Railway line Leer – Groningen

Leer – Groningen
A train from the Stadler GTW series near Bad Nieuweschans
Route number (DB) :	1575
Course book section (DB) :	397
Route length:	88 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend of Emden and Oldenburg 323.1 Leer (East Frisia) 315.5 0.0 Ihrhove to Munster 5.7 Hilkenborg Friesenbrücke (Ems) (impassable since 2015) 8.0 Weener 11.2 Möhlenwarf (until 1963) 13.2 Bundles 17.5 127.6 Germany / Netherlands border 126.8 Bad Nieuweschans 121.9 Ulsda 117.3 Winschoterdiep 114.6 Winschoten 111.5 Heiligerlee 109.7 Scheemda AG Wildervanckkanaal from Stadskanaal 102.2 Zuidbroek 98.0 Scholten 97.2 Sappemeer Oost 95.6 Hoogezand -Sappemeer 93.7 Martenshoek 92.4 Kropswolde 88.4 Westerbroek to Zwolle 82.2 Groningen Europapark 80.4 Groningen to Leeuwarden , Delfzijl and Roodeschool

The railway line Leer – Groningen is a non-electrified railway line , which connects the provincial capital Groningen in the north of the Netherlands with the railway junction Leer in the north-west of Lower Saxony .

History and accidents

The Dutch section from Groningen to Bad Nieuweschans was opened by the Dutch State Railways from 1863 to November 1, 1868 . The German section, which belonged to the Grand Ducal Oldenburg State Railways , followed on November 26, 1876. The connection was based on a state treaty between the State of Oldenburg and the Netherlands of June 27, 1874 and a treaty between Oldenburg and Prussia of March 17, 1874, which allowed the building on what was then Prussian territory.

The Friesenbrücke near Weener (2004)

The most important structure on the route is the Friesenbrücke bridge over the Ems east of Weener . In the case of transfers of cruise ships from the Papenburg Meyer shipyard , the fixed central section above the inland waterway passage had to be lifted and moved aside using floating cranes until the accident in December 2015; rail traffic was then interrupted for days; he has been permanently interrupted since the accident.

On the night of 26 on July 27, 1913. Passenger train ran over the standing to "hold" exit signal of Hilkenborg , which also secured the Crossing the Friesenbrücke. It wasn't closed yet. When the bridge keeper stationed on the west side saw the train approaching, he tried to close the bridge. But the train was faster. Meanwhile, the engine driver had noticed his mistake and stopped. However, that was no longer quite enough. The steam locomotive drove into the gap, the clutch held and the train acted as a counterweight to prevent the locomotive from crashing into the Ems.

On the evening of December 3, 2015, the Emsmoon cargo ship rammed the hinged part of the Friesenbrücke, destroyed it and moved the rest of the bridge. Since the bridge is unusable as a result, rail traffic will not be possible here for a long time, a replacement rail service has been set up between Leer and Weener. It is expected that the bridge will have to be rebuilt. In the summer of 2016, the extent of the damage was still unclear; in the best case, rail traffic should be possible again from 2023. In June 2016, the federal government promised to cover part of the additional costs for the construction of the bridge.

Due to different signal systems and older railcars, which were only registered in one state, it was necessary to change trains at the border until the end of the 20th century. The German section was long considered to be in danger of being closed due to the low cross-border train supply; in the 1990s the train service was temporarily stopped. In 2002 he was resumed.

business

Weener station with Arriva train

Entrance building of the train station in Groningen

Reception building in Scheemda

The line is the northernmost railway connection between the Netherlands and Germany, but only of regional importance. Since border controls stopped taking place as a result of the Schengen Agreement of 1985 , Bad Nieuweschans (Bad Neuschanz) has become insignificant in its function as a border station . The part of the Dutch section west of Zuidbroek is double-track .

In one of the first international tenders for local transport services, the connection was awarded to the British company Arriva (now a subsidiary of DB ), which has been offering through traffic again since 2006. The transport contract was awarded for a term of 15 years.

