottleneck area with freight trains on the Ruhr area – Central Germany route.
Service offer
The route is served by the regional train line RB 77, also known as the " Weser-Bahn ", from Bünde (Westphalia) to Hildesheim with a connection to Bodenburg, mostly every hour. At the weekend the trains always end in wages.
| Train type | line | Line course | frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional train | 77 |
Hildesheim - Emmerke - Nordstemmen - Elze - Osterwald - Voldagsen - Coppenbrügge - Hameln Hessisch Oldendorf - Rinteln - Vlotho - Bad Oeynhausen Süd - Löhne - Kirchlengern - Bünde
( Italic stops are part of the Weser Railway and go beyond the Elze – Löhne railway line) |
hourly |
The local passenger traffic was carried out between December 2003 and December 2011 by eurobahn , which won the eight-year tender. It used Alstom Coradia LINT diesel railcars from the Lower Saxony regional transport company (LNVG), which enabled an average travel speed of 62 km / h.
In December 2006, travel times were shortened by 30 minutes by eliminating the time spent in Hameln and Rinteln. In the Löhne – Hameln section, the offer has been reduced from a two-hour service to an hourly service. Due to the improvements in the range of services and the expansion of the infrastructure, the number of passengers on the Weserbahn rose by 30 percent by 2008. With the timetable change in December 2017, the range of services on the Hameln-Hildesheim section was expanded to include additional trips in the peripheral locations.
The new tender for the services for the next ten years from December 2011 was won by NordWestBahn . To this end, it took over the Coradia LINT railcars from the LNVG from the eurobahn , converted them for their purposes and provided them with WiFi, sockets and USB connections.
future
In order to further increase the number of passengers, a relocation of the western final destination to Herford or to the regional center of Bielefeld is required. This is currently failing due to the lack of route capacities. In addition, the planning company Nahverkehr Osnabrück wanted to extend the line via Löhne and Bünde to Osnabrück central station in order to reach a 30-minute interval between Osnabrück and Melle.
The Elze transfer hub is to be optimized through infrastructure measures, as connections to the trains on the Göttingen – Hanover – Uelzen (RE 2) line are currently very scarce.
A reactivation is planned for the Fischbeck stop ( Hessisch Oldendorf ) if the competing road-bound local transport service is discontinued, as is the former Eisbergen stop in the district of Porta Westfalica of the same name .
For the previous Voldagsen stop, it is planned to close and relocate the train stop to a new stop in the Marienau district of Coppenbrügg . The new stop should be better connected to the bus network and be located on the premises of the office furniture manufacturer WINI .
There are also plans to extend the regional express line 50, which currently serves the connected Wolfsburg – Braunschweig and Braunschweig – Hildesheim routes, to Hameln. A final evaluation of this project has not yet been completed.
The use of hydrogen-powered iLint trains is not initially planned until 2033.
literature
- Michael Bahls: The Hanover-Altenbeken Railway. Kenning, Nordhorn 2006, ISBN 3-927587-77-X
- Josef Högemann: In the shadow of the main road. The Weserbahn. , In: LokMagazin 03/2020 (number 462, 59th volume), pp. 87–93., Geramond Verlag, Munich, publisher: Rudolf Heym
Web links
- Description of the route 1820 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 .
- ↑ Jörg Stuke: The expansion of the southern runway would only cost Bad Oeynhausen millions. Former State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport, Lothar Ibrügger, puts considerations on electrification in Hameln. In: New Westphalian . May 14, 2019, accessed May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Michael Bahls: The Hanover-Altenbekener railway. Kenning, Nordhorn 2006, ISBN 3-927587-77-X , p. 25
- ↑ Josef Högemann: In the shadow of the main road. The Weserbahn , In: LokMagazin 03/2020 (number 462), p. 87 ff., Geramond Verlag, Munich
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing (Ed.): Federal Transport Route Plan 2003: Basics for the future of mobility in Germany . Berlin July 2003, p. 156 ( bmvbs.de [PDF; accessed on January 24, 2012]). Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003: Fundamentals for the future of mobility in Germany ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2011 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.
- ↑ Consultancy group Verkehr + Umwelt GmbH / Intraplan Consult GmbH: Review of the requirement plan for the federal railways . Freiburg / Munich November 2010, p. 9-294 ff., Planfall 33 ( bmvbs.de [PDF; accessed on January 24, 2012], corrected version November 29, 2010). Review of the requirement plan for the federal railways ( memento of the original from May 15, 2012 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.
- ^ Mindener Tagblatt of April 4, 2011, accessed on April 11, 2011
- ↑ Vlothoer Anzeiger dated May 25, 2011 ( Memento of the original dated March 27, 2013 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.
- ↑ Overall project: 2-006-V01. In: Project Information System (PRINS) on the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030. Accessed on May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Ulf Handke: Waggon lobby calls for the expansion of the southern railway. Transport: The competition from Deutsche Bahn considers electrification between Löhne and Hameln for 440 million euros possible - and necessary. But the Ministry of Transport declines. In: New Westphalian . May 18, 2019, accessed May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Overall project: 2-046-V02. In: Project Information System (PRINS) on the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030. Accessed on May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ http://www.noz.de/lokales/osnabrueck/artikel/655149/os-bahn-konzept-2025-mehr-zuge-mehr-dienstleistungen#gallery&0&0&655149
- ↑ http://www.lnvg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Formulare/SPNV/Konzept_SPNV_lang.pdf ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. LNVG, SPNV-Konzept 2013+, pp. 149–150
- ↑ https://nrw.vcd.org/fileadmin/user_upload/NRW/Verbaende/Ostwestfalen-Lippe/VVOWL2025.pdf VCD, Nahverkehr im Verkehrsverbund Ostwestfalen-Lippe 2025, p. 25
- ↑ http://www.weserbergland-nachrichten.de/kreisgabe/coppenbruegger-nachrichten/8540--marienau-bekommen-einen-eisenbahn-haltpunkt- Marienau gets a railway stop - Weserbergland-Nachrichten of February 19, 2016
- ↑ Will the train route between Elze and Hameln be converted? , Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung of January 17, 2018. Accessed March 30, 2018
- ↑ No hydrogen trains like in the north - diesel will run in the Wesertal until 2033 , Dewezet March 8, 2018. Accessed April 16, 2020.
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