Cologne – Duisburg railway line

Cologne-Deutz-Duisburg
Main line Cologne – Minden in dark red
Route number (DB) :	2650 (long-distance railway) 2400, 2407, 2413, 2670 (S-Bahn) 2310, 2317 (local tracks in DU) 2411 (freight bypass D Hbf)
Course book section (DB) :	415 (long-distance train) 450.1, 450.6, 450.11 (S-Bahn)
Route length:	64 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Top speed:	200 km / h
Dual track :	continuous (see number of tracks )
Legend Main route from Essen Main route from Oberhausen 67.1 Kaiserberg ( Abzw ) 63.1 Duisburg Central Station Route to Krefeld Krefeld – Mülheim route Route to Duisburg-Wedau 60.0 Duisburg Schlenk  (up to here pure directional operation) 57.8 Duisburg-Buchholz 55.8 Duisburg-Großenbaum  (from here pure line operation) 53.8 Duisburg cream 52.1 Angermund 49.2 Lime Airport tunnel (runway crosses) 47.7 Dusseldorf airport 47.1 D-Unterrath Karthäuser Weg (Abzw) ( level threading) Route to the terminal station Distance from the terminal station 46.0 Düsseldorf-Unterrath 44.4 President Loewel (Abzw) 44.4 to the freight bypass to the GUB ↔ from Düsseldorf-Rath Ruhr Valley Railway from Ratingen Düsseldorf-Derendorf Dp (Abzw) 43.1 Heinrich (Abzw) to the freight bypass 42.7 Düsseldorf-Derendorf (41.4) Düsseldorf Zoo from GUB ↔ to Rethel or Dora from freight bypass 40.8 Rethel (Abzw) 40.6 Düsseldorf Wehrhahn former route Düsseldorf RhE ↔ Dora former freight bypass railway Line from Wuppertal S-Bahn line from Mettmann / Wuppertal from freight bypass 40.4 Düsseldorf Hbf Nordkopf 39.5 Düsseldorf main station Route to Neuss S-Bahn route to Neuss 39.4 38.1 Kilometer jump 37.1 Düsseldorf Volksgarten 36.4 Emma (Abzw) Düsseldorf Abstellbf 36.0 Wersten (Abzw) 35.8 Düsseldorf-Oberbilk Düsseldorf-Oberbilk (Abzw) Freight bypass 34.4 Mountain (Abzw) to the freight line to Cologne S-Bahn line to Solingen 33.5 Düsseldorf-Eller South 31.7 Düsseldorf-Reisholz marg 31.0 Düsseldorf-Reisholz Hp 30.9 Düsseldorf-Reisholz Rgf / Bhf 30.4 Düsseldorf-Reisholz Abzw 28.5 Düsseldorf-Benrath 26.0 Düsseldorf-Garath 24.7 Düsseldorf-Hellerhof 22.7 Langenfeld-Berghausen 20.7 Langenfeld (Rheinl) S-Bahn Connection route from the transfer station 19.5 Langenfeld (Rheinl) 16.6 Leverkusen-Rheindorf ( Üst ) 16.1 Leverkusen-Rheindorf ( Hp ) 13.3 Leverkusen-Küppersteg Hp 12.4 Leverkusen-Küppersteg Üst 12.9 Leverkusen-Küppersteg 11.7 Leverkusen center 10.7 Leverkusen-Wiesdorf 9.4 Leverkusen Chempark ( Hp & Üst ) 7.6 + 0.0 7.4 + 806.3 7.6 + 0.0 7.4 + 2263.6 7.5 + 1587 Cologne-Stammheim (former route until 1909) 6.8 + 0.0 6.6 + 531.9 6.7 + 263 Cologne Brother Klaus settlement (Abzw) Line from Solingen 6.0 Cologne-Mülheim Berliner Str. (Abzw) to the freight line to Cologne-Mülheim Route from Bergisch Gladbach 3.8 Cologne-Mülheim (formerly Mülheim RhE) 3.5 Mülheim (Rhine) CME / BME Route to Cologne-Deutz (deep) (2.7) Cologne Book Forest  (former route until 1909) Cologne Zoo bridge turning system (Abzw) Cologne Posthof (Abzw) route from Overath from the victory route , right Rhine route , SFS 0.0 Cologne Messe / Deutz ( tower station ) Hohenzollern Bridge Köln Hbf to the left Lower Rhine route , ... route to Aachen , left Rhine route Swell:

The 64 kilometer long Cologne – Duisburg railway is one of the most important and busiest railway lines in Germany . It is the main axis of long-distance and local rail passenger transport between Cologne and the Ruhr area , u. a. used by Intercity-Express , Intercity , Regional-Express , Regionalbahn and S-Bahn .

