The Düsseldorf-Unterrath–Düsseldorf Airport Terminal railway is a branch line from

Düsseldorf-Unterrath station Düsseldorf-Unterrath is a railway station situated at Unterrath, Düsseldorf in western Germany. It is served by Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn lines S 1 (Dortmund–Solingen) every 30 minutes and S 11 ( Düsseldorf Airport Terminal–Bergisch Gladbach) e ...

on the Cologne–Duisburg line to

Düsseldorf Airport Terminal station Düsseldorf Airport Terminal (''Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal'') is an underground station on the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn at the end of the Düsseldorf-Unterrath–Düsseldorf Airport Terminal railway, situated underneath Terminal C of Düsseldorf ...

in the north of the

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

n state capital of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

in Germany. The railway line is fully doubled with overhead electrification. It is also connected to the north from Düsseldorf-Unterrath Karthäuser Weg junction over a single-track electrified line.

History

On 27 October 1975, in preparation for the upgrading of the line between Cologne and Duisburg for the introduction of

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

services, a new line from Düsseldorf-Derendorf Dp junction to Düsseldorf Airport Terminal station opened for passenger traffic. For this purpose an existing siding had been duplicated and electrified and extended to the Terminal C building. At the time the line crossed the north-bound track of freight line 2670 at grade on the approach to Düsseldorf-Rath station, until the late 1980s when grade separated access was built to Unterrath station. On 27 May 1990, a northern access line was put into operation so that trains from the Ruhr area could approach the terminal station directly from the former Kalkum station. After the disastrous fire at the airport in 1996 and the subsequent short-term closure of the terminal, a temporary platform was opened halfway along the line, called ''Düsseldorf Airport Departure Terminal E''. It was located near the temporary Terminal E established only for departures and operated until the opening of the Düsseldorf Airport long-distance station on 26 May 2000.

Operations

With the opening of the station on the main line from Düsseldorf to Duisburg the connecting line from the north was superfluous. Reversing in the underground station was too time-consuming for through trains such as the former S-Bahn line S 21, which ran parallel to line S 1. Due to problems with the installation and acceptance of the Skytrain at first, a bus shuttle was established. The Skytrain is a driverless suspended monorail train, which commenced operations on 1 July 2002 and now connects the long-distance station via two intermediate stops at P4 parking station and Terminal A/B to the Terminal C station.

Rail services

The track is served by line S 11 of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn operating as follows: Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal – Düsseldorf-Unterrath –

Düsseldorf-Derendorf Derendorf is a quarter of Düsseldorf, Germany, part of the central Borough 1 (Düsseldorf), Borough 1. It is located north of Düsseldorf-Pempelfort, Pempelfort and Düsseldorf-Golzheim, Golzheim, west of Düsseldorf-Mörsenbroich, Mörsenbroich ...

–

Düsseldorf Hbf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

– Neuss Hbf –

Dormagen Dormagen (; Ripuarian: ''Dormaje'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss. Geography Dormagen is situated between Düsseldorf – Cologne – Mönchengladbach on the western bank of the river Rhine. Division of ...

–

Cologne Hbf Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urban ...

–

Bergisch Gladbach Bergisch Gladbach () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the Cologne/Bonn Region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis (district). Geography Bergisch Gladbach is east of the Rhine and abo ...

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dusseldorf-Unterrath-Dusseldorf Airport Terminal Railway Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Transport in Düsseldorf Airport rail links in Germany Düsseldorf Airport Railway lines opened in 1975 1975 establishments in West Germany