Iron Rhine

Rheydt - Antwerp
Route
Route number (DB) :	2524
Course book section (DB) :	485, 487
Route length:	123.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Line from Mönchengladbach 0.0 Rheydt Hbf Route to Cologne Viersen-Helenabrunn freight bypass former alignment until 1902 1.4 Rheydt Gbf 2.2 Route to Aachen 3.5 Wickrath Awanst 5.2 Mönchengladbach-Günhoven 7.4 Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen 9.5 Mönchengladbach-Genhausen 12.8 Wegberg 16.1 Wegberg-Klinkum ( Awanst ) Connection to Wegberg-Wildenrath ,   former RAF Wildenrath Connection route to the former RAF Brüggen near Elmpt 18.1 Arsbeck 20.1 Dalheim former route to Jülich (blocked from here on) 21.3 102.2 State border DE / NL 101.6 Vlodrop 94.6 Herkenbosch A 73 (blocked until here) Route from Maastricht 88.6 Roermond Route to Venlo Meuse Buggenum 81.3 Haelen 77.0 Baexem-Heythuysen 73.0 Kelpen Wessem-Nederweert Canal A 2 64.0 Weert Zuid-Willemsvaart Route to Eindhoven 55.0 Budel 54.0 31.7 State border NL / BE 30.9 Hamont 27.4 Sint-Huibrechts-Lille former line from Eindhoven Kanaal Bocholt-Herentals 22.8 Neerpelt former route to Winterslag 21.5 Overpelt 18.6 Overpelt-Werkplaatsen 13.8 Lommel 10.7 Lommel Werkplaatsen 8.7 Balen Werkplaatsen Canal to Beverlo 4.7 Balen-Wezel Dessel-Kwaadmechelen Canal 2.9 Gompel Route from Hasselt 52.0 Mole 49.2 Millegem 42.8 Geel 39.8 Larum 36.7 Oil Bocholt-Herentals Canal Route to Turnhout 30.7 Herentals 29.1 Herentals Canal Albert Canal former route to Aarschot 26.8 Wolf tea A 13 24.6 Bouwel 19.0 Nijlen 15.5 boiler 13.8 Lisp Route from Aarschot Nete ​​Canal Little nete 12.0 Lier Route to Mechelen / Brussels 8.1 Boshoek 6.6 Vos 5.6 Boechout 4.5 Liersebaan 3.0 Krijgsbaan 2.3 Mortsel Route from Brussels 0.0 Antwerp-Berchem Route to Antwerp Swell:

As Iron Rhine an above will Mönchengladbach and Roermond leading railway from the port of Duisburg for the port of Antwerp referred. Until the end of cross-border freight traffic on the section between Dalheim and Roermond in 1992, it was the shortest rail connection from the Ruhr area to the Belgian seaports and is 60 kilometers shorter than the connection via the Montzen route between Aachen West and Tongeren . Often, the term Iron Rhine only refers to the railway line from Rheydt Hauptbahnhof to Antwerp , as the overall connection includes parts of the Aachen – Mönchengladbach and Duisburg-Ruhrort – Mönchengladbach lines, as well as the Mönchengladbach freight bypass .

Originally the name Eiserner Rhein was used for the main line Cologne – Aachen of the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft between Cologne and the border station Herbesthal as part of the connection to Antwerpen-Berchem from Cologne via Düren , Eschweiler , Aachen , Verviers , Liège and Löwen , later it became citizens the expression for the route via Mönchengladbach and Roermond.

history

Today's Belgium, which had been added to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna , became independent after the July Revolution of 1830 , which was recognized by the Netherlands in the Treaty of London of April 19, 1839. In this contract the Belgians were guaranteed the right to create a land connection as a canal or road through the Dutch Limburg to the Prussian border at their own expense . This was done to compensate for the loss of Sittard , who had initially belonged to Belgium after the revolution.

