The Aachen–Mönchengladbach railway is a main line in the
German state of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
. It is an important link between the
Ruhr
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
and Belgium for freight trains and is served by regional passenger trains. The line was built by the
Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company and is one of the
oldest lines in Germany, which was opened between 1852 and 1854.
Route
The line begins in
Aachen Hauptbahnhof
Aachen Hauptbahnhof ( German for Aachen main station) is the most important railway station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, a ...
, where it connects with the
line from Liège, Belgium and with the
line to Cologne. Shortly later is the
Aachen Schanz station
Aachen Schanz station is a railway station in Aachen, Germany on the railway line Aachen–Mönchengladbach. The station is located at the western end of the inner city, and is the station with the shortest walking distance to the historic center ...
, opened in 2004. On the approach to
Aachen West station
Aachen West station is a railway station in Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-l ...
is the junction with the
Montzen Railway, which is exclusively used for freight trains to and from Belgium.
The track runs on a high embankment through western Aachen and then through a deep cutting, which used to be the location of
Richterich
Richterich is a borough and northwestern suburb of Aachen, Germany. The towns of Horbach and Huf belong to the borough, which borders the other Aachen borough of Laurensberg, as well as the Kohlscheid borough of Herzogenrath. It is assumed that ...
station, but is now a crossover only. In Richterich station there used to junction with the so-called
Millions line (''Millionen linie'') to
Simpelveld in the Netherlands. The line runs to
Kohlscheid station, which is at the top of the Kohlscheid ramp.
Bank engine
A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grad ...
s were once needed to push heavy trains towards Aachen up the steep grade from Herzogenrath to Kohlscheid. It was also the starting point for the now almost completely dismantled
Stolberg–Kohlscheid line to Würselen.
In Herzogenrath there are junctions with the
Stolberg–Herzogenrath line and the
line to Heerlen in the Netherlands, which is served by the cross-border operator,
euregiobahn. There is also a connection in Herzogenrath to the
Saint-Gobain
Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it now also produces a variety of ...
glass factory.
The line runs through
Übach-Palenberg halt and
Geilenkirchen station, which once connected to the metre-gauge
Geilenkirchen District Railway to Tüddern and Alsdorf. Currently, the standard gauge rail link of the power company, ''WestEnergie und Verkehr GmbH'' is the only remnant of the district railway era. The terrain becomes flat in
Lindern, where there is a connection with the
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industr ...
to the city of
Heinsberg
Heinsberg (; li, Hinsberg ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the district Heinsberg. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx. 20 km north-east of Sittard and 30 km ...
. The Lindern–Brachelen–Baal section of the line is on a high embankment across the low plain of the
Rur river, which is crossed by a concrete bridge.
The next junction is at
Baal
Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...
, which between 1911 and 1980 was a “tower station” (''Turmbahnhof''), that is a two-level station, where the now largely closed
Jülich–Dalheim line crossed on the lower level, while the platforms of the Aachen–Mönchengladbach line were on the upper level. After Baal station the line crosses the largely rural country known as the ''
Erkelenz
Erkelenz (, li, Erkelens ) is a town in the Rhineland in western Germany that lies southwest of Mönchengladbach on the northern edge of the Cologne Lowland, halfway between the Lower Rhine region and the Lower Meuse. It is a medium-sized town ...
er Börde'' (
Westphalian for "fertile lowlands").
In the former Rheydt freight yard, the now closed
Krefeld–Rheydt line and the current
Moenchengladbach freight bypass branch off. The latter allows freight trains to avoid the busy section between
Rheydt Hauptbahnhof
Rheydt Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Mönchengladbach is the only city in Germany that has two stations called Hauptbahnhof, due to the merger of the city of Rheydt into Mönchengladbach in the late 1970s.
Rhey ...
and
Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof
Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof ( German for ''Mönchengladbach main station'') is a railway station in the city of Mönchengladbach in western Germany.
Overview
The station is the largest railway station in the city and, along with Rheydt Hbf, o ...
and run to Viersen-Helenabrunn station on the
Mönchengladbach–Duisburg line. There is also a parking area for trains running to the
Siemens test and validation centre at
Wegberg
Wegberg (; li, Berk ) is the northernmost town in the district of Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Wegberg is situated between Mönchengladbach in the northeast and Erkelenz in the southeast; the town of Rheindahlen is to ...
-Wildenrath.