It is the oldest part of the main line from Cologne-Deutz to Minden built by the Cologne-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (CME) , after which the company was named. It was opened in 1845/46 and has been modernized and expanded several times since then. Today the line (partly merged with lines of other railway companies) has three to six tracks and is provided with overhead lines over its entire length .

history

After receiving the Prussian concession for its eponymous line on December 18, 1843 , CME began building the first section to Düsseldorf in what was then (Cöln-) Deutz , which it was able to open on December 20, 1845.

Only a few weeks later, on February 9, 1846, the second section to Duisburg was completed. The provisional end point was the Cologne-Mindener Bahnhof, built on the site of today's Duisburg main station, the first of later three stations at the same location.

With the next section via Oberhausen, Altenessen, Gelsenkirchen, Wanne, Herne and Dortmund to Hamm, a conscious decision was made against a route near the former coal mines on the northern bank of the Ruhr and for the more cost-effective, because less hilly and therefore easier to implement route decided. Nevertheless, it took well over a year until this section could also go into operation on May 15, 1847.

In the same year, on October 15, 1847, the last section to Minden and thus the entire 263-kilometer single-track line was completed. On the same day, the Royal Hanover State Railways opened their Hanover – Minden line .

The line, which initially began on the right bank of the Rhine, was extended backwards on October 3, 1859 with the inauguration of the newly built cathedral bridge in the Central Station of the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (RhE).

With the start of scheduled ICE traffic on June 2, 1991, the maximum permissible speed was increased to 200 km / h on a nearly 46-kilometer section of the route. Only around seven kilometers in the station area from Duisburg and Cologne-Mülheim were excluded.

At the beginning of 2018 it became known that for parts of the existing route, including the one between Düsseldorf and Duisburg, neither the Deutsche Bahn nor the ministries and the Federal Railway Authority can provide planning approval notices. A local resident complains action before the Administrative Court of Dusseldorf against the Federal Republic of Germany, as it is at the railway line to a Schwarzbau IN QUESTION. On the first day of the hearing, the judge determined that the route had been approved with the concession of December 18, 1843 and that the legislature was assuming that a permit was in principle available for routes that are over 100 years old.

Todays situation

Since its opening, the Cologne – Duisburg railway line has been expanded, modernized and electrified over its entire length in accordance with its ever-increasing importance. The line (long-distance railway) between Cologne-Mülheim and Duisburg has been classified as a "congested rail line" since 2016.

Number of tracks

According to the directory of locally permissible speeds , a line has a maximum of two tracks. However, this railway line combines up to five different routes on one railway body. The number of tracks between three and eight, which often changes for a main line, is very unusual:

In the section between Cologne Central Station and Cologne-Mülheim, the line has seven tracks in mixed direction and line operation . It runs from west to east:

• the direction track Duisburg → Köln-Deutz (route number 2658, according to railway atlas 2650),
• the direction track Wuppertal → Köln-Deutz (route number 2659),
• the connecting track Cologne-Deutz ↔ Cologne-Mülheim Gbf (route number 2653, will be transferred north of Cologne-Deutzerfeld level to the east side),
• the parking station Cologne-Deutzerfeld,
• the direction track Cologne-Deutz → Duisburg (route number 2650, according to railway atlas 2658),
• the direction track Cologne-Deutz → Wuppertal (route number 2652),
• the two S-Bahn tracks (route number 2670, on a separate track structure).

North of Cologne Mülheim station branches the train route Bergisch Gladbach (path number 2663) at the same level of the train route, which now in turn, level of free via any other routes (incl. The route Bergisch Gladbach) on the west side of the track formation is performed . The freight tracks from Cologne-Mülheim (route numbers 2664 and 2665) also cross the line to Bergisch Gladbach and the directional tracks of the long-distance railway to the north, and then end in the mainline tracks to Duisburg (route number 2650) or from Wuppertal (route number 2659) . Line 2658 ends at the Bruder-Klaus-Siedlung junction and line 2650 becomes double-track.

Between Cologne-Mülheim and Langenfeld, the S-Bahn is only single-track in sections (a total of three tracks), only from Langenfeld are both lines double-tracked again (a total of four tracks). The platform in Düsseldorf-Benrath, located on the long-distance railway, is the stop of the NRW-Express and the Rhein-Express . However, Intercity and Intercity-Express drive past the platform at speeds of up to 200 km / h.

