East Frisian Coast Railway

North – sands
Route number (DB) :	1540 Sande – Jever 1570 Emden – Jever
Course book section (DB) :	393 Sande – Esens ex 221g (1961)
Route length:	94 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Top speed:	80 km / h
Legend from Emden 30.4 north to Norddeich 35.9 Lütetsburg New route since 2007 37.3 Hage (Ostfriesl) (old) 37.4 Hage (Ostfriesl) (new) 43.1 Westerende (Ostfriesl) 48.0 Dornum (Ostfriesl) 51.2 Roggenstede 54.5 Fulcum 57.6 Holtgast 60.4 Esens (old Bf) Aurich circular path 60.6 Esens (Ostfriesl) (new Hp) 64.2 Stedesdorf 67.8 Burhafe (Ostfriesl) 70.3 Blersum from Aurich 73.7 Wittmund (formerly Bf) 74.8 Wittmund Rehau 76.1 Asel 77.8 Union former line from Harle 81.0 13.0 Jever (formerly Bf) 10.0 Siebetshaus Conn Jever Air Base 8.3 Schortens - Heidmühle 6.6 Ostiem Line from Wilhelmshaven Ölweiche 5.0 Schortens White Flea ( Abzw ) 2.7 Ems-Jade-Canal ( bascule bridge ) 2.3 Sanderbusch Line from Wilhelmshaven 0.0 Sands Route to Oldenburg

The partially dismantled railway line from the north via Esens to Sande is now known as the East Frisian Coast Railway . The section between the north and Dornum is used by a museum railway. The middle section between Dornum and Esens has now been dismantled. Regular passenger traffic now only takes place on the eastern section Esens – Wittmund– Jever - Sande - Wilhelmshaven through the RB59 line of the NordWestBahn .

history

Map from 1881, the coastal railway is marked as “projected”

The railway line opened on June 15, 1883 from Emden (as an extension of the Hanoverian West Railway ) via Norden, Esens and Wittmund to the then state border near Asel was originally called the East Frisian Coast Railway. In Asel the line was connected to the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Railway to Jever. The section from Emden to the north is now part of the Rheine – Norddeich Mole railway line .

At the same time, a branch line to Aurich was laid from Georgsheil . On June 15, 1892, the north- north dike was added, which was extended to the pier in 1895 in order to create a direct transition to the ferries to Norderney and Juist .

Due to the increasing pool traffic, the stretch, which was partly on the side of the road, was no longer able to meet the requirements. Between 1903 and 1906 the coastal railway was therefore relocated between Emden-Harsweg and the north on a route away from the main road. For the connection to Aurich, the Abelitz station was built , from which a new line to Georgsheil was laid. The Georgsheil – Aurich section remained unchanged.

Esens and Wittmund was about dolly systems connecting to the meter-gauge circular path empty Aurich-Wittmund , the north to the ferry stop for Bensersiel led and south via Aurich to Leer . The circular route was closed in 1967 for passenger and 1969 for goods traffic and then dismantled.

In Jever, the railway line to Harle connected . The local ferry terminal for the ships to Wangerooge was served by tidal trains.

From 1980

Passenger traffic between the north and Esens ceased on May 29, 1983. The route between the north and Dornum has been used for tourist traffic since 1987 by the Ostfriesland coastal railway museum. On September 23, 1989, freight traffic was also discontinued and the line was sold to the neighboring communities in 1991 by Deutsche Bahn via the Aurich district. They leased these to the museum railway.

The section between Dornum and Esens was shut down on September 27, 1985 and dismantled in 1986. A cycle path has been on the route since 1990.

Esens-Sands

Platform and former pedestrian crossing in Sande station , on the right the disused platform

In the 1990s, the section between Esens and Sande was also threatened with closure. In order to be able to carry out the operation here more attractively, the LNVG provided for a fundamental renovation and an expansion for a maximum speed of 80 km / h in its local rail transport concept from 1997. The measures were completed in 2000. The travel time between Sande and Esens was reduced by 13 minutes. This enabled more economical operation with two railcar circulations, with journeys being tied through to the Wilhelmshaven regional center without having to change trains . In Sande there is a direct connection on the platform opposite to the trains to and from Oldenburg and Osnabrück , and on Saturday lunchtime as a direct connection.

In order to be able to remove the level crossing on the Esens – Aurich state road, the end point in Esens was newly created before the intersection and the old station was given up. A combined platform for train and bus could also be built so that travelers can quickly and easily reach their connections to Aurich, Norden, Neuharlingersiel and Harlesiel, among others. The stations of Esens up sands were renewed and with the exception of the stations Schortens-Heidmühle and sands to breakpoints dismantled so that the capacity of the single-track line was greatly reduced. However, Sanderbusch was already a stopping point and in Sande station only the platform that is still used today was renewed, while the second one lay fallow and the bridge there was closed. As part of the renovation of the Sande station, the bridge was demolished in 2019 and the unused central platform was removed.