Between the freight yard and Rheydt Hauptbahnhof, the
Iron Rhine from
Wegberg
Wegberg (; li, Berk ) is the northernmost town in the district of Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Wegberg is situated between Mönchengladbach in the northeast and Erkelenz in the southeast; the town of Rheindahlen is to ...
runs as a single track, parallel with the Aachen–Mönchengladbach line. The lines
from Cologne and Wegberg end in Rheydt Hauptbahnhof.
The combination of these lines in Rheydt leads to dense traffic of the last section of the line to Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof. From there lines run
to Duisburg and
to Düsseldorf.
History
The planning for the construction of the route was initially carried out by the
Aachen-Neuß-Düsseldorf Railway Company (german: Aachen-Neuß-Düsseldorfer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ), which on 21 August 1846 was granted a concession by the
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
n government for the construction of the Aachen–Neuss–Düsseldorf-Oberkassel line. The company got into financial difficulties as construction started. At the same time the
Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company (''Ruhrort–Crefeld−Kreis Gladbach Eisenbahngesellschaft'') also became unfinancial. At their own request both companies were taken over in 1850 as the
Royal Division of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company (''Königliche Direction der Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn''), although this was also a limited company.
The route was opened in the following sections:
The ''Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company'' was the operator of the line from 1854 until 31 December 1865. On 1 January 1866 the company’s assets were taken by the
Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company
The Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company (german: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME), also referred to as the Berg-Mark Railway Company or, more rarely, as the Bergisch-Markische Railway Company, was a German railway company that togeth ...
(''Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', BME), which was mainly owned by the Prussian government.
New route in Aachen
Originally, the line began at Aachen Marschierthor station, near the Marschiertor gate. This is now the location of a rail depot established in 1905 when the Aachen Hauptbahnhof was built to replace the former ''Aachen
Rhenish
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
Station'' and the Marschierthor station. In 1910, Aachen Templerbend station was demolished and replaced by Aachen West station on a relocated section of track. The old line through Templerbend station ran through western Aachen from the current junction with the Montzen Railway to the northeast directly to the former
Richterich
Richterich is a borough and northwestern suburb of Aachen, Germany. The towns of Horbach and Huf belong to the borough, which borders the other Aachen borough of Laurensberg, as well as the Kohlscheid borough of Herzogenrath. It is assumed that ...
station.
Modernisation in 2007
In 2007 the track between Übach-Palenberg and Rheydt Hauptbahnhof was connected to an
electronic interlocking
In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings. The signalling appliances and tracks are sometimes collectively re ...
at Grevenbroich. In 2006 and 2007, new ''Ks'' signals replaced the last semaphore signals on the track in Lindern station and between Herrath and Rheydt Hauptbahnhof. The stations at Wickrath, Übach-Palenberg and Erkelenz were renovated. In 2007, a new electronic interlocking was installed in Aachen Hauptbahnhof and the old colour light signals were also replaced by ''Ks'' signals.
Current operations
Regional services on the line are operated by
DB Regio
DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and there part of the DB Regio bu ...
NRW. The hourly ''
Wupper-Express
The Wupper-Express (RE 4) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) running from Aachen via Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, Hagen to Dortmund. The service is operated every hour by DB Regio NRW. It ...
'' (RE 4)
Regional-Express
In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at ...
service and the hourly ''Rhein-Niers-Bahn'' (RB 33)
Regionalbahn service run on the line. The Regionalbahn service stops at all stations, while the Regional-Express stops at all stops except Kohlscheid, Brachelen, Herrath and Wickrath. From Mönchengladbach these trains continue on two different routes (RB 33 via the
Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach line to Duisburg and RE 4 via the
Mönchengladbach–Düsseldorf line to
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...
,
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...
,
Hagen
Hagen () is the 41st-largest city in Germany. The municipality is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme (me ...
and
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
).
It is served by
Intercity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
services twice a week running between Aachen and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
, stopping at Mönchengladbach, Rheydt, Herzogenrath and Aachen.
In freight transport, the line is currently used as an alternative to the
Iron Rhine. Trains running from Belgium via the Montzen Railway to the Ruhr run on the Aachen–Mönchengladbach line from Aachen West station at least as far as Rheydt freight yard. They continue either via the Mönchengladbach freight rail bypass or via Mönchengladbach Hbf to Duisburg.
References
External links
*
trecken/2550.htm Description of line 2550in NRW railway archive of André Joost
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aachen-Monchengladbach railway
Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
Aachen
Railway lines opened in 1852
1852 establishments in Prussia
1852 establishments in Germany
Aachen (district)
Buildings and structures in Heinsberg (district)
Buildings and structures in Mönchengladbach