K-track

This article covers the light rail line in Düsseldorf. The route designated by the FVV as K-Bahn can be found under Königsteiner Bahn .

K-Bahn (U70, U76)
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	750 V  =
Krefeld, Rheinstraße terminus U 70 U 76 Krefeld Hbf Left Lower Rhine route This 1856-1866 Royal court Fishing KR basic City limit Krefeld / Meerbusch Sweeping track in the middle position Meerbusch-Görgesheide U 74 terminus 1856-1866 Left Lower Rhine route former turning loop Hoterheide Kamperweg Bovert Sweeping track in the middle position Haus Meer terminus U 74 Former route of the M line from Moers (until 1958) Forsthaus (until 1990 "Haus Meer" ) Meerbusch- Büderich Landsknecht City limit Meerbusch / Düsseldorf Turning loop (not during peak hours and on Saturdays from 2.30 p.m.) planned trunk line 5 (U81) D- Lörick terminus U 74 Loericker Strasse Lohweg U 77 from the terminus Am Seestern Prinzenallee Heerdter Sandberg Comenius-Gymnasium formerly Rheinbahnhaus Turning loop Line from Neuss U 75 Belsenplatz Barbarossaplatz Luegplatz Oberkassel Rhine Bridge Tonhalle / Ehrenhof Courtyard garden ramp Line from Duisburg U 78 U 79 Heinrich-Heine-Allee Steinstrasse / Königsallee East Street Düsseldorf main station terminus U 70 U 76 U 78 Route to Holthausen / University U 74 U 77 U 79 Handelszentrum / Moskauer Straße U 76 only towards KR Route to Eller U 75 Sweeping system U 76

K-Bahn is the colloquial name of today's light rail route from Düsseldorf via Meerbusch- Büderich and Osterath to Krefeld . Already in operation in 1898, it is considered the first German express tram and was the first city-connecting electric express train in Europe. The name K-Bahn comes from the line designation "K" (like Krefeld) used for decades, which was only replaced by digits in 1980 after the introduction of the VRR .

history

Electric power plant for the Düsseldorf-Krefeld small railway (1898), today Hansaallee 9

Forsthaus Meer (1898)

On December 15, 1898, the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft AG , Rheinbahn for short, which was founded in 1896 , put the normal - gauge small railway line into operation after the construction of the Oberkassel Bridge , after a fixed Rhine bridge had created the technical prerequisites for the rail-bound crossing of the Rhine. Between Meerbusch-Osterath and Krefeld, the K-Bahn uses the route of the original section of the left Lower Rhine line , which was closed almost 40 years before the K-Bahn opened, and which was in operation from 1856 to 1866.

After leaving the city of Düsseldorf, the route , which is run as a tram within the city , mainly takes its own route across the country. The train stations in the suburbs have also always been laid out outside. These traditional stops can still be recognized today by the adjoining inns and the former small train station buildings. The route was used for both passenger and freight traffic. The network of the Rheinbahn was soon supplemented by branches to Neuss and Moers.

In the early years, the Rheinbahn designated its lines with letters:

• A: Düsseldorf - Krefeld
• B: Düsseldorf - Neuss
• C: Düsseldorf - Moers
• D: Meerbusch - Handweiser

The tracks had this letter clearly visible on the front.

After the merger of the Rheinbahn and the municipal tram, this scheme was changed. The long-distance lines were further designated by letters, the first letter of the respective destination being used. Thus lines A and C became lines

• K: Düsseldorf - Krefeld and
• M: Düsseldorf - Moers.

Lines B and D were henceforth designated as local lines with numbers (16 and 20).

The line labeled "D" after a short time for remote line Düsseldorf- Duisburg used, the Dusseldorf-Duisburg little train back.

Other long-distance lines of the Rheinbahn were the meter-gauge lines from Düsseldorf-Benrath to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel (line V) and Solingen-Ohligs (line O). Except for lines K and D, all other long-distance lines were shut down in the 1950s and 1960s and replaced by bus routes.

In 1900 the D-Bahn to Duisburg went into operation, initially operated by its own company. With the merger of the Rheinbahn and the municipal tram, the Düsseldorf section of the line also came to the Rheinbahn.

Line K did not stop at all stations and therefore had red line and destination signs , in contrast to this, the additional tram line 10 stopped at all stations.

On January 1, 1980, on the occasion of the establishment of the VRR , the Rheinbahn introduced three-digit line numbers for trams and buses as well as two-digit line names for express lines. For example, line 10 became line 710 and line K became line 76.

With the opening of the inner city tunnel in the summer of 1988, line 76 became a light rail line and was given the new line name U76. At the same time, tram line 710 was discontinued and the U76 now stopped at all stations. In return, the U70 express line was introduced.

Dining car

In 1924 the Rheinbahn ordered a dining car and used it on the K-Bahn. As the passengers accepted the service very well, four more dining cars were ordered. The dining car was initially operated by the “ Breidenbacher Hof ” hotel . Later, employees of the hotel took over its management on their own. In 1943 the dining car was stopped due to the war. After the war there were some interruptions. In 1949, the Rheinbahn also started a dining car on line D to Duisburg. In 1963 the service on the Krefeld route was given up due to a lack of profitability. Since 1989, type B trams with bistro compartments have been running on the U76 line again; last in 2014 resulted from Monday to Friday every other light rail a bistro coach (40-minute clock for the buffet car).

Due to the expiry of the lease, the use of these bistro cars ended on December 23, 2014. Rheinbahn first tried to find a new leaseholder for the rolling bistro. In September 2016 the search, which had been in vain until then, was stopped; the cars are to be converted into normal light rail cars.

Todays situation

Today the former small railway line is used by the Stadtbahn lines U70, U74, U75, U76 and U77 of the Düsseldorf Rheinbahn. Of these, only the U70 and U76 lines travel the entire 22.6 kilometer route between Düsseldorf main station and Krefeld, Rheinstrasse and are the most important connection for Meerbusch to the two major cities. The U75 branches off at Belsenplatz in the direction of Neuss, while the other two lines travel the same route, but the U77 branches off at Prinzenallee to Seestern and the U74 runs to Meerbusch, but mostly ends in Lörick .

The U76 is the main line and runs every 20 minutes on weekdays, and every half hour in the evenings and on weekends. The express line U70 serves to relieve the commuter traffic and accelerates it by omitting a few stops. It runs in the morning from Krefeld Rheinstraße to Düsseldorf Hbf and in the afternoon from Düsseldorf Hbf to Krefeld Rheinstraße. The U74 supplements the offer from Meerbusch Görgesheide, Haus Meer or D-Lörick and offers Meerbusch a direct connection to the south of Düsseldorf (Holthausen).

In addition, in the evenings and on Sundays, the U76 wagons from Krefeld to Düsseldorf are continued from the Lörick stop as the U74 to Holthausen and the U74 wagons from Düsseldorf Hbf as the U76 to Krefeld. This means that at these times you can travel from Krefeld to the south of Düsseldorf and vice versa without having to change trains.

A trip over the entire route takes 44 minutes with the U76 and 40 minutes with the U70. In Düsseldorf, the K-Bahn runs in the tunnel between the Tonhalle and Hauptbahnhof . There is a spacious Park + Ride car park at the Haus Meer stop . This facility including the stop was opened on September 27, 1990. On the day it opened, the existing Haus Meer station was given the name Forsthaus (originally Meerer Forsthaus ), which was established in 1898 . The inn at this station continues to be called "Haus Meer".

From 6 January 2019 (timetable change), the U70 relief line in Düsseldorf on the left bank of the Rhine will no longer stop at Luegplatz, but at Prinzenallee.

literature

• Rheinische Bahngesellschaft (Ed.): The new Rhine bridge near Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorf-Krefeld small railway. Düsseldorf, November 12, 1898, Bagel , Düsseldorf 1898, p. 41 ff. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• 1898: The first electric express train in Europe (Rheinbahn page with information on the K-Bahn)
• World first: dining car in the tram network
• World premiere in 1924: first tram dining car (Rheinbahn side to the dining car)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfred B. Gottwaldt: Trambahn Album . 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-613-01296-0 , p. 36 .
2. ↑ Rheinbahn AG / About us / The Rheinbahn and its eventful history / 1924 World novelty: dining car in the tram network
3. ^ Anne Wolf: Rheinbahn Bistro is threatened with extinction . In: Westdeutsche Zeitung . November 26, 2014 ( wz.de [accessed November 23, 2016]).
4. ^ RP ONLINE: Düsseldorf: Rheinbahn finally puts bistro cars on the siding. In: RP ONLINE. Retrieved November 23, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Line D - News - Finally back to Rheinstrasse! Retrieved May 15, 2017 .