Development of bus traffic in the Jülich region

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The development of bus traffic in Jülich country has produced in the course of the 20th century, several independent sub-networks of different operators, due to the formation of the bus and coach transport Community rail / post 1971, the accession of Düren to Aachen Transport Association (AVV) in 1979 and the merger of Post - and rail bus services grew together organizationally in 1983. Since the takeover of the Jülich – Düren railway line by the Dürener Kreisbahn (DKB) in 1993, bus traffic has largely been oriented towards the Rur Valley Railway as the north-south public transport backbone in the Düren district. Further adjustments were made in 2002 through the reactivation of the Jülich - Linnich railway line and, more recently, through efforts to improve the connection to the Jülich Research Center outside the city as well as the inner city development.

For decades, the central Jülich stop Neues Rathaus formed the intersection between various operators and networks - on the left, a KFA bus in factory traffic at the beginning of the 1980s

Today's network

Jülich is connected to the surrounding area by a number of bus routes that have been part of the AVV since 1979. Almost all lines start or end in Jülich. The basic structure of the route network has changed little since the 1950s. In particular, since 1964, almost all lines within Jülich have been using a core section that extends as a southern tangent to the inner city area from the Walramplatz stop (formerly the bus station) at the Hexenturm via the centrally located Neues Rathaus stop to the train station . To the west or east of this core section, the lines branch off to their destinations (as of the 2020 annual timetable):

line direction over operator Emergence Remarks Departures from Jülich
Mon-Fri 1) Sat So
Citizen bus Jülich Urban area circuit Rurtalbus Introduced November 2, 2015 Operation by the Bürgerbus-Verein with the support of the Rurtalbus 6th 3 / - 2) -
N 1 (from Düren) Line route as required Rurtalbus Night bus (introduced in 2001) only on weekend nights, only runs from Düren in the direction of Jülich and only stops to get off, in Düren train connection from Cologne (Fri: 3 × to) (3 × on) -
SB 20 Aachen through motorway 44 3) Rurtalbus Express bus (introduced at the end of 2014) only in rush hour traffic, almost all journeys from / to the research center, in Jülich mostly also via FH, but only partially via the train station 5 - -
SB 70 Titz Mersch Rurtalbus Express bus

(Introduced in 2020)

