The Ems-Leine-Express (RE 60) is the name of a German Regional-Express service in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

that has connected the

Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinfur ...

city of

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, the regional centre of Osnabrück, the east Westphalian city of

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

and the

regional centres of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

since 5 November 2000. The ''Ems-Leine-Express'' is notable for crossing the state border between Lower Saxony and

(NRW) three times at the following locations: *between Ibbenbüren-Laggenbeck and Osnabrück Altstadt *between Melle and

Bünde Bünde (Low German ''Buine'') is a town in the Herford district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Bünde is situated between Osnabrück (west), Hannover (east) and Bielefeld (south). Waterways The town is crossed from west to east ...

*between

and Bückeburg.

History and future

In 1998, the service began in Bad Bentheim and went via Osnabrück to

. In 2000, the section west of

was withdrawn and services were extended to Brunswick (Braunschweig). The Bad Bentheim–Rheine route is now served only by the Wiehengebirgs-Bahn. The ''Ems-Leine-Express'' services were initially operated by DB Regio Nord. New procedures for procuring future operations of the services were introduced In 2012. It is now operated by WestfalenBahn for 15 years from 2015. The service is designated as RE 60 only in North Rhine-Westphalia. The service was named the ''Ems-Leine-Express'' with the introduction of the integrated regular-interval timetable in the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia (''NRW-Takt'') in 1998.

Rail services

The service runs every two hours. Together with the service designated as the Weser-Leine Express in NRW, which also runs every two hours to Bielefeld, an hourly service is provided between Braunschweig and Löhne. The Wiehengebirgs-Bahn runs every hour between Kirchlengern and Rheine. These services connect with the Weser-Leine-Express in Herford. In addition, the total route 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. The service is operated with trains of five double-deck coaches hauled mostly by class 111, or occasionally class 146, locomotives. Since the line is operated with a double-deck

driving trailer A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK and Ireland) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or two driver compartm ...

–pushed towards Rheine–the locomotive does not have to be switched around at the terminus. A dining service with a minibar is provided between Osnabrück and Hanover.

Fares

The ''Ems-Leine-Express'' passes through the territory of four regional transport associations with different fare systems: *between Rheine and Osnabrück, the ''Münsterlandtarif'' (Münsterland tariff) of the ''Verkehrsgemeinschaft Münsterland'' (transport community of Münsterland) applies; *between Bünde and Minden, the ''Der Sechser'' ("the six") fare of the ''Verkehrsverbund OstWestfalenLippe'' (transport association of OstWestfalenLippe) applies; *between Haste and Hämelerwald the fares of the

Großraum-Verkehr Hannover Großraum-Verkehr Hannover (GVH; English: Greater Hanover Transport) is a transport association in Germany, operating in the Region Hannover metropolitan area in the state of Lower Saxony. It was founded on March 4, 1970 and is the second oldest ...

(transport association of greater Hannover, GVH) apply; *between Hämelerwald and Brunswick the fares of the ''Verbundtarif Region Braunschweig'' (Brunswick fare alliance, VRB) apply. Fares for the entire state of Lower Saxony (e.g. the ''Niedersachsen-Ticket'') also apply to the North Rhine-Westphalian sections (Bückeburg–Melle and Osnabrück–Rheine). However, these tickets cannot be used for connections via Herford (for trains towards NRW the fare limit is Löhne or Kirchlengern). The ''NRW-Tarif'' (fare) applies between Rheine and Minden for all locations except Melle, while NRW holiday tickets apply to the whole route. The Osnabrück–Bünde section does not belong to the zones of any local fare system and so ordinary

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

fares apply. GVH fares apply for season tickets from Bückeburg.

Railways

From west to east the Ems-Leine-Express uses the following lines: *the

Löhne–Rheine railway The Löhne–Rheine railway is a two-track, continuously electrified railway main line from Löhne in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia via Osnabrück in Lower Saxony to Rheine in North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs parallel to the Wiehen H ...

(124 km between Rheine and Löhne, part of timetable route 375) *the

Hamm–Minden railway The Hamm–Minden Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany. It is completely quadruple track. It is a major axis for long distance passenger and freight trains between the Ruhr and the north and east of Germany. I ...

(21 km between Löhne and Minden, part of timetable route 370) * the Hanover–Minden railway (64.4 km between Minden and Hanover, part of timetable route 370) *the Hanover–Brunswick railway (61 km between Hanover and Brunswick, part of timetable route 310). Overall, the service between Rheine and Brunswick covers a distance of 270.4 kilometres. The scheduled time (including intermediate stops) between Rheine and Braunschweig is 3:03, resulting in an average cruising speed of about 90 km/h. Four train sets consisting of locomotive, double-deck carriages and driving trailers are used for the service.

References

{{coord, 52.2730, N, 8.0614, E, source:wikidata, display=title Rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia Named DB Regio services

History and future

Rail services

Fares

Railways

See also

References