This right was not exercised until 1868. Prussian interests (as well as German interests from the establishment of the Empire in 1871) in a fast rail connection between the emerging industrial area on the Rhine and Ruhr, bypassing the Netherlands, expressed by v. a. by Ludolf Camphausen , played a crucial role in the realization of the project. However, it was not a canal but a railway line that was built. In 1873 the Treaty on the Iron Rhine was signed, and the first trains started running in 1879. This route represents the shortest connection from the Ruhr area to Antwerp. It was mainly used by freight trains . Before the First World War , it was particularly important for a large number of emigrants to the USA in passenger transport .

During the First World War , the line was closed by the Netherlands with reference to its neutrality. As a replacement, the Montzen route was built further south, which is 50 km longer but does not touch Dutch territory. After the end of the Second World War , operations largely came to a standstill. Since 1953 there have been no regular passenger trains in cross-border traffic, but there were occasional special passenger trains, for example a Klingender Rhinelander from Roermond to Altenahr in the 1960s . The originally double-track Rheydt - Roermond line was dismantled in sections from 1958 onwards to one track.

The cross-border freight traffic Dalheim - Roermond was stopped in 1992. In the 1980s, a pair of container trains up to 500 meters long on weekdays, Zeebrugge - Antwerp - Neuss and Neuss - Antwerp - Oostende, ran on this section. The freight train schedules of those years record coal trains from Ratheim ( Zeche Sophia-Jacoba ) via Dalheim to Roermond, which should only run when needed. How often this need actually existed can no longer be determined. In 1999, an expansion of the section between Dalheim and Rheydt for test drives up to 240 km / h was considered.

Origin of the term

The expression Iron Rhine was coined by Ludolf Camphausen, who wrote in his memorandum on the railway from Cologne to Antwerp in 1833 :

"Belgium, sandwiched between France's mercantile system, between so bitterly offended Holland, and between Prussia's liberal trade policy, where will it find its natural ally?"

The answer to this rhetorical question is undoubtedly: in Prussia .

"The road (railroad) to Antwerp, which will guarantee both Prussia and Belgium the reciprocal supply, is the first thread that the German trading state extends to the North Sea."

It also says:

“This free passage, however, has an unmistakable effect on all conditions for navigation on the Rhine, and it ends Holland's monopoly on middlemen. Germany remained a tribute to Holland for two centuries for the use of the Rhine, and so it is today. It is in the nature of things that the payment of this tribute ends with the first car rolling on the free track from Cologne to Antwerp, that Holland will be forced to offer German trade everything that the new, the iron Rhine grants it . "

Route description

Overview

Of the 160.3 km of the total route, 16.5 kilometers (Roermond - Dalheim) are not operational and a further 9 kilometers ( Budel  - Weert ) are rarely used, but are in an operational condition. Only about 200 meters of the route near Dalheim on the German side have grown. After all, 85 kilometers of the line are double-tracked, 55 kilometers are electrified. The greater part of the route (134.8 kilometers) is used by trains every day.

On the German section Mönchengladbach - Dalheim, local passenger trains run every hour Monday to Friday and every two hours on weekends, goods traffic takes place in the form of handovers to the Wegberg-Wildenrath test center . On the Belgian and Dutch sides, the route is used by intercity , local and freight trains.

Germany

In rail transport the Schwalm nice-train runs ( RB 34 ) between Mönchengladbach central station and located directly at the border to the Netherlands Dalheim . Until December 2014 this line had the line number RB 39. It is operated by VIAS Rail and runs every hour from Monday to Friday and every two hours on weekends. The NRW tariff is used. The line runs between Wegberg and Dalheim in the area of ​​the Aachener Verkehrsverbund (AVV); the tariff of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr applies from Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof to Mönchengladbach-Genhausen . The breakpoints Arsbeck and Mönchengladbach-Genhausen are request stops . VIAS Rail uses Alstom LINT 41 and 54 railcars on the line.