- -
6th Eschweiler Aldenhoven - Dürwiss ASEAG on weekends only between Aldenhoven and Eschweiler, for many years order buses from Taeter (Aachen) drove 11 4) - -
216 Düren Kirchberg - Schophoven - Remember - Hoven - Birkesdorf Rurtalbus on weekends only between Schophoven and Düren - -
219 Research Center not about Jülich Rurtalbus Shuttle bus (introduced at the end of 2014) commutes between the Rurtalbahn stop at the research center and the actual factory premises 44 - -
220 Aachen Aldenhoven - Hoengen - Mariadorf - A 44 5 Rurtalbus Pre-war post bus line, later replacement for the railway line to Aachen-Nord 1975–1991 ASEAG line 11, then BVR line 111, SB11. Meanwhile, many trips to / from the research center have been extended on weekdays. 28 6) 14 6) 7 6)
223 Daubenrath (Huchem-Stammeln) 7) Rurtalbus As a replacement for railway line to Düren provided since 1993 only a few journeys, resulting from the Jülich - Düren bus line, which runs parallel to the railway line 1 8) - -
238 Düren Niederzier Rurtalbus Pre-war post bus route Mon – Fri some trips not via Jülich train station 19th 12 4th
270 Titz University of Applied Sciences - Mersch Rurtalbus (Pre-war post bus route to Erkelenz) until 1978 to Düsseldorf, until 1989 to Grevenbroich, then due to opencast mining until 1994 to Hochneukirch Bhf., until the end of 2002 to Hottorf, Mon-Fri three journeys only from Jülich train station instead of Walramplatz 14th 3 -
279 Linnich Koslar - Merzenhausen - Rurdorf Rurtalbus Pre-war post bus route until 1984 to Aachen, until 1994 to Würselen-Bardenberg, until the end of 2002 to Baesweiler 18th 4th -
281 Aldenhoven Koslar - Merzenhausen - Ederen - Freialdenhoven Rurtalbus Replacement for Jülich circular path until 2002 individual trips via Puffendorf. From 2020 from Freialdenhoven to Aldenhoven 3 2 -
284 Jackerath Welldorf - Rödingen - Ameln - Titz Rurtalbus Replacement for the railway line to Mönchengladbach until 1994 to Hochneukirch Bhf., Jülich Walramplatz is now only used by schoolchildren, in Rödingen connection to RVK line 963 to Cologne-Weiden 16 3 -
294 Weisweiler Kirchberg - Schophoven - Remember - Lamersdorf - Frenz Rurtalbus Replacement for the railway line to Stolberg until 2002 via Inden, from the end of 2003 via Pier - Lucherberg due to opencast mining , from the end of 2013 via Schophoven - Merken, around half of all journeys (Saturdays: all) end in Schophoven, there connection to DKB line 216 to Merken - Düren 11 9) -
1)Information applies to school days; on some lines slightly fewer trips on holidays
2) initially only runs every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month
3) between Jülich (Neubourheim) and Aachen (Prager Ring) continuously via Autobahn 44
4)plus 2 scheduled taxi rides (ALT) in the evening to Bourheim (register 30 minutes before departure)
5) from Alsdorf-Begau to Aachen (Prager Ring) or from Würselen (Kaninsberg) to Alsdorf-Begau via Autobahn 44
6) Monday to Friday 16 trips (approximately every hour between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.) to Aachen Busof, the rest of the trips end in Alsdorf-Mariadorf (triangle), there connection to line 11
7) only trips from Jülich to Daubenrath and a school trip from Krauthausen to Huchem-Stammeln, in the opposite direction a school trip from Krauthausen to Jülich
8th)plus 7 scheduled taxi rides (ALT) to Daubenrath (register 30 minutes before departure)
9)on Saturdays only 5 regular taxi rides (ALT) to Schophoven (register 30 minutes before departure)
Shortly before midnight, the DKB night bus waits for passengers from the train from Cologne in Düren, 2015

Today the Jülich bus routes are operated

The former post bus lines of the Deutsche Bundespost were integrated into the rail bus network in the AVV area on August 1, 1983. The BVR is a regional successor to the DB Bahnbus division and is part of the DB Regio NRW . During the existence of RVE Regionalverkehr Euregio Maas-Rhein GmbH, i.e. from the beginning of 2002 to August 2017, the Jülich BVR lines were operated by RVE, a local wholly-owned subsidiary of BVR based in Aachen.

A special feature of the line network in the Düren district since 2001 have been the DKB's four, now five, night bus routes: These do not have a fixed route, but travel late in the evening from Düren to numerous locations in the district, depending on current needs. Line N 1 mainly serves the towns along the Rurtalbahn route to Jülich and the towns along the 238 bus route Düren - Niederzier - Jülich. The other night lines serve other directions; Places north of Jülich are not approached. The night buses cost a surcharge of 1.50 euros per person, regardless of the ticket used. They are scheduled for the trains from Cologne and start at Düren station on the nights from Friday to Saturday and from Saturday to Sunday at 11.50 p.m., 0.50 a.m. and 2.00 a.m. The night buses leave the central Düren Kaiserplatz three minutes later; The driver decides how the journey will proceed, so the night bus only stops to get off.

Historical development

Postbus prevailed until World War II

Post buses played an essential role in bus transport in the Jülich region until the 1980s - here a museum post bus from 1925

On December 14, 1911, the Jülich - Linnich - Baal line was opened as the fifth line from Jülich. On the same day, as a chronicler reported 50 years later, “the last Linnich omnibus stood in front of the train station, wreathed and hung with a sign: 'Farewell, I'm not driving anymore!' - The last Jülich post car thus fell victim to the new travel traffic; These post lines were also discontinued in the Erkelenz district. ”However, after the First World War, the local public transport offer in the Jülich area, which in the meantime only consisted of a relatively dense railway network, was further increased with new post bus routes. In 1927, for example, three pairs of Postbuses ran between Jülich and Cologne every day.