From the parking station in Düsseldorf-Oberbilk, two additional tracks lead to the right and left of the S-Bahn to Düsseldorf Central Station. Together with the local tracks, there are eight tracks in mixed line and directional operation in this section . The S-Bahn route from Oberbilk takes over the number of the S-Bahn route to Eller (2413), while the previous route number 2670 now refers to the local tracks without a S-Bahn stop to Düsseldorf-Unterrath.

The Düsseldorf main station is operated strictly on a regular basis. Hold from west to east

• the trains of the regional railway line Neuss – Wuppertal, as well as the RE 6 Rhein-Weser-Express in the direction of Cologne via Neuss and the RE 10 Niers-Express (tracks 4–7), which starts and ends in Düsseldorf ,
• RE 6 towards Minden (Westphalia) , as well as the RE 2 Rhein-Haard-Express , RE 3 Rhein-Emscher-Express , RE 11 Rhein-Hellweg-Express and RE 19 Rhein-IJssel-Express (tracks 9/10, the latter is the last track seen from the east with direct access to the parking station in D-Reisholz),
• the S-Bahn Cologne – Essen, Solingen – Duisburg (tracks 11/14) and Neuss – Mettmann / Wuppertal (tracks 12/13),
• the trains on the long-distance Cologne – Duisburg line (tracks 15–20).

From the Düsseldorf main station to the northern end of the largely disused Düsseldorf-Derendorf station , this section of the route also has up to eight tracks, although the passenger traffic is purely scheduled. It runs from west to east:

• the double / single-track freight line Düsseldorf – President Loewel (line 2416),
• the single / double-track regional line from or to the western part of the Düsseldorf train station (2670),
• the double-track S-Bahn line Düsseldorf – Duisburg (to Unterrath line 2400, then 2407),
• the double-track long-distance line Cologne – Duisburg (line 2650),
• the single-track freight line Lierenfeld – Derendorf (line 2410), this crosses under the entire track system after the Rethel branch in the tunnel. This track is the only way, to as little as one to cruising opposite track level freely switch between remote railway line and regional routes.

At the Düsseldorf-Unterrath Karthäuser Weg junction shortly before the long-distance train station of Düsseldorf Airport , the S-Bahn line (2407) merges with the regional line (2670, also known as local tracks ) at the same level . The traffic station itself has four tracks on three platforms, plus there are two through tracks on the long-distance railway line. It is divided into the train station (on the long-distance tracks) and the stopping point (on the local tracks) Düsseldorf Airport, so strictly speaking it consists of two different operating points. After the airport train station, the line is four more tracks in pure line operation, the platform tracks of the S-Bahn stops are driven through by the RE at up to 160 km / h.

Immediately south of the Duisburg-Großenbaum train station, the regional line will again have four tracks. In total, the line has six tracks again, here now again in mixed direction and line operation. The local track to the south is run as a (single-track) route 2310, while the local track to the north has route number 2317. The S-Bahn tracks between the two local tracks take over route number 2670.

The Duisburg-Großenbaum train station itself has lost a lot of its importance since the introduction of the RE and the ITF . In the past, in addition to local and express trains , one or the other express train stopped here , but today it has been degraded to a pure transit stop for the S-Bahn and the still existing turning system is not even used for the S-Bahn. The turning system can still be guessed at today (2019), but can no longer be used as such. It was rebuilt on a 70-80 meter long section, but as a pure butt track in combination with a protective switch . The reason for this is that there the platform track in the direction of Düsseldorf merges directly into the regional tracks, which are normally driven at 160 km / h. This route is protected accordingly.

Between the Duisburg-Buchholz and Schlenk stops, the south-facing track of the long - distance line crosses the local tracks at level level and merges between track track 2310 and the S-Bahn line (2670). At the same time, track 2317 ends in the S-Bahn track, so the line from here to Duisburg Central Station is now five tracks.

After the Osterath – Dortmund Süd railway line was crossed by the former Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , connecting lines to it thread into the track apron of Duisburg Central Station . These are, on the one hand, the double-track connection line 2312 towards Rheinhausen, and on the other hand, the single-track connection line 2326 in this area towards Duisburg-Wedau to the Troisdorf-Mülheim-Speldorf railway line . The total of eight main tracks will be turned into twelve platform tracks, which are used in pure directional operation - with the exception of track 1 in the far west:

• Track 1: Exit towards south-east (Duisburg-Wedau) and towards north-east (Oberhausen, S 2),
• Tracks 2 to 6: exit towards south and south-west (Düsseldorf, Krefeld and Moers),
• Track 7: through track without platform connection,
• Tracks 8 to 13: Exit towards east and north-east (Essen and Oberhausen).