Until December 10, 2017, the Schwalm-Nette-Bahn was operated by Deutsche Bahn or its regional subsidiaries. Since the end of the 1990s, however, the Rurtalbahn GmbH has already been running the line with RegioSprintern on their behalf . The AVV sought to resume cross-border passenger traffic between Dalheim and Roermond (with a Meinweg train station ) by 2015, but this did not take place.

Rheydt Central Station

Rheydt Central Station

→ Main article : Rheydt Hauptbahnhof

In the heart of the Mönchengladbach district of Rheydt there are two train stations, Rheydt Hauptbahnhof and Rheydt Güterbahnhof. Both are on the Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway line and the Iron Rhine, which begins at the main train station and runs parallel to the line to Aachen as far as the freight station. The Rheydt – Cologne-Ehrenfeld railway also begins at Rheydt main station (km 49.4) .

The reception building of the Rheydt main train station, which dates from the 1950s, now houses a few shops in addition to ticket sales. A central platform is available for travelers next to the house platform. Another platform on track 4 is used to transfer passengers to Borussia-Park . At the back of the platform there is a bus stop for the shuttle service. The station is served by the RE 4 ( Wupper-Express ) in the direction of Dortmund and Aachen , the RE 8 ( Rhein-Erft-Express ) in the direction of Mönchengladbach and Koblenz , the RB 27 (Rhein-Erft-Bahn) also in the direction of Mönchengladbach and Koblenz , the RB 33 ( Rhein-Niers-Bahn ) in the direction of Duisburg and Aachen and the RB 34 (Schwalm-Nette-Bahn) between Mönchengladbach and Dalheim .

The freight yard is only used to park freight trains and trains for the Wegberg-Wildenrath test center . The Aachen – Mönchengladbach line and the Iron Rhine run through the freight yard, the track of which runs parallel to the first-mentioned line as far as Rheydter Hauptbahnhof. The Mönchengladbach goods bypass branches off in the northern area . It was not until the Siemens test center in Wildenrath that brought new life to the Rheydter freight yard. In 1997, a secure parking area was set up on its premises for vehicles that are to be transferred to the test center or come from there and wait for their onward journey.

At the beginning, the Iron Rhine was unwound from the joint route with the Mönchengladbach – Aachen line at the level of the village of Hockstein . When the Rheydt freight yard was expanded in a southerly direction in 1902, the extension was relocated about one kilometer southwest to the level of today's industrial area Wickrath Nord.

Alternative connection point Wickrath Awanst

The alternative connection point Wickrath was created in 1968 for the newly created industrial area Wickrath Nord at the route kilometer 3.5 and lies in the narrow line between the industrial area and the motorway. Several companies were supplied through Awanst Wickrath until 2007.

Mönchengladbach-Günhoven stop

From the Mönchengladbach- Günhoven stop (km 5.3), which was only built in 1911 and whose operation was discontinued in 1962, nothing has survived today. The stop was to the west of the Günhovener Strasse level crossing, north of the main line. The former station keeper's house is located directly at the level crossing.

Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen train station

Regional sprinter in Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen

→ Main article : Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen train station

The town of Rheindahlen has a train station at 7.4 km, which has  belonged to the lowest category 7 since January 2011 and which is operated by Deutsche Bahn under the internal station number 4165. Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen train station (only Rheindahlen until 1927) is one of the larger train stations along the route. The station, which has had a reception building since the line opened , gained its importance more from freight than passenger traffic. The reception building has been preserved and is used for other purposes. A bus shelter and a ticket machine are available for travelers.