As early as the 1930s, the Reichspost had set up several lines to supplement the railway network, which were primarily intended to provide local public transport connections to places without a train station. In the 1939 summer timetable, post buses ran from Jülich to Erkelenz, to Cologne (via Elsdorf), to Rödingen (via Steinstraß), to Düren (via Niederzier), to Aachen (via Aldenhoven - Hoengen) and to Aachen (via Koslar - Linnich - Alsdorf). The line to Cologne was the busiest, with at least five pairs of journeys per day plus two pairs of journeys Elsdorf - Cologne. There were also five pairs of trips to Erkelenz on weekdays, but only three on Sundays. All other lines were served from Jülich with a maximum of three pairs of trips per working day. The end point in Jülich was mostly the train station, only the two Aachen lines ended at the post office.

Parallel development of several networks in the post-war period

A train bus on line D 23 Düren - Jülich in the wine-red color scheme that has been in effect for decades passes through one of the winding Rhenish villages in 1991. The bus journey from station to station took more than twice as long as a train ride.

In the immediate post-war period, the Reichsbahndirektion Cologne applied for a concession for a "Kom = Linie" (power bus line) Aachen - Jülich - Cologne on September 8, 1948, but this was not decided for a long time. In the meantime, the company Taeter & Ziemons from Aachen-Brand submitted an application on November 20, 1948 to set up a continuous "Kom-Linienverkehr" Aachen - Jülich - Cologne - Bonn. The Taeter company provided for three pairs of trips per day with Opel Blitz omnibuses or Büssing trambusses as well as a later extension from / to “Bildchen (Belgian border crossing) / Vaals (Dutch border crossing)”. She stated that she made this application at the beginning of 1947, but withdrew it at short notice. After obtaining numerous statements, the NRW Ministry of Transport rejected this application on February 28, 1950; It has announced that there are already various offers on this route, including a bus line Aachen - Jülich - Düsseldorf, which is operated jointly by the Cologne Railway Directorate, the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft AG from Düsseldorf and the Aachen tram and has a total of 6 trip pairs ( 2 from each of the companies). However, this was divided in Jülich by the end of the 1950s at the latest and handed over to the Bundespost as the operator.

After all, for two decades an international long-distance bus line operated by Deutsche Touring, founded as a DB subsidiary, stopped in Jülich every summer, more or less daily . The line was set up between 1951 and 1953 and ran from Frankfurt via Wiesbaden, Rüdesheim, Koblenz, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Jülich, Aachen, Brussels to Oostende (589 km), where connection to the night ferry to Dover and thus also to London duration. In 1971/72 the Jülich stop disappeared from the timetable, although the detour via Düsseldorf was initially retained; later it was taken from Cologne without stopping to Brussels.

In the years after the Second World War, competition from the emerging passenger car soon became noticeable, so that the Federal Railroad began to replace low-capacity trains with rail buses, especially on weekends, and to supplement their rail routes with more or less parallel bus routes. This created a separate group of lines that initially did not end at the post office in Jülich, but rather at the market or at the train station, while the post bus routes had mostly been to the post office since the war. For example, the official railway bus timetable from the summer of 1954 contains the following Jülich-related railway bus routes in addition to the aforementioned joint line 1245 (Aachen - Düsseldorf):

  • 1245 a: Düren - Jülich - Linnich - Lindern - Heinsberg (about 5 pairs of buses)
  • 1245 d: (Jülich -) Linnich - Baal - Ratheim (only one pair of buses continuously to / from Jülich)
  • 1245 e: Aachen - Höngen Dreieck - Aldenhoven - Jülich (12 pairs of buses and 3 from / to Alsdorf-Wilhelmsschacht)
  • 1245 f: Jülich - Ameln - Bedburg (5 pairs of buses to / from Jülich)
  • 1245 g: Jülich - Inden - Eschweiler (4 pairs of buses to / from Jülich)
Order bus from Schloemer in factory traffic on the concrete access road to the KFA , 1992