The existing alternative in Schortens-Heidmühle is required daily by the NordWestBahn for the train crossings . In Sande there is a connection in the direction of Osnabrück via Oldenburg.

As part of the first tender in Lower Saxony's regional rail transport , the NordWestBahn was awarded the contract for the “Weser-Ems” network. Since November 2000, the company has been operating local transport on the route every hour with LINT diesel multiple units . As a result of the start of operations and the expansion of the infrastructure, demand increased by 145% compared to 1997. At the end of 2005 the stop in Burhafe, which had been closed for a long time, was reactivated.

Museum train

→ Main article : Museum railway coastal railway Ostfriesland

Between the north and Dornum, the route leased by the neighboring communities has been used for tourist traffic by the Museumseisenbahn Ostfriesland (MKO) on Sundays and public holidays in the summer months since 1987 . The rolling stock consists of two diesel locomotives of the DB class V 60 with baggage cars, freight cars, two passenger cars and a buffet car. The association is based in the engine shed at the north station, where all vehicles are stored.

The route has been gradually renovated in recent years and in Hage in 2006/2007 it was re-routed to a length of 210 meters to make space for a bypass road. A new train station with two platform tracks and a loading ramp was also set up. The previous building of the old train station was demolished at the beginning of the year after the fire. The new station was finally completed in 2008.

In 2009 the Lütetsburg Castle halt was reactivated.

• 

  Museum train in Dornum station

• 

  Engine shed north, domicile of the museum railway

• 

  Diesel locomotive north in the engine shed north

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  New breakpoint in Esens

service

line	Train run	Tact
RB 59	Esens  - Burhafe  - Wittmund  - Jever  - Schortens  - Sanderbusch  - Sande  - Wilhelmshaven	Hourly
MKO e. V.	North  - Lütetsburg Castle  - Hage  - Westerende  - Dornum	Sat / Sun / public holidays in the season

Rates

The East Frisian Coast Railway runs completely in the network area of ​​the Verkehrsverbund Ems-Jade (VEJ), but the VEJ tariff is only used for bus trips and not for train journeys in the network area. Thus, there is no network tariff on the trains of the Ostfriesische Coast Railway, on the section between Wilhelmshaven Hbf and Esens operated in the regular SPNV the Lower Saxony tariff and the house tariff of the operator NordWestBahn apply, this corresponds to the tariff of the Deutsche Bahn, only VEJ season tickets are partially in the trains valid for the NordWestBahn. The Lower Saxony Ticket and the Lower Saxony Ticket + Groningen are valid on the NordWestBahn trains between Esens and Wilhelmshaven Hbf, as is the Quer-durch-Land-Ticket . An integration of the rail transport in the transport association Ems-Jade is planned. On the section between the north and Dornum, which is operated in the tourist traffic, the special tariff of the museum railway coastal railway Ostfriesland e. V.

outlook

The neighboring municipalities of Esens, Dornum, Großheide, Hage and Norden as well as the districts of Wittmund and Aurich have commissioned an expert opinion to assess the chances of reactivating the disused section between Norden and Esens. The problem here is that the town of Esens has built a supermarket over the old train station.

The city of Aurich is also investigating an extension of the Abelitz – Aurich railway line (13 kilometers, reactivated in 2008) to Wittmund in order to connect to the coastal railway there. The goal is a continuous rail connection for freight traffic between the Jade-Weser-Port in Wilhelmshaven, which was officially opened in September 2012 (the only German deep-water port ) and the Emden port (further seaport, next to it the ferry port to the North Sea island of Borkum with the Emden outer port station ). To improve the connection of the Jade-Weser-Port, the construction of a new double-track line east of Sande is planned.

In December 2010, an agreement was signed in the Dornum town hall, “not to restrict the route, which was closed in 1983, by further planning and construction measures”. This initially means the route to the north, but the route to Esens is still under discussion.

Web links

Commons : Ostfriesische Uferbahn  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Website of the Nordwestbahn
• Website of the museum railway coastal railway Ostfriesland eV
• Western Railway: East Frisian Coast Railway
• Reactivation back in discussion

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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. 151–152  
2. ↑ Reactivation of the coastal railway planned in: flensburg-online from January 15, 2009
3. ↑ Roundabout also possible without coastal tram in: Anzeiger für Harlingerland dated December 15, 2008
4. ↑ https://bauprojekte.deutschebahn.com/p/oldenburg-wilhelmshaven
5. ↑ norden.de: reactivation of the Ostfriesland coastal railway , accessed on January 5, 2016.