The Gruiten–Cologne-Deutz railway is a major German railway. It is part of a major axis for long distance and regional rail services between

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, and is served by

Intercity Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

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 a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

and

regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

trains. The route is fully electrified. The last piece of single-track, the section between Köln-Mülheim station and

Köln Messe/Deutz station Köln Messe/Deutz station (called ''Köln-Deutz'' until November 2004, Colognian dialect, Colognian: , ) is an important railway junction for long-distance rail and local services in the Deutz, Cologne, Deutz neighborhood of Cologne in the German ...

(low level) was duplicated in 2009.

History

The route was built as a branch of the Dusseldorf–Elberfeld line by the

Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company The Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company (, 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 together with the Cologne-Minden Railway (''Cöln-Min ...

(BME) after its acquisition of the Dusseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company. It would connect the BME's core network in the southern and central

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , 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 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

with the railway node of Cologne, which was already served by the

Rhenish Railway Company The Rhenish Railway Company (German language, German: ''Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', RhE) was along with the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME) and the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (BME) one of the railway companies that in the m ...

(RhE) and the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME). The BME began construction of its new line from the site of the current

Gruiten Gruiten is a historical village in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 1975 it has been part of the town Haan. The village is located on the river Düssel, between Wuppertal and Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine ...

station. Today the route separates from the line from Wuppertal nearly two kilometres earlier at Linden junction. The first section ran due south through ''Ohligs Wald'' (later ''Ohligs'' and ''Solingen-Ohlings'', and now

Solingen Hauptbahnhof Solingen Hauptbahnhof is the only railway station in Solingen, Germany, to be served by ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally ...

) to

Opladen Opladen, now a district of Leverkusen, used to be the capital of the Rhein-Wupper-Kreis (Rhine-Wupper-District) until 1975. Opladen station is located northeast from Cologne on the railway to Wuppertal. It is also on the Autobahn A3. Populati ...

and was opened on 25 September 1867. On 8 April 1868 the line was opened to Mülheim (Rhein) BME station just to the east of the existing Mülheim (Rhein) CME station in Wiener Platz. The line formerly ran straight through the centre of Mülheim on a route almost identical with the current course of line 4 of the

Cologne Stadtbahn The Cologne Stadtbahn is a light rail system in the German city of Cologne, including several surrounding cities of the Cologne Bonn Region (Bergisch Gladbach, Bonn, Bornheim, Brühl, Frechen, Hürth, Leverkusen-Schlebusch, Wesseling). The te ...

. The BME subsequently extended its track across the CME track and ran down the bank of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

to a new terminus at Deutz BME station, north of Deutz CME station opened for passenger traffic on 1 February 1872. In 1909 the line in the Mülheim area was moved east because of the risk of flooding and lack of space in central Mülheim to a route running through the new Köln-Mülheim station, built on the site of the RHE's Mülheim (Rhein) station.

Services

The line is served hourly by

line RE 7 '' Rhein-Münsterland-Express'' between

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

and

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt (district), 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 (river), Ems, about north of Münster ...

via

, Hamm and

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, stopping at Köln Messe/Deutz, Opladen, Solingen and Wuppertal. It is also served every 30 minutes between 5am to 8pm by

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

RB 48 '' Rhein-Wupper-Bahn'', stopping at all stations between Wuppertal-Oberbarmen and

, continuing every hour to Bonn-Mehlem. The line is served every hour by

line 10, connecting Cologne and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

via Hamm,

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, stopping at Wuppertal. Additional

trains also operate between Cologne and Hamm on IC lines 31 and 55 every 2 hours.

References

* Track data from {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruiten-Koln-Deutz railway Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Standard-gauge railways in Germany 1867 establishments in Prussia Railway lines opened in 1867 Buildings and structures in Wuppertal Buildings and structures in Mettmann (district) Buildings and structures in Solingen Buildings and structures in Leverkusen Buildings and structures in Cologne