In addition, from the end of the 1950s, parallel to the construction of the Jülich nuclear research facility (KFA, today's Research Center FZJ), an extensive works traffic network was created, which at times took over a dozen lines to KFA employees from their homes within a radius of 15 to 50 km around Jülich (mainly from the west and north) brought directly to the KFA. Most lines were only used once in the morning and once in the evening (rarely twice), but a few also at other times of the day. At times, several lines ran into the Jülich urban area. This company traffic was only accessible to members of the KFA; A control was carried out when entering the factory premises. The KFA selected the Bundesbahn as the operator, which in turn mostly used buses from a wide range of subcontractors based in the region. The plant network included B. 1975 and 1992 about 20 lines, some of which, after a "collecting phase" in their starting region, covered longer distances without stopping to the KFA. In the Aachen area in particular, there were several lines that, after collecting for more than 30 km, did not make a single stop. The plant network continued to exist for a number of years with a downward trend and continues today with lines 220 and SB 20 from Aachen via Jülich to the research center, as well as the new shuttle bus 219 between the research center and the Rur valley railway stop of the same name.

Restructuring of the cross-country skiing lines in the 1970s to 1990s

BVR train bus in the new raspberry-red livery as line 111 to Aachen at the New Town Hall in Jülich, 1992

In the 1960s to 1980s, when the bus routes from Jülich to the neighboring cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne and Aachen were among the most popular in the Jülich and northern Düren districts despite their long journey times of over an hour, the line via Hoengen in particular switched to Aachen their operator several times. Originally a post bus route, it was taken over by the German Federal Railroad in the mid-1960s, because the latter shifted more and more train services to the road on their largely parallel Jülich - Aachen Nord route . As early as 1961, the train traffic between Jülich and Mariagrube was suspended on Sundays, from 1962 on the entire route.

When the DB no longer allowed trains to run on this route on Saturdays from 1975 onwards, ASEAG extended its line 11 (Aachen - Hoengen) in cooperation with the DB to Jülich on Saturdays and Sundays. As a result, for the first time in its history, the city was able to enjoy hourly local transport, which at that time was only common in the vicinity of larger cities. With the complete closure of the Aachen Nord – Jülich railway in 1980, ASEAG extended its hourly service to the remaining days of the week, now as the sole operator. In 1991, however, ASEAG gave its license back to DB ( BVR ), which now ran the line as 111 from Jülich to the Mariadorf triangle junction and from there Monday to Friday to Aachen, running between Alsdorf-Begau and Aachen Liebigstrasse used the motorway (in the opposite direction only from Würselen Kaninsberg). This line was later referred to as the SB 11 express bus.

RVK bus on Cologne route 963 in the typical paint scheme of the early 1980s in school traffic from Jülich to Titz-Kalrath, 1992

The Cologne - Jülich bus line was also exceptional, which was extended to Geilenkirchen shortly after the war and partly operated as an express line. The total travel time for the 72 kilometers was around two hours, depending on the time of day; this was achieved by omitting numerous stops. For example, there were years when the express buses ran without a scheduled stop on the 18 kilometers between Cologne-Lindenthal (Melatengürtel) and Quadrath. While only a few journeys between Cologne and Jülich were made as express buses and marked with an "E" in the timetable, the 27-kilometer section Jülich Omnibusbahnhof - Geilenkirchen had only eight to ten intermediate stops for all journeys - i.e. on average only every three kilometers. All journeys on this section were shown as express buses.

The last express journeys between Cologne and Jülich ran in 1978, the last runs Cologne - Jülich - Geilenkirchen took place in 1985, two years after the unification of post and rail buses. The line was then split into two lines; the Geilenkirchen branch received a total of 19 intermediate stops and lost the "E" mark, the Cologne branch was transferred as route 963 to Regionalverkehr Köln (RVK), which was founded in 1976 and anticipated the merger of post and rail buses on a regional level and, accordingly, one in 1985 DB subsidiary was. As the Hambach opencast mining progressed , this line from Jülich could no longer take the direct route along the old Römerstraße ( B 55 ) via Steinstraße, which was demolished in the 1980s, towards Cologne, but was led via Welldorf and Rödingen around the newly emerging Sophienhöhe . In the 1990s, the route was limited to the Jülich - Cologne-Junkersdorf section, where there was a connection to Cologne's east-west tram line 1. In June 2001, the western end point was moved from Jülich to Rödingen, where the AVV line 284 made the connection from Jülich - but only on weekdays. At the end of 2002, the eastern end of the line was shortened to Cologne-Weiden Zentrum, where there is again a connection to Line 1.