In the Netherlands there is a 15-minute cycle between Groningen and Zuidbroek and a train runs every half hour to Winschoten , while east of Winschoten there is usually an hourly service.

Before the handover between Bad Nieuweschans and Leer, the number of travelers was 120 per operating kilometer. Thanks to the continuous connections, it could be increased to 450 by 2008. In addition to national and international train tickets, the ( OV-Chipkaart ) of the Netherlands are also valid on the entire route . An expansion version plus Groningen is offered for the Lower Saxony ticket .

Planned expansion of the route

The Dutch side is striving to improve the connection between Bremen and Groningen. To this end, the line is to be expanded on the Dutch side for around 85 million euros. From 2018, express trains should be introduced on the route, which also run to Leer twice a day. The long-term goal is long-distance trains between Groningen and Bremen with a journey time of two hours. This will not be the case until 2025 at the earliest and will ultimately enable the Amsterdam – Hamburg connection.

In February 2019, the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen as well as the province of Groningen agreed on an expansion of the Bremen - Leer - Groningen route costing 128 million euros. This is to take place in two stages and, in the first stage (by the end of 2024), includes a double-track expansion of the Scheemda - Winschoten section and the expansion of Ihrhove station . In a second stage (until 2030), the tracks in Weener station will be expanded and a second track will be built in the Friesenbrücke - Ihrhove section .

The medium-term plan is to electrify the line .

Reactivation of stations

On May 18, 2015, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics, Labor and Transport announced that after an internal review in cooperation with the Lower Saxony regional transport company (LNVG), the stations in Ihrhove , Bunde and Möhlenwarf , which are currently closed for passenger traffic , can be reopened at short notice. On March 28, 2019, the state of Lower Saxony, LNVG and DB agreed that stopping points should be built again in Bunde and Ihrhove.

Web links

• Historical recordings and further information on westbahn.de
• Construction project Bremen - Groningen (Wunderline)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Deutsche Reichsbahn: Handbook of the German Railway Lines 1835-1935. Reprint Dumjahn, Mainz 1984, ISBN 3-921426-29-4 , No. 1876/51.
2. ^ Bernhard Püschel: Historical railway catastrophes. A chronicle of accidents from 1840 to 1926 . Freiburg 1977. ISBN 3-88255-838-5 , p. 96f.
3. ^ After a collision: total loss at Friesenbrücke. In: NDR online news for Lower Saxony , December 4, 2015
4. ↑ Freighter crashes in Friesenbrücke. In: OZ-online , December 4, 2015
5. ↑ NDR: Friesenbrücke: Residents frustrated after the information evening. In: www.ndr.de. Retrieved July 25, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Transport Minister Olaf Lies: "Our commitment has paid off - Friesenbrücke is becoming a modern new building". Nds. Ministry of Economy, Labor and Transport, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
7. ↑ www.ns.nl - Download the timetable from the Nederlandse Spoorwegen for route 45a Groningen-Veendam / Winschoten-Nieuweschans in PDF format  ( 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.  
8. ↑ 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. 153/154.  
9. ↑ http://www.kreiszeitung.de/lokales/bremen/niederlaender-investieren-millionen-bahnstrecke-groningen-bremen-3654575.htmlkreiszeitung.de , Dutch people invest millions in the railway line to Bremen.
10. ↑ Faster to Groningen with the "Wunderlinie". (No longer available online.) In: www.radiobremen.de. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016 ; Retrieved July 25, 2016 . 
11. ^ Agreement on the expansion of Bremen - Leer - Groningen . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . tape 2019 , no. 4 , p. 173 .
12. ↑ Train connection Bremen - Groningen. Westerstede: Wunderlinie stops in Ammerland - for the time being , NWZ online from February 23, 2019, accessed on September 29, 2019
13. ↑ http://www.mw.niedersachsen.de/aktuelles/presseinformationen/neue-bahnhaltpunktee-fuer-niedersachsen--133732.html
14. ↑ reactivation of stations. Retrieved March 30, 2019 .