Gronau – Coevorden railway line

Gronau (Westf) –Coevorden
Route number (DB) :	9203
Course book section (DB) :	formerly 271 (1974)
Route length:	75.7 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Top speed:	80 km / h
Legend Route from Emmen 76.1 Coevorden Lutterhoofdwijk Route to Zwolle Infrastructure boundary to ProRail Coevorden-Vecht Canal Route to Zwolle 75.1 Euroterminal 74.4 State border between the Netherlands and Germany 71.3 Laarwald 68.3 Vorwald B 403 64.6 Emlichheim to Emsland strength 61.1 Small rings 59.6 Large rings 56.8 Hoogstede lee 54.2 mountains 52.6 Route from Osterwald 52.6 Ash ( Abzw ) 49.3 Veldhausen Vechte 46.7 Neuenhaus 44.7 Neuenhaus south 42.4 Grass village B 403 39.3 Frenswegen 37.3 Route from Nordhorn GIP 36.2 Nordhorn Nordhorn-Almelo Canal 34.6 Nordhorn-Blanke 33.1 Nordhorn south B 213 30.8 Burning bad B 403 28.2 Hestrup 25.3 Neerlage A 30 22.6 Quendorf 22.4 Quendorf 20.1 Bad Bentheim bath 18.7 Bad Bentheim North to the route to Almelo Almelo – Salzbergen route B 403 16.7 Bad Bentheim south 13.6 Guild house 11.2 Achterberg to Ochtrup-Brechte (Bundeswehr) 8.3 Bardel State border Lower Saxony / North Rhine-Westphalia 5.1 Driland 1.7 Building association Spelt Infrastructure border to Deutsche Bahn Line from Munster Line from Coesfeld 0.0 Gronau (Westf) former route to Oldenzaal (NL) Route to Enschede (NL) Swell:

The Gronau – Coevorden railway is a Bentheimer railway line that begins in Gronau in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia and ends in Coevorden in the Netherlands . In the 1980s, the Gronau – Bad Bentheim section remained unused and was partially dismantled. Today the Bentheimer Eisenbahn operates goods traffic on the remaining section and passenger traffic (RB 56) on the Bad Bentheim – Neuenhaus section.

history

Starting in 1895 at the Bentheim station (since 1979 Bad Bentheim), a standard-gauge, single-track line was built from the Almelo – Salzbergen railway line to the north in the direction of Nordhorn to Neuenhaus . In 1908 it was extended south towards Gronau and in 1911 north towards Coevorden in the Netherlands. The Bentheimer Kreisbahn already carried 72,425 people, 28,218 tons of goods and 30,324 animals in the year of operation in 1896.

Planning for the construction of a railway line

In the Grafschaft Bentheim district , two plans for the construction of a railway line were initially discussed. On the one hand there was a concept of a “cross line”, a railway line from Bremen via Lingen and Nordhorn to Amsterdam . This idea was particularly well received in the city of Nordhorn with Mayor van Delden. On the other hand, there was debate about a railway line from Bentheim via Nordhorn and Neuenhaus to Coevorden, the so-called "longitudinal line". The district council with district administrator wars welcomed this variant. Since the state level refused to build the railway from Bentheim to Coevorden, the circle took on this task. On September 14, 1892, the district council decided to build a line from Neuenhaus to Nordhorn to connect to the existing Almelo – Salzbergen line. In June 1894 it was decided to cross the two lines in the area of ​​the existing Bentheim train station.

First stretch from Bentheim to Neuenhaus

Group photo on the occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Bentheim – Neuenhaus line on March 14, 1895

On January 16, 1895, the district received the concession from the King of Prussia to build the line between Bentheim and Neuenhaus. Construction began just a few months later, on March 14, 1895. The first part of the 17.58 kilometer section from Bentheim to Nordhorn went into operation at the beginning of December. It was initially planned to start freight traffic from December 16, but this was postponed a short time later to January 1, 1896, with the first passenger train running on March 1, 1896. The first train on the newly built tracks to Neuenhaus drove on March 25, 1896. The section was officially inaugurated on April 14, 1896 with an opening run. The mayor of Nordhorn was a supporter of the "Querbahn" and stayed away from the opening in protest. The route thus reached a length of 28.10 kilometers. The stretch from Neuenhaus in the direction of Coevorden should be extended if the existing Bentheim – Neuenhaus route can be operated economically.