The Jülich - Düsseldorf post bus line, which was only established after the war, has also been shortened over the course of its existence. First it was split into two different lines in 1978 at the Grevenbroich railway junction, where it stopped a few hundred meters from the train station, and mostly connected to each other. In 1989, because of the Garzweiler opencast mine, the end point had to be relocated from Grevenbroich town hall to Hochneukirch station, where there was at least a connection to the Cologne - Mönchengladbach railway line. But this was also given up in 1994 and the line to Hottorf was shortened. It has ended in Titz since the end of 2002.

Line network 1982/83 as an example for the early years of the AVV

After the Düren district joined the Aachen transport association in 1979, the variety of providers and concepts for bus transport in the Jülich region slowly declined. The following table with the status of the 1982/83 winter timetable, the last timetable before the Postbus routes were integrated into the rail bus, provides a picture of the route network at that time. To complete the picture, this table also contains some lines that Jülich does not touch.

The lines touching Jülich all ran via the core section Jülich bus station - Jülich new town hall - Jülich train station , unless otherwise stated. Almost all lines were still served every day of the week. Historically, the AVV's three regions Aachen, Düren and Heinsberg had partly the same route numbers in the first years. This was initially remedied by prefixing the region letter A, D or H; from 2000/01 instead the Düren line numbers were increased by 200 and the Heinsbergs by 400.

line Course book number Line route operator Remarks
A 6 (AVV) - Jülich - Bourheim - Lohn - Dürwiß - Eschweiler ASEAG Operation by order buses from Taeter , Aachen
H 6 (AVV) - Linnich - Lindern - Erkelenz KWH -
A 11 (AVV) 4501 Jülich - Aldenhoven - Mariadorf / Alsdorf - Aachen ASEAG Cycle schedule
D 16 (AVV) - Inden - Pier - Düren DKB Intermittent timetable, also individual journeys via Schophoven, replacement for the DEAG tram, which was shut down in 1963
D 38 (AVV) 4438 Jülich - Niederzier - Düren Kraftpost not via Jülich train station
D 23 (AVV) 4444 Jülich - Huchem-Stammeln - Düren Train bus -
70 (AVV) 4570 Jülich - FH - Mersch - Titz - Grevenbroich Kraftpost not via Jülich train station, in Grevenbroich town hall partial connection from / to Düsseldorf main station
71 (AVV) and 963 (RVK) 4571 Geilenkirchen - Aldenhoven - Jülich - Bergheim - Cologne Kraftpost Express bus route, not via Jülich train station, journeys between Jülich and Cologne count as route 4863
78 (AVV) 4578 Linnich - Ederen / Gereonsweiler - Siersdorf - Aldenhoven District of Düren / Kraftpost Replacement for Jülich Kreisbahn , operated by Kraftpost on behalf of the Düren district
79 (AVV) 4579 Jülich - Koslar - Linnich - Baesweiler - Alsdorf - Aachen Kraftpost not via Jülich train station
D 84 (AVV) 4502 Jülich - Ameln - Hochneukirch - Mönchengladbach Train bus partly only to Hochneukirch, there train connection
81 (AVV) 4581 Jülich - Koslar - Ederen - Puffendorf District of Düren / Kraftpost Replacement for Jülich Kreisbahn, operated by Kraftpost on behalf of the Düren district
87 (AVV) 4584 Jülich - Hottorf - Lövenich - Erkelenz Kraftpost not via Jülich train station
88 (AVV) 4582 Linnich - Hottorf - Titz Kraftpost -
94 (AVV) 4447 Jülich - Inden - Eschweiler Train bus -
95 (AVV) 4550 Jülich - Broich - Linnich - Baal - Wasenberg - Rosenthal / Dalheim Train bus Change in Baal required
963 (RVK) 4863 Jülich - Steinstrasse - Elsdorf - Bergheim - Weiden - Cologne RVK (Kraftpost) not via Jülich train station, individual journeys from Jülich continue from / to Geilenkirchen as express line 4571
972 (RVK) 4585 Jülich - Stebenich - Rödingen - Elsdorf RVK (Kraftpost) not via Jülich train station
987 (RVK) 4587 (Jülich -) Ameln - Bedburg RVK (Kraftpost) to Ameln only single trips, to Jülich no trips