The importance of Rheindahlen for freight traffic was laid early: the station was built in 1877, the opening of the line from Mönchengladbach to the state border near Dalheim for goods traffic took place on December 4, 1878. The main goods accepted were grain, gasoline, coal, fertilizers and colonial goods . Were sent flax , beer and leather. The villages of Sittard , Gerkerath , Dahlerbruch (today Broich ) and Günhoven belonged to the catchment area of ​​the freight yard. On February 15, 1879, the first passenger train from Mönchengladbach in the direction of Dalheim took place. Shortly after the turn of the century, some companies were connected via the station. Since Rheindahlen was incorporated into the then city of Munich-Gladbach in 1921 , the station was renamed M. Gladbach-Rheindahlen in 1927 . The section of the Iron Rhine to M. Gladbach-Rheindahlen was largely used as a freight railway line for the construction of the JHQ Rheindahlen to the north until 1952 after the end of the Second World War . After the city of Munich-Gladbach was renamed Mönchengladbach in 1960, the station was given its current name in the early 1960s. On June 1, 1978, ticket sales at the train station were discontinued and the authorization of the Deutsche Bundesbahn to clear baggage and express goods traffic .

In addition to the reception building from 1879, the station has a platform with a bus shelter and ticket machine. The station building is a two-storey brick house with an attached goods shed, placed on the side. There is also the Rf dispatcher interlocking , which was put into operation in 1935, at the western end of the station, and the Ro attendant interlocking from the same year.

At Rheindahlen station there is still a siding between the British armed forces in Germany and the Ayrshire Barracks South. This is currently only rarely used. At times there were considerations to use a former additional siding of the British armed forces to today's Nordpark for passenger traffic at events in Borussia-Park . Because of the high costs, these plans were discarded in favor of bus shuttles between Rheydt Hauptbahnhof or Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof and the stadium.

Mönchengladbach-Genhausen stop

Mönchengladbach- Genhausen is a stopping point that was only set up in 1911 at kilometer 9.4. At the stop there are 38 centimeter high platforms for each direction of travel. The platform for travelers in the direction of Dalheim is located west of the level crossing and south of the main line. For those traveling in the direction of Mönchengladbach, the platform is intended to be east of the level crossing and north of the main line. This reduces the closing times of the level crossing, as it is always crossed before the train stops at the platform. The Schwalm-Nette-Bahn stops in Mönchengladbach-Genhausen only when necessary. The stop is equipped with a bus shelter per platform and a ticket validator.

Wegberg station

Wegberg station in 2006

→ Main article : Wegberg railway station

There are three train stations in the urban area of ​​Wegberg: Dalheim train station , Arsbeck stop and Wegberg train station . For a long time, until the reactivation of the Lindern – Heinsberg (Rheinl) railway line in December 2013, Wegberg was the town with the most stations in the Heinsberg district.

Wegberg train station is located at kilometer 12.8. The reception building has been preserved; it is used by a restaurant. There is a ticket machine and a bus shelter for travelers on the platform. In addition to the continuous main track, there is another butt track . The remains of a central platform can be seen rudimentary between the two tracks. The track systems have been dismantled in the last few decades. Four of the five other station tracks and sidings for companies have been completely or partially removed. In addition to the switchman interlocking built in 1878, Wo on Industriestraße, there has also been the Wf dispatcher interlocking at the Bahnhofstrasse level crossing since 1907 . Both mechanical interlockings come from the manufacturer Scheidt & Bachmann .

Alternative connection point Klinkum

The alternative connection point Klinkum, looking towards Arsbeck

The Wegberg Klinkum – Wegberg-Wildenrath test center branches off at the Klinkum alternative junction at kilometer 16.1 .

The alternative connection point Klinkum goes back to the block of the same name , which was built around 1907 to increase the number of trains. After the Second World War, the block site became the Klinkum junction. A shunting group was also set up. From here, north of the main line, the Arsbeck fuel depot of the British Rhine Army north of Dalheim-Rödgen and the RAF Brüggen were approached by rail via another connecting railway. The siding, which served both facilities, branched off to the north on the western edge of the alternative connection point. The Arsbeck fuel depot existed from 1948 to the end of 1979. The Brüggen airfield was served from 1954. The connection and the shunting group have now been dismantled.

The approximately 3.5 km long connecting track to the Siemens test center branches off to the south. From 1952 to 1992 the RAF airfield Wildenrath was served via this track . After its closure, Siemens took over parts of the site in 1997 to build a test center for rail vehicles .

Arsbeck stop

The Arsbeck stop

The place Arsbeck has a stop on Heiderstraße (km 18.1). From 1950 to 1990 there was a wooden station building with ticket sales here. There is a bus shelter and a ticket machine for travelers on the side platform. The Arsbeck stop is served by bus line 413 every hour.

Dalheim train station

Dalheim train station

→ Main article : Dalheim train station

Of particular importance for the local history was the construction of the Dalheim train station (km 20.1) on the cross-border railway line Iron Rhine as a connection from the Ruhr area to the port of Antwerp in 1879 .

At times, the station had a bus shelter behind the signal box Df. There were temporary transitions between the passenger trains in the direction of Mönchengladbach and Jülich and Roermond / Antwerp. Today the Dalheim station is only served every two hours by regional sprinters of the Rurtalbahn in the direction of Mönchengladbach .

As a border station to the Netherlands, there were originally extensive freight tracks for customs clearance.

From 1911 Dalheim became a branch station: on December 15, 1911, the Jülich – Dalheim line was opened, which ended at the eastern head of the station, directly at the Df signal box. The track in the direction of Jülich was given its own bypass track and a platform with a waiting hall. The station had its own direction groups for trains in the direction of Germany and the Netherlands, a goods shed with an attached ramp and locomotive handling systems including a locomotive shed, water tower and coal bunkers . The locomotive treatment systems were abandoned and demolished in 1969, the water tower was blown up in 1974. The station building was damaged in a fire in 1979 and subsequently demolished. Passenger traffic in the direction of Baal was discontinued on September 27, 1980, goods traffic on the route could continue until 1983 until the Rosenthal landfill .

Today there is only the main track and a stump track where the RegioSprinter stops. A bus shelter and a ticket machine are available for travelers on the platform. In addition to these systems, the dispatcher interlocking Df together with the associated form signals has been preserved. The Dw signal box formerly located at the western head of the station was demolished.

Netherlands

Iron Rhine on the Dutch side

Since the closure of the Buggenum, Baexem-Heythuysen and Kelpen stations in the 1940s, there has been no local traffic on the Dutch section Roermond - Weert. The Roermond and Weert stations are served by intercity trains operated by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen . These connect Enkhuizen or ( Den Helder ) Alkmaar with the South Limburg railway stations Heerlen and Maastricht every quarter of an hour . Double-decker multiple units of the VIRM type are used .

Belgium

Antwerp has about 500,000 inhabitants. Together with Brussels, which is only about 40 kilometers south, and the third largest Belgian urban region around Ghent (50 kilometers southwest) and other cities such as Leuven , Mechelen , Sint-Niklaas and Aalst , the Antwerp region forms the metropolitan region of Vlaamse Ruit ("Flemish diamond", too "Flemish Diamond"); With around 5 million inhabitants, it is one of the largest agglomerations in Europe.

The port of Antwerp is the largest port in Belgium. In terms of cargo volume in tons, it is the third largest port in Europe (behind Rotterdam and Hamburg) and the eleventh largest in the world. Antwerp is the world's largest port for general cargo . It is 80 km inland; the Scheldt has a long funnel mouth .

Freight and passenger traffic between Antwerp, Lier and Mol (this is where the route branches off to Hasselt and Neerpelt) has been fairly dense since the railroad was established. The section from Mol to Neerpelt, which was closed for passenger traffic after the Second World War , was reactivated on May 27, 1978, partly due to political pressure from the municipalities of Lommel and Neerpelt. The increasing freight traffic by seagoing vessels and containers (see containerization ) as well as the sharp rise in fuel prices after the first oil crisis also contributed to this.

Iron Rhine on the Belgian side near Lier

In long-distance transport, an InterRegio line ( IR e ) connects Neerpelt with Antwerp every hour. Taking off in Neerpelt trains are complemented by mole to a draft part of (or after) Hasselt (respectively on the way back winged ) and accessed via Herentals and Lier to Antwerp Central Station Antwerp Centraal . In Herentals a branch line branches off to Turnhout, which is served by two lines of the SNCB ; the InterCity R and the InterRegio g . The latter line, which runs every hour, has the same route on the Herentals - Lier - Antwerp section as the InterRegio e (Antwerp - Lier - Herentals - Mol - Hasselt / Neerpelt), whereas the InterCity R , which also runs every hour, leaves the Iron Rhine in Lier and reaches it via Mechelen to the Brussels-Midi train station . The Antwerp - Lier section is also used by InterRegio c (Antwerp - Lier - Aarschot - Liège) and local trains on the Antwerp - Lier - Aarschot - Leuven route. The range of services on the main line of the Iron Rhine is being increased with hourly local trains on the Antwerp - Lier - Herentals - Mol route, which also serve smaller intermediate stations. In addition, there are the P-Treins ( Piekuurtrein / Train d'heure de pointe = peak traffic) , which only run during peak traffic times .

On weekends and on public holidays, the traffic is more modest, only the IR e , IR c and IR g run every hour, while the IC, P and L trains are mostly omitted. Smaller stations are then either served by the IR g or not at all. Diesel multiple units of the NMBS / SNCB series 41 are used for the IR e and the P and L-Treins .

In InterCity traffic, AM80 Break multiple units and locomotive-hauled trains (HLE21 / 27) with two-story M5 or M6 cars are in use. AM80 Break railcars are used for the IR g and IR c , and the NMBS / SNCB series AM 86-89 railcars for the L-Trein service Antwerp - Lier - Aarschot - Löwen .

Reactivation of cross-border traffic

Consideration was given to putting the route across the border to Roermond back into operation, after it was part of the railway connection Rhine-Alps Lyon / Genoa  - Basel  - Duisburg  - Rotterdam / Antwerp (along with the Betuweroute ) at the proposal of the EU Commission the Trans-European Transport Networks was given priority.

The aim was to optimize freight traffic from the seaports in Rotterdam and Antwerp to the Rhine-Ruhr economic area and to bring more traffic from road to rail.

Since March 15, 2007, the Dutch-Belgian part has been used again for freight traffic. As a test, a train ran from Antwerp-Nord to Duisburg, and the journey time was reduced from six to three hours.

After the repair of the Budel - Weert section, up to eight freight trains per week run between Antwerp and Duisburg via the stations Lier - Herentals - Neerpelt - Weert - Roermond - Venlo - Viersen - Krefeld.

Legal dispute between Belgium and the Netherlands

Transfer of an ICE in 2006 near Arsbeck (German section)

After Belgium and the Netherlands could not come to an agreement on whether and how the Iron Rhine should be reactivated, both parties appealed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in July 2003 . On May 24, 2005, the International Court of Arbitration issued the binding judgment. Accordingly, Article XII of the separation treaty from 1839 still applies. Belgium has the right to drive on the historic route. The cost allocation for reactivation has been regulated depending on the respective route section. Belgium can expand the route on Dutch territory. Any additional costs for individual environmental protection measures, for example the tunnel on Meinweg, may have to be shared. Belgium does not have to bear the costs alone, for example for the tunnel requested by the Netherlands.

criticism

Conservationists expressed because of lying on the track nature reserve De Meinweg in the German-Dutch border area concerns against reactivation.

Residents who built their houses very close to the route organized themselves in a citizens' initiative with the aim of stopping the reactivation. The association received a tailwind from Oliver Wittke , NRW Transport Minister from 2005 to 2009 ( Rüttgers cabinet ): When it came to the planned resumption of the Antwerp - Duisburg rail link for international freight traffic, Wittke said he thought the historic route was no longer up to date. The protection of the residents is not taken into account, since residential houses are built too close to the route. Wittke therefore advocated an alternative route, which would be associated with higher costs.

Discussion of the variants

From the Ministry of Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (until 2010 Ministry of Construction, Housing, Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia ) the construction of a new route along the federal motorway 52 (Düsseldorf – Roermond) from Viersen to the border at Elmpt was considered Alternative to reactivation of the historic route proposed. That would shorten the Roermond - Viersen-Helenabrunn connection from 48 to 33 kilometers. A bypass for Roermond would have to be built on the Dutch side. In October 2008, the Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings offered 100 million euros to implement this plan, which by no means covers the costs, so that the Belgian and German sides asked for a much higher Dutch contribution.

The Dutch parliament ( Tweede Kamer ) voted unanimously against the agreements made by the Minister of Transport. The Dutch Minister of Transport was tasked by parliament with advancing the A-52 variant in the negotiations.

On January 6, 2011, the Bundestag member Uwe Schummer ( Viersen constituency ) reported that the Federal Ministry of Transport would not tackle the Iron Rhine project for the next 20 years. The Iron Rhine is "dead". Instead, the Montzen route should be used.

After EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso visited Antwerp in May 2011, he spoke about the Iron Rhine; a study by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) that has been in progress for years will soon be finished and published. This happened in June 2011. It came to the conclusion that the investments will not pay off for years to come. The Dutch MEP and deputy chairman of the EP Transport Committee, Peter van Dalen , therefore advises putting the expansion of the historic route on the back burner.

In May 2012 there was an early state election in North Rhine-Westphalia , after which Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft formed the Kraft II cabinet . Michael Groschek became transport minister . At the end of September 2012, Federal Transport Minister Ramsauer Groschek announced that he considered the discussion about a route along the A 52 to be over.

In the weeks before, the state government had tried intensively to include the A-52 route in the next federal transport route plan. The NRW Ministry of Transport calculated that the historic route would be three times as expensive as previously assumed. Satisfied the Landtag commented Stefan Berger (CDU constituency Viersen I and in -), who had always fought against the A-52 route the reign of Jürgen Rüttgers had placed against his own faction.

MdL Marcus Optendrenk (CDU, Kempen / Viersen II ) said that it would not pay off for the state government to try “to advance cross-border infrastructure projects without feedback from the Netherlands and Belgium”. The state government should rather push ahead with the double-track expansion of the Kaldenkirchen – Dülken railway line with noise protection . A section of about 13 km is single-track there.

Ramsauer pointed out that the Netherlands and Belgium had agreed on the historical route and only planned in this direction. There are municipalities and associations in the Netherlands that are working together against the historic route. Belgium is a heavily indebted country. It is questionable whether it will incur additional debt to reactivate the historic route (estimated costs as of 2012: EUR 500–800 million).

In March 2016, Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) presented a draft of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 . The Iron Rhine is not classified as an "urgent need". At the end of 2016, the North Rhine-Westphalian Greens spoke out in favor of reactivating the route between Dalheim and Roermond and extending the regional train. In order to counteract fears that the line could be used again for goods traffic after reactivation, they suggested an electric light rail and a corresponding classification of the line.

literature

• Thomas Barthels, Armin Möller, Klaus Barthels: The Iron Rhine. Barthels, Mönchengladbach 2005, ISBN 3-9810183-0-3
• Bernd Franco Hoffmann: Disused railway lines in the Rhineland. Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt 2014, ISBN 978-3-95400-396-9 .
• Bernd Franco Hoffmann: The Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn. Through the valleys of Wupper, Ruhr and Volme ; Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt, 2015, ISBN 978-3-95400-580-2

Web links

Commons : Iron Rhine  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Description of route 2524 (Rheydt Hbf - Dalheim) in the NRWbahnarchiv by André Joost
• Thomas Barthels' website on the iron Rhine with various historical documents, images and reports
• Background information on the Iron Rhine and the Betuweroute from the online information portal NiederlandeNet of the University of Münster
• Railway in Dalheim
• History of the Iron Rhine and the Herkenbosch and Vlodrop stations (in Dutch)
• Website Samenwerkingsverband IJzeren Rijn Midden-Limburg
• Representation + many further links on www.viersen.de
• WDR amount
• Video from 1985: Container train Antwerp - Neuss on the Dutch-German border between Vlodrop and Dalheim

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ Harry Hondius: Faster rail connection for the Belgian seaports. Infrabel invests in hinterland transport to Germany. In: freight railways. Issue 1/2009, Alba Fachverlag, Düsseldorf, ISSN  1610-5273 , pp. 42-47.
4. ^ Coen Thevissen: IJzeren Rijn. Retrieved November 28, 2015 (Dutch). 
5. ^ Federal Railway Directorate Cologne: Freight train formation regulations (GZV), valid from June 2, 1985, express freight trains 42174 to 42177 (page 32)
6. ^ Federal Railway Directorate Cologne: Annual timetable 1978/79, timetable sheet 17, trains Sg 42175 and 42193 (subsequent years analogous)
7. ^ Federal Railway Directorate Cologne: Annual timetable 1985/86, timetable sheet 13 (new sheet number from 1985), trains Sg 42174 to 42177
8. ↑ Federal Railway Directorate Cologne: Freight Train Formation Regulations (GZV), valid from June 2, 1985, block trains 48146 to 48150 (page 58)
9. ↑ Notification of approval for climatic wind chamber. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . Issue 1/2, 1999, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 12.
10. ↑ Bye Rurtalbahn ... Welcome VIAS . Report on eisenbahn-in-moenchengladbach.de from December 17, 2017
11. ↑ Bernd Neuhaus: Iron Rhine ( Memento from May 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Westpol . January 22, 2006.
12. ^ Ministry of Construction and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (ed.): Cross-border rail freight traffic between Antwerp and North Rhine-Westphalia . October 2006, p. 65 , Figs. 22 and 23 ( nrw.de [PDF; 4.4 MB ; accessed on October 2, 2018] Study by the engineering group IVV GmbH & Co. KG with the collaboration of Smeets + Damaschek).
13. ↑ Iron Rhine: But historical route again? In: RP-Online. November 17, 2008, accessed February 7, 2009
14. ↑ map here
15. ↑ Mogelijk toch other route IJzeren Rijn. TROUW, February 11, 2009, accessed February 28, 2009 (Dutch). 
16. ↑ News from the "Iron Rhine". In: Grenzland-Nachrichten. February 19, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2009
17. ↑ Ludger Peters: The Iron Rhine is "dead". In: RP Online. January 6, 2011, accessed October 2, 2018 . 
18. ↑ rp-online.de: Iron Rhine costs more than it brings in.
19. ↑ ^{a b c} Rheinische Post September 29, 2012. No Iron Rhine along the A 52
20. ^ Rheinische Post July 5, 2011: Expansion a long way off . The Rheinische Post commented: “There is a section of the route on the Lower Rhine that has been generating enormous (economic) economic returns for decades with comparatively little money. The expansion of the Kaldenkirchen - Venlo line would bring more goods and more people onto the rails and promote both long-distance and local traffic. It is incomprehensible that neither in Düsseldorf nor in Berlin shows any real interest in this investment. The Lower Rhine sinks to the level of a zone border area in terms of rail traffic. ”( Why is nobody fighting here? )
21. ↑ rp-online.de October 19, 2012: Much Ado about the Iron Rhine (Print edition October 20, page B1 Grenzland-Kurier)
22. ↑ www.bmvi.de
23. ↑ rp-online.de March 18, 2016: The federal government does not want an Iron Rhine
24. ↑ Michael Heckers: Greens for light rail-like trains between Gladbach and Roermond. In: RP Online. December 20, 2016, accessed June 25, 2018 .