Dortmund-Gronau-Enscheder Railway Company
The Dortmund-Gronau-Enscheder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ( DGEE ) was a railway company in Westphalia . The company owned and operated only one line between the eastern Ruhr area and the Netherlands , the Dortmund – Enschede line via Lünen , Coesfeld and Gronau , also known as the Westmünsterlandbahn . It was nationalized in 1903 as one of the last private railway companies in Prussia and thus part of the Prussian State Railways .
History of the route
On January 8, 1872, the DGEE received the concession from King Wilhelm I to build the line, the state police acceptance of the first section from Dortmund DGE (last Dortmund East ) to Lünen took place on October 26, 1874 November 1874, opened for freight traffic on December 4, 1874. The rest of the route followed in 1875. Gronau was reached on September 30, 1875, Enschede on October 15, 1875.
On the Dortmund – Lünen section, the transport of the coal mined in this area dominated from the start , while in the Münsterland region further north, this traffic was also followed by the transport of agricultural goods and the products of the Münsterland textile industry .
In passenger traffic, the route was of national importance until the direct connection between Dortmund and Münster was opened . For this purpose, a connecting curve to the line of the Cologne-Minden Railway near Dülmen was built after the First World War . Before that, a change had to be made at the "Dülmen Ost" station, a walk of around 500 m to the Cologne-Mindener Eisenbahn station. This deficiency was only remedied with the construction of the Dülmen tower station after the Second World War .
The Ahaus station was redesigned in 1902 to a community station when the so-called " Nordbahn " from Borken (Westf.) To Burgsteinfurt of the Westphalian State Railway and in 1903 the private Ahaus-Enscheder Railway went into operation.
On September 26, 1981, the Gronau – Enschede section was discontinued for general operations. During this time, the entire route from Dortmund to Gronau was threatened with closure. However, this could be avoided and from 2001 trains ran again for the first time between Gronau and Enschede.
Present and Future
Today the line is part of the regional network Münster-Ostwestfalen (MOW) of DB Netz AG , based in Münster.
In the Lette district of Coesfeld there is now a railway museum in the Lette train station there . Today the Enschede - Gronau - Coesfeld section is controlled by the regional operating center (Estw) in Coesfeld.
Personalities
- Wilhelm Beukenberg (board member 1891 to 1903)