Network adjustments shortly before and since the rail reform in 1994

City bus of the Düren district railway on a circular route through Jülich city center on Markt, 1986

In the mid-1980s, various attempts were made to improve local public transport within the actual Jülich urban area. The 95 rail bus in the direction of Linnich was routed through various annually changing detours through the north of Jülich until it finally returned to the shortest route. In addition, the Düren district railway, which had already announced its intention to take over the railway line to Jülich in the mid-1980s, launched a city bus in Jülich, which was discontinued after a few years.

Since the end of the 1980s, after the railroad, there was also a tendency for regular buses in rural areas to cease Sunday or even Saturday operations and to abandon individual sections. In 1989, for example, Sunday traffic on lines 70 to Grevenbroich, 84 to Hochneukirch and 87 to Erkelenz ended; In 1991, Sunday operations were discontinued on line 79 between Jülich, Linnich and Würselen-Bardenberg and line 95 between Jülich, Linnich and Baal. This meant that all train stations north of Jülich that had direct train connections to Mönchengladbach and in some cases also Düsseldorf could no longer be reached by bus from Jülich on Sundays. The KWH line H 6 (now 409) also stopped operating the Linnich - Lindern station section on Sundays during these years.

In 1994 several lines were shortened, in particular all connections to the Cologne - Grevenbroich - Hochneukirch - Mönchengladbach railway were cut. Also in 1994, the pre-war line Jülich - Hottorf - Erkelenz was limited to the Jülich - Hottorf - Linnich section and thus also separated from the railway line towards Mönchengladbach. (Later it was instead led by Linnich past Jülich to Titz.) Finally, in 1996, line 71 was limited to the Aldenhoven - Geilenkirchen section, as the Jülich - Aachen line could also be used between Jülich and Aldenhoven. In return for all of these shortened routes, the high-volume sections of the route near Jülich could be equipped with as many journeys as possible and thus good connections to the new Rur Valley Railway. The 1994 rail reform and the regionalization of local transport in 1996, which transferred responsibility for bus transport to the local authorities, may also have contributed to the fact that bus routes at district boundaries were cut.

Developments since 2000

Afternoon meeting of the new bus routes 219 and 220 at the Rurtalbahn stop at the research center (2015), on the left the former Bundesbahn repair shop in Jülich

Line 295 (sometimes also referred to as 95 or 495), which for years connected Jülich to Baal via Broich, Tetz and Linnich, was restricted to the Linnich - Baal section when the railway line from Jülich to Linnich was reactivated in 2002 to allow parallel traffic avoid. In Baal there is a connection to trains in the direction of Aachen and Düsseldorf.

The connection to the Jülich Research Center (FZJ) was improved in December 2007 by extending the SB 11 line from Aachen to the FZJ - initially via the Rur Valley Railway Stop Research Center , from December 2008 via the Leo-Brandt- Strasse stop (previously in the FZJ -Werkverkehr known as the former BAW ), which is located near the central vocational training and goods receiving department of the FZJ.

From June 2, 2008, there was a direct bus connection twice a day between Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Audimax of RWTH Aachen via Aachen Westbahnhof , the Physics Center and the Aachen University Hospital to improve the networking of the research facilities . The line was set up as part of the Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance , within which the two universities cooperate, and therefore bore the name JARA on the vehicles of the operator Regionalverkehr Euregio Maas-Rhein and the stop signs. It was also known as the JARA Express . The JARA line was discontinued on June 10, 2009. After the Aachen-Jülich express bus line SB 11 had taken over the operation of the research center, the bus service between Aachen, Jülich and the research center was restructured on December 14, 2014.