Extension of the railway to Gronau

Track construction workers at the intersection of the Bentheim sandstone in Gildehaus

In 1903, at the instigation of the city of Gronau, considerations began to build a line between Bentheim and Gronau to the main line between Münster and Enschede . The concession for its construction was granted on May 26, 1906 and construction began on September 3, 1906. The work was associated with some difficulties, because the Almelo – Salzbergen railway had to be crossed on a bridge, a large number of level crossings had to be created in Gildehaus , a cut through the Gildehauser Berg had to be made and a gradient in Achterberg had to be overcome. On June 13, 1908, the almost 19 kilometer long connection was completed and opened on June 20, 1908. The first scheduled train left the following day

Cross-border expansion to Coevorden

Group photo for the groundbreaking ceremony on September 21, 1907

Festively decorated Bentheim Nord station for the opening on September 10, 1910

Inauguration ceremony of the section at Veldhausen station

In addition to a connection to Gronau in the south, the route should also be extended north from Neuenhaus towards Coevorden in the Netherlands. However, there was disagreement about the course of the route, as both Uelsen and Emlichheim campaigned for a connection to their community. The Uelsen supporters had planned a route further via Hardenberg and the Emlichheimer group a continuation via Hoogstede . A committee was set up for the decision, which included pastors from Emlichheim and Hoogstede as well as the mayor of Wilsum . This working group calculated the cost of a route via Uelsen at around 1.6 million marks, which means that the cost of this variant was higher than the alternative via Emlichheim. A route along the Vechte via Veldhausen , Hoogstede and Emlichheim has therefore been considered. On December 19, 1903, the district council approved the track construction to Coevorden via Emlichheim. On the German side, the concession was granted on July 28, 1906, so that the groundbreaking ceremony could take place on September 21, 1907.

The extension on the Dutch side was much longer. Negotiations had to be conducted with the owner company Noordoosterlocaalspoorweg-Maatschappij (NOLS) of the Dutch railway line Zwolle – Stadskanaal and the current operator Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen of the local railway. It was agreed that the section from Laarwald to Coevorden should be built by NOLS and rented to the Bentheimer Kreisbahn. However, the construction of a cross-border railway line also required the approval of the Dutch government. To this end, on July 23, 1908, a state treaty was concluded between the German Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands . The necessary contracts with the Dutch railway companies were signed on July 24th and 27th, 1908, and the concession was granted by the Dutch government on October 10th, 1908.

Due to further delays on the Dutch side, the decision was initially made to open only the almost 18-kilometer-long railway line to Emlichheim on December 23, 1909, without any festivities for passenger traffic. The planned date for the route to be opened was September 1, 1910, but this date could not be kept. The line to the Netherlands was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1910, and scheduled passenger trains were already running to Coevorden two days later. Due to problems with customs clearance, however, cross-border freight trains could only run from January 2, 1911. The route network thus had a total length of around 76 kilometers. Along the entire route in 1911 there were shared stations in Gronau and Coevorden and 11 other stations with station buildings or waiting halls in the area of ​​the Grafschaft Bentheim district. In addition, there were six stops and six stops, each of which mostly consisted of a simple corrugated iron waiting hall. At that time, there were also private sidings for local companies in Gronau, Nordhorn, Frenswegen and Neuenhaus.

Extensions through sidings

Level crossing and track systems in Nordhorn (2008)

Map of the new Ochtrup-Brechte - Achterberg line (DB 9209)

The network was expanded slightly by a few connecting railways that are used solely for freight traffic. To connect the port in Emlichheim to the Coevorden-Piccardie Canal , a connecting line was built in 1914, which was approved by the Prussian State Ministry on September 10, 1928. The track system could be rebuilt relatively quickly after the bombings in World War II , so that the train service started partially in June 1945. In May 1949, the construction of a 3.9-kilometer connecting railway in Esche with funds from the oil industry began to transport oil extracted from Osterwald . This was the first railway line to be established in the young Federal Republic in December 1949. Later crude oil from Emlichheim to the pipeline leading from Osterwald to Lingen was transported over this route. Likewise, the trade and industrial park (GIP) in Nordhorn got its own three-kilometer siding in 1977.

