The Langenhagen Pferdemarkt–Hannover Airport railway is a main line in the town of

Langenhagen Langenhagen ( Eastphalian: ''Langenhogen'') is a town in the Hanover district of Lower Saxony, Germany. History From 1866 to 1868 Robert Koch worked in Langenhagen. On June 18, 1972, Red Army Faction terrorist Ulrike Meinhof was arrested in La ...

in the

Hanover Region Hanover Region (german: Region Hannover) is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Heidekreis, Celle, Gifhorn, Peine, Hildesheim, Hamelin-Pyrmont, Schaumburg and Nienburg. The H ...

in the German state of

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 ...

. It provides a public transport connection to

Hannover Airport Hannover Airport is the international airport of Hanover, capital of the German state of Lower Saxony. The ninth largest airport in Germany, it is in Langenhagen, north of the centre of Hanover. The airport has flights to European metropo ...

. It has been operated exclusively by the

Hanover S-Bahn The Hanover S-Bahn (in German: ''S-Bahn Hannover'') is an S-Bahn network operated by DB Regio and Transdev Hannover in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony. It went operational shortly before Expo 2000 and is focused o ...

since its opening on 28 May 2000.

Route

Shortly after

Langenhagen Pferdemarkt station Langenhagen Pferdemarkt station (Langenhagen (Han) until 27 May 2000) is a station in the town of Langenhagen, which lies north of Hanover, the capital of the German state of Lower Saxony. At present it is served by lines S4 and S5 of the Hanover S ...

, the line branches to the west off the Hanover–Buchholz railway, which runs to the north at this point. It then runs almost directly to the west, crossing the A 352. Shortly before Hannover Airport station, the line enters a cutting, which bends to the southwest and the line runs into the underground station. The S-Bahn station is a terminal station and the only station on the line. The station has two platform tracks, which join in the tunnel area to form one track, although the station access ramp is wide enough for the laying of a second track. Signalling on the line is operated by the

computer-based interlocking Computer-based interlocking is railway signal interlocking implemented with computers, rather than using older technologies such as relays or mechanics. General CBIs are mostly implemented in two parts; a section that implements the safety and f ...

in Langenhagen, which is controlled by a dispatcher in ''Betriebszentrale Nord'' (Operations Centre North) in Hanover.

Operations

Normally, the line is served by S5 services to

Hamelin Hamelin ( ; german: Hameln ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. H ...

and

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

. During large fairs on the

Hanover Fairground The Hanover Fairground (in German: ''Messegelände Hannover'') is an exhibition area in the ''Mittelfeld'' district of Hanover, Germany. Featuring 392,453 m² (4.2 million sq.ft.) of covered indoor space, 58,000 m² (624,306 sq ft) of open-air s ...

, S8 services also run to

Hannover Messe/Laatzen station Hannover Messe/Laatzen station is a Category 4 station in the German town of Laatzen near the Hanover fairground (german: Messegelände Hannover). It is normally served only by the Hanover S-Bahn. During major events such as CeBIT and Hanover Mess ...

. Trial operations had already taken place on the line by 3 March 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langenhagen Pferdemarkt-Hannover Airport railway Railway lines in Lower Saxony Railway lines opened in 2000 2000 establishments in Germany Buildings and structures in Hanover Region Airport rail links in Germany Hanover S-Bahn