Since then, the new bus line 220 (previously SB 11) has been running essentially every hour between Aachen bus station and Jülich research center via Jülich train station; Between Aachen and Alsdorf, she uses Autobahn 44 for a few kilometers. In the morning, at noon and in the evening, several trips are made across the Jülich (FH) campus. In addition, there are still the compressor trips between Jülich and Alsdorf-Mariadorf (triangle, connection to Aachen city bus line 11), which run until late in the evening; the last trip from Mariadorf to Jülich continues to the Jülich campus Monday through Saturday. The SB 20 line was created as a supplement to rush hour traffic and runs entirely over the 44 motorway between Aachen and Jülich. It offers four trips in the morning and one trip in the afternoon from Aachen to Jülich as well as five trips in the opposite direction over the afternoon. Between Prager Ring (Aachen) and Neubourheim (Jülich) the timetable includes 23 to 25 minutes without stopping. Also in December 2014, a shuttle line 219 was finally launched, which connects the Rurtalbahn station research center with the actual (extensive) factory premises and thus also provides good connections to Düren, Cologne and Linnich.

The actual urban area of ​​Jülich has been served by a citizens' bus since November 2, 2015 . In contrast to the approaches from the 1980s, which were completely organized and operated by the DKB, the citizens' bus is now operated by a specially founded association and 36 volunteer drivers with the support of the Düren district railway. It runs three times in the mornings and afternoons on weekdays, every 70 minutes, on Saturdays only in the mornings and currently only every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. Since the Rurtalbahn and the regional buses, which are largely coordinated with it, run a 60-minute basic cycle, the connections at Jülich train station are not always optimal, but the focus was obviously on connecting as many areas of the city as possible, even if this would make the circuit a pure travel time of 65 Minutes. The citizen bus offer is not integrated in the AVV tariff, but costs 1.50 euros for a single trip and 2.50 euros for a return trip. The start and finish is the Jufa stop at the northwest end of the Brückenkopf Park; a tour includes 22 different stops and leads u. a. via the north quarter, the city center, the train station, the Heckfeld and the technology center.

Former bus station Walramplatz and new central bus station at the train station

Sketch of the location (not to scale) of the old Jülich bus station on Walramplatz, as it did around 1970
1997 in front of the Jülich train station: A Taeter bus on the ASEAG line A 6 to Eschweiler and another contract bus on the BVR line 111 to Mariadorf Dreieck; There were no more precisely defined departure points there.
In 1998 the state horticultural show took place in Jülich, the new central bus station (ZOB) right next to the Rurtalbahn station went into operation and with it also regulated departure points for the various lines. Here one of the shuttle buses with the destination display “L. GARDEN SHOW ".

By 1950 at the latest, a bus station with several bus platforms went into operation close to the Hexenturm (Walramplatz) . However, this was initially only approached by the post buses from / to Cologne, all other lines stopped - at least according to the corresponding Kraftpost course books - instead continued to be on the market. Only in the course of the 1950s did all post bus routes pass through the bus station, from 1964 also the train buses and from 1966/67 finally also the long-distance buses of the Touring, which could be explained by an expansion of the bus station.

The stop at the market was omitted for the rail buses, instead the district administration stop was added, called the New Town Hall after the Jülich district was dissolved in 1972 . In the 1970s there were nine bus platforms at Walramplatz, one each marked with Bundesbahn, Touring, Taeter and KFA; the remaining five were reserved for the post office lines. The Bundesbahn bus platform (No. 9), however, was considerably longer than all the others and was located in the north of the site, almost perpendicular to the Post bus platform. The individual occupancy, valid for the 1980 summer timetable (including the number of journeys on Mon-Fri), shows a considerable imbalance in the distribution of buses, which is obviously due to the fact that the distribution of the bus platforms to the individual operators does not reflect the changing circumstances was adjusted:

  • Bus platform 1 = 12 departures: KFA-Werksverkehr (3 lines: via New Town Hall, via Heckfeld, via Nordviertel)
  • Bus platform 2 = 31 departures: Bundespost lines 71 (5 buses to Geilenkirchen), 79 (10 buses to Linnich via Koslar), 81 (4 Post (!) Buses to Ederen) and RVK line 963 (12 buses to Cologne, previously Bundespost)
  • Bus platform 3 = 10 departures: Bundespost line 38 (to Düren via Niederzier)
  • Bus platform 4 = 8 departures: Bundespost line 87 (to Erkelenz)
  • Bus platform 5 = 7 departures: RVK line 972 (to Elsdorf via Rödingen, previously Bundespost)
  • Bus platform 6 = 8 departures: Bundespost line 70 (to Grevenbroich)
  • Bus platform 7 = no departures (until 1971/72 Touring Line 1 bus pair per day)
  • Bus platform 8 = 6 departures: ASEAG line 6 (to Eschweiler via Dürwiß)
  • Bus platform 9 = 96 departures: Bundesbahn lines 23 (17 buses to Düren via Krauthausen), 84 (15 buses to Hochneukirch via Titz), 94 (13 buses to Eschweiler via Inden), 95 (23 buses to Linnich via Broich) and ASEAG -Line 11 (28 buses to Aachen) = 96 buses