The line between Bad Bentheim and Gronau remained unused after the suspension of passenger traffic in 1965 and freight traffic in 1981. The Bentheimer Eisenbahn was therefore forced to dismantle the line. However, they did not want to cut off Gildehaus completely from traffic and keep the option open to connect the Bundeswehr material depot in Ochtrup -rechte with a track to the network. The section of Gronau to Achterberg is therefore 1983 deconsecrated been and dismantled. On September 17, 1986, after lengthy negotiations with the military area administrations in Hanover and Düsseldorf, the rail connection to the Bundeswehr material depot in Ochtrup-Brechte was opened from this remaining piece in Achterberg. The route is 8.3 kilometers long, with 5.75 kilometers in Lower Saxony (route number 9209).

business

Passenger traffic from 1895 to 1974

The first timetable of the Bentheimer Kreisbahn from 1896

Rail traffic began in December 1895, initially from Bentheim to Nordhorn. After completion of the Nordhorn – Neuenhaus line, regular service to Neuenhaus was started on April 16, 1896 with three daily train pairs. The travel time between Bentheim and Neuenhaus was 75 minutes at a top speed of 30 km / h. The Bentheimer Kreisbahn initially had three steam locomotives from the Hohenzollern locomotive factory , three passenger cars, a baggage car, twelve freight cars and a wagon for transporting cattle. From the summer timetable of 1897, four pairs of trains ran daily.

The Bentheim – Gronau line opened on June 20, 1908

From May 1, 1906, the composition of the trains was changed. If freight wagons were previously transported together with the passenger trains, independent freight trains should run from this day on. The speed of the passenger trains could be increased from 30 km / h to 40 km / h.

Scheduled passenger traffic between Gronau and Neuenhaus started on June 21, 1908. With additional new locomotives, the travel time from Neuenhaus to Bentheim could be reduced to 64 minutes, with the journey to Gronau taking a further 43 minutes.

During the First World War , military transports shaped rail traffic. The civil traffic according to the timetable was stopped within a few days after the mobilization ordered on August 1, 1914 . Only passenger trains with the called up soldiers ran on the Bentheimer Kreisbahn route. The border at Coevorden was initially closed, but opened again to restricted traffic on August 4, 1914. The route between Gronau and Bardel was also closed. A few civilian, but heavily overcrowded passenger trains ran again between Gronau and Neuenhaus from September 1914.

After the First World War, the railway line was initially in poor condition. The renewal of the superstructure and the creation of a ballast bed made it possible for the approval to increase the maximum speed of passenger trains to 50 km / h to be granted in 1927. This applied initially between Bentheim and Neuenhaus and the following year on the entire route. The travel time from Gronau to Coevorden has thus been reduced from five to three hours. Four pairs of trains were used on weekdays and seven pairs of trains on Sundays. From 1930 the journeys between Bentheim and Neuenhaus were increased from four to seven trains, which were networked with the incoming bus traffic.

In 1933, the Bentheimer Eisenbahn acquired a Wismar rail bus as the first private railway in the German Reich . The number of trains running between Bentheim and Nordhorn was increased to a total of nine in 1933. In 1939 a total of 654,234 people were carried. Between Bentheim and Gronau, three steam trains and a rail bus drove in each direction on weekdays. Seven pairs of trains hauled by steam locomotives ran on Sundays. Seven pairs of steam trains and one pair of multiple units were used on the Bentheim – Neuenhaus route on weekdays, and eight pairs of steam trains ran there on Sundays. Cross-border from Neuenhaus to Coevorden, three trains hauled by steam locomotives and a railcar on weekdays and four pairs of trains with steam traction drove in each direction on Sundays.

With the beginning of the Second World War, passenger traffic to Coevorden was reduced to a pair of trains every working day and was completely discontinued on September 1, 1939. In the war years 1939 to 1943, due to a lack of fuel, only one pair of trains ran between Bentheim and Neuenhaus; in the following year, scheduled passenger traffic was completely stopped. From then on, Wehrmacht transports dominated the railway line. The train traffic could only be carried out to a limited extent, as the route was repeatedly the target of air raids. Since German troops had blown up the swing bridge at Coevorden before the end of the war, cross-border freight traffic ceased.