The main line of the CME runs north of Duisburg main station via Oberhausen to Dortmund . For today's passenger traffic, however, the east-turning Ruhr area route via Essen to Dortmund of the former Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft is more important .

technology

In order to shorten the travel time of the long-distance trains from Cologne via Duisburg to Dortmund, the long-distance railway tracks were expanded to 200 km / h in the 1980s and, with the exception of the Düsseldorf main station, were equipped with regular train control (LZB).

The shorter journey times mean that trains from Cologne to Dortmund via Duisburg are just as fast as those via the shorter but more winding route via Wuppertal and Hagen. This makes it possible to establish correspondence connections on the same platform in Cologne and Dortmund for two long-distance trains.

Offer

The entire length of the route is covered by three Intercity Express lines, three Intercity lines (mostly every two hours), the Flixtrain (individual trains) and the Regional Express lines NRW Express and Rhein Express (both hourly).

The Rhein-Haard-Express , Rhein-Emscher-Express , Rhein-Weser-Express , Rhein-Hellweg-Express and Rhein-IJssel-Express also run between Düsseldorf and Duisburg (all hourly). The regional express lines are to be replaced by the Rhein-Ruhr-Express in the medium term .

In addition, the route is used on longer sections of the S-Bahn lines S 1 (between Düsseldorf-Oberbilk and Duisburg Hbf), S 6 (between Köln Hbf and Düsseldorf-Derendorf) and S 11 (between Düsseldorf Hbf and Düsseldorf-Unterrath) Ride on the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn , mostly every 20 minutes. During rush hour, the S 68 runs between Langenfeld and Düsseldorf Hbf as an amplifier.

Tariff

From Cologne to Langenfeld the route is in the area of ​​the Rhein-Sieg transport association , and from Langenfeld to Duisburg in the Rhein-Ruhr transport association . The VRS tariff applies to journeys between Cologne and Düsseldorf; further journeys across the network border are subject to the NRW tariff .

Web links

• Route, operating points, permitted speeds and some signals on the OpenRailwayMap

NRWbahnarchiv by André Joost:

• Long-distance transport
  • Description of route 2650 : Cologne-Deutz – Duisburg Hbf (CME)
• Regional traffic
  • Description of route 2310 : Duisburg Hbf – Duisburg-Großenbaum (only to the south)
  • Description of route 2317 : Duisburg-Großenbaum – DU-Schlenk (only to the north)
  • Description of route 2670 : Düsseldorf-Oberbilk – Düsseldorf-Unterrath
• S-Bahn traffic
  • Description of route 2670 : Cologne Hbf – Düsseldorf-Oberbilk and Düsseldorf-Unterrath ↔ Duisburg Hbf
  • Description of line 2413 : Düsseldorf-Oberbilk – Düsseldorf Hbf (BME, see Ruhrtalbahn )
  • Description of the line 2400 : Düsseldorf Hbf – Düsseldorf-Derendorf (BME, see Ruhrtalbahn )
  • Description of route 2407 : Düsseldorf-Derendorf – Düsseldorf-Unterrath
• Freight transport
  • Description of line 2401 : Düsseldorf-Derendorf – Abzw Düsseldorf-Vogelsang (BME, freight yard connection)
  • Description of line 2410 : Düsseldorf-Lierenfeld – Düsseldorf-Derendorf (RhE, freight bypass)
  • Description of route 2411 : Düsseldorf-Reisholz – Düsseldorf-Derendorf (CME, freight bypass via Düsseldorf-Lierenfeld)
  • Description of line 2416 : Düsseldorf Hbf – Abzw President Loewel (CME, connection to freight yard)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ Faster with small steps . In: Die Bahn informs , issue 4/1991, September 1991, p. 14, ZDB -ID 2003143-9 .
4. ↑ Frank Dohmen: Lawyer accuses Bahn Schwarzbau. In: Spiegel Online . February 16, 2018, accessed August 29, 2019 . 
5. ^ Stephan Hermsen: Railway line Duisburg – Düsseldorf illegal? Court has doubts. In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung . August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive )