Tram Krefeld – Moers

Krefeld – Moers
Route length:	16.45 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	750 V  =
Tram Moers – Homberg  from Homberg and Ruhrort (until 1954) Lower Rhine route Krefeld Railway Moers train station (Vinzenzpark)  Wendeschleife former line 12 Augustastrasse Royal court former Line M from Uerdingen and Düsseldorf (until 1958) Steinstrasse ( three-rail track ) former line 4 to Lintfort and Rheinkamp (until 1952) Neumarkt Moersbach Hülsdonk Sperlingsweg Bettenkamp Chapels Krefeld Railway Vennicle City limit Moers / Krefeld Traar, soft Verberg, Marcelli formerly KREVAG lines 9 u. 10 City forest Vluyner Platz Moerser Platz Bismarckplatz 044 from Hüls North wall 041 from Tönisvorst-St. Toenis 042 from Elfrath , 043 from Uerdingen Rheinstraße ( four-rail track ) U70, U76 Dreikönigenstrasse only SWK, not Rheinbahn (4-rail Engl.) U70 / U76 n. D'dorf , 044 to Rhein port Krefeld main station 043 042 to Stahldorf Duisburg-Mönchengladbach railway line 041 to Fischeln, Grundend

The Krefeld – Moers tram was an interurban tram that connected Moers with the towns of Kapellen , Traar and the city of Krefeld . The total length was 16.45 kilometers. The sections through the inner cities of Krefeld and Moers were double-tracked, otherwise the line was single-track with further diversions and the like. a. in chapels, Traar and Verberg . The route was operated by Krefelder Verkehrs AG .

history

The first section from Krefeld to Traar went into operation on December 7, 1909. Although this route worked quite well, the construction to Moers was not continued until 1914. The work had to be temporarily stopped with the beginning of the First World War in the same year. As the war progressed, there were bottlenecks in the supply, so that the trams were used for freight transport . In order to establish a connection between the Rheinpreußen colliery in Moers and the textile areas on the left bank of the Rhine around Krefeld, the army administration advocated the extension of the line in 1917. The tracks were laid by spring 1918. Since the overhead line could not be completed, they made do with four used steam locomotives from the Krefeld tram . The first freight train ran on February 8, 1918. Passenger traffic did not take place on the steam trains.

After installing the missing overhead line, the railway went into operation on November 15, 1920 for passenger transport with electric railcars. The newly established line 12 required a journey time of 45 minutes for the 16.5 kilometer route, making it almost half an hour faster than the Krefeld railway . Freight traffic was given up in 1923/24 and the locomotives were then sold.

From April 1, 1925, line 12 ran jointly with the Moers – Homberg tram . From Moers, the trains continued via Hochheide and Homberg to Ruhrort . On the Krefeld side, line 8 went to Traar as a reinforcement, from 1930 line 13 took over this task. Also around 1930, the section from Krefeld to Traar between Stadtwald and Papendyk received a new route on its own railway body. Community traffic ended on October 8, 1939 after the start of World War II .

After the end of the war, the line showed only minor damage. From October 29, 1945, the railways ran again between Krefeld and Traar, and from May 1, 1946 also continuously to Moers. Buses previously served this section. To supply coal, there were also freight trains between Moers and Krefeld and beyond to Mönchengladbach . In Krefeld, however, the route via Vluyner Platz and Moerser Platz was badly damaged, as a result of which the railways between Krefeld Stadtwald and Krefeld Rheinstrasse ran an alternative route via Bismarckplatz until 1952.

In 1962, the Krefeld city council decided to concentrate tram operations on the city network while at the same time abandoning the overland lines. As a result, line 12 was discontinued on November 2, 1963 and the traffic was replaced by omnibuses .

In 1997, an expert opinion suggested the reconstruction of the tram route to Moers. The project was not implemented and not pursued.

Route

The route began in Moers at the end of the Moers – Homberg tram in Repelener Strasse at the Steinschen restaurant and led via Hülsdonk , Bettenkamp , Kapellen and Vennikel to Traar , where there was a connection to the existing route. The track lay almost entirely on its own track body. A section in Moers was double-tracked, otherwise the line was single-track with only one other turnout in chapels. The route length was 16.45 kilometers. The connection to the Rheinpreußen colliery took place via a track connection with the also meter-gauge Moers-Homberg tram. The trains continued along this route to the colliery's siding east of Moers train station .

The route has been removed for the most part and is partially from the motorway routes of A 40 and A 57 overbuilt. Some concrete masts for the overhead line and at the level of the chapels the overpass over the route of the former Krefeld railway are still available. The contours of the former turning loop in Vinzenzpark, near the Moers train station, are still recognizable through the course of the footpaths and the tree planting.

literature

• Michael Kochems: From Schiefbahn to Moers. The Krefeld overland routes . In: Tram magazine . Issue 4, 2012 (Online: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 [accessed on December 1, 2013]).

Web links

• Pictures of the tram line 12 on Drehscheibe-foren.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Gisbert Arts, Gabriele Franken, Wolfgang Herbrand, Ernst-Moritz Müller: "It's good that we have them" - 100 years of the electric tram in Krefeld
   (published by Städtische Werke Krefeld AG , Krefeld, Niederrhein-Verlag 2000, ISBN 3 -980 1387-47 )