After the Allies moved in in April 1945, rail traffic was initially completely stopped. However, the management of the Bentheim Railway was able to prevent the Allies from transporting locomotives and wagons, so that traffic could be resumed partially in June 1945 and completely by the end of the year. In particular, passenger traffic was characterized by overcrowded trains by people who drove from the cities to the villages to get food.

Until the 1950s, passenger transport was characterized by passengers with discounted tickets, who could not guarantee economic operation. It was therefore decided in 1952 to modernize the vehicle fleet in order to upgrade traffic and reduce operating costs. With the exception of a steam traction, passenger traffic was completely converted to railcars. With the summer timetable 1953, a continuous connection was realized for the first time on the route of the federal railway to Rheine with transition to the trains to Osnabrück and Münster . A through car from Neuenhaus in Bentheim was also integrated into the express train to Hanover . In addition, multiple units of the German Federal Railroad ran the route of the Bentheimer Eisenbahn with the Grenzland-Express from Bentheim via Gronau to Düsseldorf.

In passenger transport, the decision was made in the early 1960s to use the bus more cheaply and rail operations were gradually reduced. School and commuter traffic, especially from the Upper and Lower Counties to Nordhorn, initially had to continue to be handled by rail due to the high number of passengers. Passenger traffic between Gildehaus and Gronau was completely stopped with the timetable change in the summer of 1966. At the same time, rail passenger traffic on the rest of the route also ended on Sundays and public holidays. Scheduled passenger trains ran until May 25, 1974. This was replaced by the company's own bus lines .

Passenger traffic from 2019

In the 1990s, initial considerations were made to reactivate passenger traffic in the Grafschaft Bentheim district. The steering committee set up for the purpose of railway lines in Lower Saxony then agreed in March 2015 that the Neuenhaus - Bad Bentheim section would be reactivated for local rail transport. The following stops and stations were determined: Bad Bentheim - Quendorf - Nordhorn-Blanke - Nordhorn - Neuenhaus Süd - Neuenhaus. Quendorf is controlled as a demand breakpoint. It is planned to integrate a demand stop at the spa in Bad Bentheim into the connection as soon as possible. 75% of the necessary investments were made by the state of Lower Saxony. Initially, a resumption was planned for December 2017 and later for December 7, 2018. The planning approval procedure required for the work on the track system was initiated on October 17, 2017. In June 2018 it became known that the start date for the connection could not be met due to the examination of objections as part of the procedure. The planning approval decision was made on December 11, 2018 and became legally binding on February 22, 2019, as no lawsuits were filed within the deadline. A trial run under real conditions began in May 2019. Scheduled passenger traffic began on July 7, 2019. Together with the Lower Saxony Minister of Transport Bernd Althusmann , the route was officially released on July 10, 2019.

Nordhorn station building (2014)

The route infrastructure between Bad Bentheim and Neuenhaus has been upgraded for a speed of 80 km / h. For this purpose, the track systems and the signaling technology were renewed and the level crossings on the section were technically secured with traffic lights and in some cases with barrier systems. Two crossing areas were also created at the Hestrup junction and at the Nordhorn Süd depot for the scheduled meeting of trains. The train stations in Bad Bentheim, Nordhorn and Neuenhaus have been renovated and new stops have been set up in Quendorf , Nordhorn-Blanke and Neuenhaus Süd. In Neuenhaus and Bad Bentheim, the barrier-free converted train station buildings were completed on November 30, 2018 and December 7. The Nordhorn-Blanke stop was completed on March 4, 2019 and the Neuenhaus Süd stop on April 23. The completion of the stop in Quendorf was planned for mid-May 2019, but the design of the area around the station is still open. A partially covered 110-meter-long central platform was built at Nordhorn station, on which trains stop from both directions. The redesign of the station building in Nordhorn should be completed in 2020. The double-track railway workshop in Nordhorn was also expanded to its full width from 34 meters to over 60 meters in length for around 5 million euros by mid-2019. The overall planning for reactivating the local rail transport was assigned to an engineering company from Nordhorn. The route and all systems should be completed by the beginning of June 2019.

Railcar VT115 as RB 56

The implementation and financing contract signed with LNVG in March 2018 ensures that the route will be operated for the next 20 years. In March 2016, Bentheimer Eisenbahn received the contract for the planned operation from December 2018 for three years by direct award. Operation on the route is handled by LINT -41 locomotives , some in double traction . For this purpose, Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG ordered five of these vehicles in January 2017 for around 20 million euros. The rail connection has the line number RB 56.

Reactivation to Coevorden

There are already concrete plans to extend the local rail transport in the further route from Neuenhaus via Veldhausen , Hoogstede and Emlichheim on the German side and via the Dutch route with stations in Coevorden and Nieuw-Amsterdam to Emmen . A study by the CIMA Institute for Regional Economy GmbH on behalf of the Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG, the county of Bentheim and the province of Drenthe calculates around 1530 passengers per day. In a statement, the neighboring municipalities, as well as the county of Bentheim and the province of Drenthe, are promoting a rail connection from Rheine via Schüttorf and Bad Bentheim and onwards via the Bentheimer Eisenbahn network to Emmen. Under the name “ECER 2025”, this initiative aims to start the connection between Emmen - Coevorden - Emlichheim - Rheine from 2025. There are also plans to electrify the line from Bad Bentheim to at least Nordhorn.

Freight transport

Route network until the 1980s

In the first year of operation, the Bentheimer Kreisbahn transported 28,218 tons of goods and 30,324 animals. Independent freight trains have been running since 1906. These ran from Bentheim Nord to Gronau and from Bentheim Nord to Neuenhaus and back. By 1911, freight traffic had grown to 155,061 tons of freight and 132,054 animals.

Although cross-border passenger traffic to Coevorden was discontinued during the First World War, freight traffic continued to grow. During the war, military transports from northern Germany to the Ruhr area had to be taken over free of charge on the Bentheim – Gronau section. After the war, the infrastructure was in poor condition. In order to enable rail traffic at all, passenger and freight trains were combined. The economic situation improved thanks to new orders for goods transport from the Netherlands. The transport performance was increased to 325,511 tons of goods in 1922.

For a short time the Bentheimer Eisenbahn benefited from the cultivation of the Emsland, which began in 1936 by the Reich Labor Service until it withdrew in May 1938. In 1939, the transport performance was around 310,900 tons of freight and 91,101 cattle. The freight traffic on the entire route was handled with a freight train from Gronau to Coevorden and vice versa.

The swing bridge in Coevorden in 1910 shortly before the line opened

With the beginning of the Second World War , the already reduced cross-border freight traffic to the Netherlands was completely stopped. The development and production of oil in the Niedergrafschaft in 1941 and 1942 opened up a new transport task. The oil from the Niedergrafschaft was transported to Bentheim for delivery to the Reichsbahn . After the war, freight traffic was strongly determined by the increasing oil production. The swing bridge near Coevorden, which was blown up shortly before the end of the war, had not yet been restored, so that these important transports were missing before the war began. After lengthy negotiations with the Dutch side, a bridge over the canal and the dismantled tracks to Coevorden station have been rebuilt by the Bentheimer Eisenbahn. Cross-border freight traffic could therefore be resumed on January 15, 1951. A pipeline from Osterwald to the refinery in Lingen was put into operation in 1953, through which the crude oil previously transported by rail was pumped. The rail traffic with extracted oil on the Emlichheim – Osterwald route could be maintained. The transport of oil made up a large proportion of the volume of goods. In 1963 around 600,000 tons were transported, which was two thirds of the total freight volume of 900,000 tons. After an oil pipeline from Osterwald to Lingen already existed and caused losses in oil transport, the Bentheimer Eisenbahn had to be prepared for further losses. In 1958 the “Nord-West-Oelleitung” pipeline from Wilhelmshaven to Cologne was put into operation. A branch line from Osterwald was connected to this line in 1964, eliminating a large part of the oil transport. With heavily reduced tariffs for the transport of crude oil, the Bentheimer Eisenbahn was able to secure transport from Emlichheim to Osterwald by rail. The last supraregional oil train left the rail network of the Bentheim Railway in Gronau on September 2, 1964, where the tank wagons were handed over to the Federal Railroad. The transport performance in freight traffic decreased in 1964 to 660,000 tons.

In the 1970s, the volume of goods fell to 466,000 tons in 1971 and further to 378,000 tons in 1979. The Bentheimer Eisenbahn had negative results in these years and had great difficulties in finding new, profitable transport tasks. Changes to the Federal Railroad in general cargo transport made a new transport task possible for the Bentheimer Eisenbahn. For example, the delivery of general cargo to the Schüttorf, Bad Bentheim and Gildehaus stations was taken over by the Rheine hub station. However, from January 1, 1976, the Federal Railroad stopped delivering general cargo to the Niedergrafschaft, so that Nordhorn station had to be used as a freight station. A container transshipment point had previously been opened in Nordhorn on November 1, 1975. Nevertheless, these measures did not initially lead to an improvement in the financial situation of Bentheimer Eisenbahn.

With the help of restructuring, the Bentheimer Eisenbahn was able to write black numbers for the first time in 1978. The through traffic to the Netherlands with starch, wheat flour and potatoes as well as the transport of cement from Westphalia to the Laarwald reloading station increased considerably after 1980. However, the Bundesbahn changed its logistics and dissolved the Gronau station as a hub station. Freight wagons were only handed over at Bad Bentheim station. This ended on September 25, 1981, the freight traffic on the Bad Bentheim – Gronau section. Nevertheless, around 640,000 tons of freight were transported in 1982, which was a record for the previous years. On November 28, 1986, a total of 1,000,000 tonnes of cement had been transported since September 1979. In 1990 the Bentheimer Eisenbahn took over the general cargo traffic from the Rheine junction station to the Grafschaft Bentheim district and also the traffic to the old district of Lingen from the Federal Railroad. The transport volume of goods rose to 688,100 tons in 1990, with the freight yard in Coevorden accounting for 27%.

In 2011, the freight transport volume amounted to around 1.15 million tons, around 70% of the volume is generated in the cross-border industrial area Europark between Laar and Coevorden. In 2016, the tonnage volume was 1,113,029 tons. The main focus of goods traffic on Bentheimer Eisenbahn is sand and gravel transport, agricultural products, oil transport, peat transport, steel transport, animal feed and shipments in combined transport .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Roland Hertwig: Railway. The upswing comes on rails . In: Steffen Burkert (Ed.): History and presence of a district. The county of Bentheim (=  Das Bentheimer Land . No. 181 ). Heimatverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Bad Bentheim 2010, p. 397-406 .
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} K. W. Müller: The economic development of the Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG . In: Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG (Ed.): 100 Years of the Bentheimer Eisenbahn 1895-1995 . Hellendoorn printing works, Bad Bentheim 1995, p. 26-89 .
5. ^ ^{A b c} Jürgen Gosink, Arndt Kuipers: The history of the Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG . In: Heimatverein der Grafschaft Bentheim (ed.): Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1985 (=  Bentheimer Land . No. 107 ). Publishing house Heimatverein der Grafschaft Bentheim, Bad Bentheim 1984, OCLC 720828746 , p. 253-255 .
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} K. W. Müller: The traffic situation in the county of Bentheim at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century . In: Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG (Ed.): 100 Years of the Bentheimer Eisenbahn 1895-1995 . Hellendoorn printing works, Bad Bentheim 1995, p. 1-25 .
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Ludger Kenning, Klaus Wilmsmeyer: The Bentheimer Railway . Kenning, Nordhorn 1987, ISBN 3-9800952-4-X .
8. ↑ Reviewers presented the result. Nds. Ministry of Economy, Labor, Transport and Digitization, March 18, 2015, accessed on February 17, 2018 . 
9. ^ Rolf Masselink: Starting signal for the construction of the Quendorf train stop. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, February 25, 2019, accessed February 25, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Reactivation of the Bad Bentheim - Nordhorn - Neuenhaus railway line. In: Nds. Ministry of Economy, Labor, Transport and Digitization. March 13, 2018, accessed June 22, 2018 . 
11. ↑ ?? In: Railway magazine . No. 3 , 2015, ISSN  0342-1902 , p. 25 .
12. ↑ ^{a b} Reactivation of the Bad Bentheim - Nordhorn - Neuenhaus railway line. Nds. Ministry of Economy, Labor, Transport and Digitization, accessed on March 17, 2018 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b c d} Rolf Masselink: New train stop “Nordhorn Süd” completed. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, March 4, 2019, accessed March 4, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Rolf Masselink: The start date of local rail passenger transport reactivation threatens to tip over. In: Grafschafter Nachrichten. June 18, 2018, accessed June 18, 2018 . 
15. ↑ Rolf Masselink: Interview with BE boss: “Trains won't start this year”. In: Grafschafter Nachrichten. June 21, 2018, accessed June 21, 2018 . 
16. ↑ ^{a b} Rolf Masselink: Passenger trains should start rolling in summer. In: Grafschafter Nachrichten. February 15, 2019, accessed February 15, 2019 . 
17. ^ ^{A b} Rolf Masselink: "Neuenhaus Süd" train stop officially completed. In: GN online. Grafschafter Nachrichten, April 23, 2019, accessed April 24, 2019 . 
18. ^ Rolf Masselink: The "Regiopa Express" will be rolling from July 7th. In: GN online. Grafschafter Nachrichten, May 15, 2019, accessed May 16, 2019 . 
19. ^ Rolf Masselink: Prime Minister welcomes plans for train services to Coevorden. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, May 21, 2019, accessed May 21, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Reactivation of local rail passenger transport on the Achterberg - Coevorden railway line in the Bad Bentheim - Neuenhaus section: plan approval procedure. Nds. State Authority for Road Construction and Transport, December 27, 2017, accessed on January 10, 2018 . 
21. ↑ Thomas Kriegisch: The planning phase for local transport from 2018 has begun. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, March 31, 2016, accessed January 3, 2018 . 
22. ↑ Neuenhaus: Christmas market, traditional day and new train station. In: Grafschafter Nachrichten. November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018 . 
23. ^ Frauke Schulte-Sutrum: Renovated train station in Bad Bentheim officially opened. In: GN online. Grafschafter Nachrichten, December 7, 2018, accessed December 8, 2018 . 
24. ^ Rolf Masselink: The platform roof at Nordhorn station is being built. In: GN online. Grafschafter Nachrichten, May 22, 2019, accessed May 28, 2019 . 
25. ↑ Rolf Masselink: Track construction work affects traffic in Nordhorn. In: Grafschafter Nachrichten. November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018 . 
26. ^ Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG (ed.): BEWEGT - The magazine for the county of Bentheim . tape December 2 , 2018.
27. ↑ Reactivation of local public transport between Bad Bentheim and Neuenhaus , website of the Lindschulte company, accessed on September 13, 2017
28. ↑ Reactivations and shutdowns . In: Railway magazine . No. 5 , 2016, ISSN  0342-1902 , p. 34 .
29. ^ Rolf Masselink: Five ultra-modern railcars for the county. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, December 16, 2016, accessed February 17, 2018 . 
30. ↑ The "Grafschaft Express" has been ordered. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, February 23, 2017, accessed February 27, 2018 . 
31. ↑ Rolf Masselink: How much more bus traffic does Nordhorn need? In: Grafschafter Nachrichten. May 16, 2018, accessed June 23, 2018 . 
32. ↑ André Partmann: Emlichheim and Coevorden want Train to Emmen. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, September 1, 2017, accessed January 10, 2018 . 
33. ↑ Dr. Arno Brandt (project manager), Fabian Böttcher, Nina Heinecke, Lina Polom, Dr. Frans J. Sijtsma, Dr. Michiel N. Daams, Dr. AJE Edzes: Regional economic effects of an extension of the local rail transport on the Emmen - Rheine connection. (PDF; 4.6 MiB) CIMA Institut für Regionalwirtschaft GmbH & Department of Economic Geography, University of Groningen, September 2, 2016, accessed on February 27, 2018 . 
34. ↑ Rolf Masselink: Region calls for train traffic to Emmen in a joint declaration. In: Grafschafter Nachrichten. June 15, 2018, accessed June 16, 2018 . 
35. ↑ Rolf Masselink: BE wants to switch to hybrid and e-buses by 2024. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, February 20, 2018, accessed on February 21, 2019 . 
36. ↑ ^{a b} Grafschafter Nachrichten (ed.): BE continues on a good course. Tonnage increases to 1.15 million tons - Europark remains the linchpin . December 30, 2011.
37. ↑ Irene Schmidt: BE is investing more in 2017 than ever before. In: gn-online.de. Grafschafter Nachrichten, December 30, 2016, accessed January 5, 2018 .