The Rhein-Sieg-Express is a
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 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 States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
and
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
running from
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-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
via
Düren
Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur.
History
Roman era
The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...
,
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
,
Troisdorf
Troisdorf () is a city in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis (district), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Troisdorf is located approximately 22 kilometers south of Cologne and 13 kilometers north east of Bonn.
Division of the city
Troisdorf consi ...
,
Siegburg
Siegburg (i.e. ''fort on the Sieg river''; Ripuarian: ''Sieburch'') is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the banks of the rivers Sieg and Agger, 10 kilometres from the former seat of ...
and Betzdorf to
Siegen
Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...
. It is operated by
DB Regio NRW
DB Regio AG is a List of Deutsche Bahn subsidiaries, subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates Regional rail, regional and Commuter rail, commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main. It is a 1 ...
.
History
![Nothberg Bf3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Nothberg_Bf3.jpg)
Regional Express (RE) line 9 has existed since the introduction of the integrated timetable (german: integralen Taktfahrplan, ITF) in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1998. Previously one train ran each day over the line to
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border.
Geography Municipal subdivisions
Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...
from
Gießen
Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...
to
Kaldenkirchen
Kaldenkirchen ( li, Kaldekerke) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, situated close to the Dutch border at Venlo. It is part of the municipality of Nettetal.
History
The earliest reference to “Caldenkirken” appears in a document ...
.
From 1998 the train service ran on the route from
Krefeld
Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), 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, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...
via
Neuss
Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It ...
, Cologne, Siegburg and Siegen to Gießen. The service used old rolling stock, consisting of
class 111 locomotives hauling five double-deck carriages. At the introduction of the next stage of the integrated timetable (ITF2) in December 2002, the line was the most vulnerable to delay in North Rhine-Westphalia. The causes of these delays were the single track sections of the
Sieg Railway
The Sieg Railway (german: Siegstrecke is a long, electrified Rail transport in Germany, German main line railway between Köln Messe/Deutz station, Cologne-Deutz via Porz (Rhein) station, Porz, Troisdorf railway station, Troisdorf, Siegburg/Bonn s ...
, work in connection with the completion of the
Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed line and the upgrading of the Sieg Railway for
S-Bahn
The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...
operations, speed restrictions between Cologne and Krefeld and a very short turnaround time in Krefeld of 12 minutes.
As a result, in December 2003, the sections of line west of the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
of the Rhein-Sieg-Express and the
Rhein-Münsterland-Express
The Rhein-Münsterland-Express (RE 7) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The hourly service initially runs to the south east from Krefeld via Neuss to Cologne and then turns to run to the northeast vi ...
(RE 7) were swapped. The Rhein-Sieg-Express now runs from Cologne to Aachen, making the timetable more stable.
Three public transport associations are involved in the operation of the ''Rhein-Express'': the
Zweckverband Nahverkehr Rheinland (local transport association of Rhineland, NVR), SPNV Rheinland-Pfalz Nord (transport association of northern Rhineland-Paltinate) and the
Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (local transport association of Westphalia-Lippe). They called for tenders for its continued operations after December 2010 to be submitted by 30 January 2008.
In April 2008 it was announced that ''DB Regio Rheinland'' (formerly ''DB Heidekrautbahn'', which was established in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
for an unsuccessful bid for services in the
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 constitue ...
area) would operate the line from 12 December 2010 for 15 years.
Therefore, services are to be operated with a total of 15 electric multiple units of the E-Talent 2 variety of the
Bombardier Talent
The Talent is a multiple unit railcar manufactured by Bombardier that was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen shortly before the company was acquired by Bombardier in 1995. The name ''Talent'' is an acronym in German for ''TALbot LEicht ...
called class 442. There will be three three-carriage, ten four-carriage and two five-carriage sets. Since its contract with the North Rhine-Westphalia transport associations was terminated by
Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund
The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is a transport association that covers the public transport network of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany. Its head office is located in Hofheim im Taunus.
Organisation and area covered
The RMV ...
(Rhine-Main transport association) the Rhein-Sieg-Express has terminated since 12 December 2010 in Siegen. Since then the Siegen–Gießen section has been operated only with
Hessische Landesbahn
Hessische Landesbahn (Hessian State Railway, HLB) is a regional transport company owned by the German state of Hesse, based in Frankfurt am Main. It provides bus and rail passenger transport services and, to a lesser extent, rail freight services i ...
trains as services RE 99 and RE 40. However, deliveries of E-Talent 2 to DB Regio Rheinland have been delayed. Since December 2010, the service has been operated under the RSX brand. The new vehicles were first delayed until the second half of 2011, but are now not expected to be available before December 2011. Until then, the line is being operated by conventional double-deck carriages sandwiched between two class 111 locomotives.
''DB Regio Rheinland'' took over ''DB Regio NRW'' in August 2011 and became the operator of the service.
Route
![Nothberg Bf4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Nothberg_Bf4.jpg)
The train leaves every hour from Aachen station on the
Cologne–Aachen high-speed line to Cologne station. This section is also part of the route of the
NRW-Express
The NRW-Express is a Regional-Express rail service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Aachen via Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund to Hamm as line RE 1. The line is part of the Rhine-Ruh ...
(RE 1) and together both lines operate services at approximately 30-minute intervals.
From Cologne, the Rhine-Sieg Express follows the
Sieg Railway
The Sieg Railway (german: Siegstrecke is a long, electrified Rail transport in Germany, German main line railway between Köln Messe/Deutz station, Cologne-Deutz via Porz (Rhein) station, Porz, Troisdorf railway station, Troisdorf, Siegburg/Bonn s ...
along the
Sieg
The Sieg is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine.
The river is named after the Sicambri. It is in length.
The source is located in the Rothaargebirge mountains. From here t ...
to Siegen. In Siegen there is a regular connection with the Main-Sieg-Express (RE 99) towards Gießen and
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. In addition connections exist to the
Rothaar Railway
The Rothaar Mountains (german: Rothaargebirge, , also ''Rotlagergebirge''), or Rothaar, is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 843.1 m in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany.
It is believed that its name must once have been ...
(RB 93) to
Bad Berleburg
Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...
and to the
Ruhr-Sieg-Express
The Ruhr-Lenne-Express (RE 16) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, running from Essen via Bochum, Witten, Bochum, Hagen and Iserlohn-Letmathe to . It is operated by DB Regio NRW hourly.
History
In the ...
(RE 16) to
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
.
The frequency of services of the Rhine-Sieg-Express on the Sieg Railway is increased during the peaks. In the morning two extra trains run to Cologne and in the afternoon two extra trains run from Cologne towards Siegen. These additional trains run between Au (Sieg) and Siegen with stops in
Etzbach
Etzbach is a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe afte ...
,
Niederhövels,
Scheuerfeld and
Brachbach. Between Cologne and Au they also stop in Dattenfeld and Rosbach.
See also
*
List of regional rail lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
The List of regional rail lines in North Rhine-Westphalia provides a list of all Regional-Express and Regionalbahn railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia. The passenger rail service in North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the densest train services ...
*
List of scheduled railway routes in Germany
NB: The scheduled routes given here are based primarily on the timetable of the Deutsche Bahn dated 9 December 2007.In addition the list of routes (see external links) reflects those of the German Regional Railway (''Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn'') ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2011
Rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia
Named DB Regio services