“Ten years ago [1970] you could still find out about departure times and bus platforms on a clear board with large numbers at the Jülich bus station. Nothing of the sort today (apart from a few typewritten sheets of paper inside the bus shelter, which is often locked and where only the expert can find them). Anyone who wants to find the right one among the 256 buses that depart daily in 14 directions on normal working days there (without factory traffic KFA) without the necessary experience must search all the stop posts, ideally equipped with a magnifying glass. At the top, instead of directions that are clearly visible from afar, there are instructive labels such as "Bundespost", "RVK", "AVV" ..., each a document of the inability of those responsible to imagine what information the customer really needs. "

- Letter to the editor

For many years it looked as if Jülich would lose all of its rail traffic step by step and the bus station would become the central hub of local public transport, but the situation changed when the Düren Kreisbahn (DKB) took over the last remaining federal railway line to Düren. in 1993.

The DKB expanded the railway line into the central transport backbone in the northern district by linking all the important bus lines in the northern district with the railway line: new transfer stations minimized the distances between train and bus, timetables and tariffs were coordinated. In the course of this restructuring, a new central bus station (ZOB) with several bus platforms was built at Jülich train station in 1997/98, so that the old bus station at Walramplatz lost its originally intended function as a traffic junction and since then has only been used as a transit stop and for some lines as a parking space for breaks serves.

literature

  • Posttechnisches Zentralamt, Darmstadt (Ed.): Official Kraftpostkursbuch for western Germany . (Winter timetable 1950/51 to winter timetable 1956/1957).
  • Deutsche Bundesbahn, General Operations Management West, Bielefeld (Hrsg.): Official railway bus timetable . (Winter timetable 1952/53 to winter timetable 1956/1957).
  • Deutsche Bundespost, Posttechnisches Zentralamt, Darmstadt and Deutsche Bundesbahn, Oberbetriebsleitung West, Essen (Ed.): Official Omnibus Course Book . (Summer timetable 1957 ff).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History - AVV. Retrieved May 25, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Line map Jülich 2014/2015. (PDF) Retrieved May 25, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Description of the Düren night bus system of the DKB. Retrieved May 25, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Josef Rahier: 50 years ago - first train from Jülich to Dalheim, printed in the 1961 local calendar of the Jülich district and in the monograph "Jülich, the old railway town" by the railway amateur club Jülich (2nd edition, 1986) on p. 36 .
  5. ^ The Cologne - Bergheim - Elsdorf - Jülich line. Retrieved November 4, 2015 .
  6. ^ Kraftpost-Kursbuch summer 1939, reprint, Ritzau KG, Pürgen 1982.
  7. ^ Landesarchiv NRW, Rhineland Department, inventory BR 1016 (Aachen government), order signature BR 1058 No. 1035.
  8. ↑ Oberpostdirektion Köln: Official pocket timetable for the postal service, winter 1968/69, table 2247/68.
  9. ↑ Omnibus timetable winter 1982/83.
  10. ↑ Fast direct connection between RWTH and Jülich - the JARA Express has been running since June 2nd , AVV notification from June 16, 2008.
  11. ↑ Bürgerbus Jülich starts (AVV notification from November 2, 2015). Retrieved November 4, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Bürgerbus Jülich eV (official site with timetable and route). Retrieved November 4, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Large train station for the Jülich citizens' bus (article in "Aachener Nachrichten" of October 30, 2015). Retrieved November 4, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Georg Mohl from Jülich, deputy district administrator and member of the FDP district assembly: One can only admire the optimism! In: Jülicher Nachrichten. June 21, 1980.