The Weser-Bahn (Weser railway) is the name used 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 ...

(NRW) for a Regionalbahn service that connects

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 ...

in NRW via

Löhne Löhne () is a town in the district of Herford, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Löhne is situated on the river Werre, approx. 8 km north of Herford and 20 km south-west of Minden. Neighbouring places * Hüllhorst * Bad ...

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In rela ...

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 ...

Elze Elze () is a town in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approximately west of Hildesheim. The municipality of Elze also comprises the villages of ''Esbeck, Mehle, Sehlde, Sorsum, Wittenburg'' ...

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

. The section of the route from Rinteln to Hildesheim lies in the 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 ...

. The service is numbered as RB 77 in NRW.

Route

The Weser-Bahn service runs on four different railway lines: *The Weser-Bahn begins in Bünde on 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 ...

and follow it up to its terminus in Löhne; *In Löhne, the Weser-Bahn changes to the

Elze–Löhne railway The Elze–Löhne railway is a non-electrified line from the town of Elze in the German state of Lower Saxony via Hamelin and Rinteln to Löhne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs between the Weser and the Weser hills from Hamelin to Bad Oeynhausen ...

, which it used for its whole length; *From Elze to Nordstemmen the Weser-Bahn runs over the

Hanoverian Southern Railway The Hanoverian Southern Railway (German: ''Hannöversche Südbahn'') is a historical term but it is still a common name for the line between Hanover and Kassel. It is a German main line railway in Lower Saxony and is one of the oldest lines in G ...

; *The final section of the Weser-Bahn runs to Hildesheim via the

Lehrte–Nordstemmen railway The Lehrte–Nordstemmen railway is a continuous double track, electrified main line railway in the German state of Lower Saxony. It connects the railway junction of Lehrte with Hildesheim and Nordstemmen, where it connects with the Hanoverian So ...

Rail services

Until December 2003, the Weser-Bahn was operated by

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 ...

with class 628 DMUs. In 2002, the tender for the operation of Regionalbahn service RB 77 for eight years was publicly advertised; this was let to

Eurobahn Eurobahn is a railway operator in Germany, established in 1998. It operates regional train services in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with cross-border services including Lower Saxony and the Netherlands. Initially a joint venture between K ...

, a subsidiary of the

Keolis Keolis is a multinational transportation company that operates public transport systems. The company manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus and funicular services. Based ...

group (''Keolis Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG'', Berlin), based in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

. Since December 2011, the service has been operated by

NordWestBahn The NordWestBahn GmbH is a private railway company providing regional train services on several routes in northern and western Germany. It is a joint venture of Stadtwerke Osnabrück AG, Verkehr und Wasser GmbH in Oldenburg and Transdev Germ ...

under a new ten-year contract. It is operated using two-part

Alstom Coradia LINT The Alstom Coradia LINT is an articulated railcar manufactured by Alstom since 1999, offered in diesel and hydrogen fuel models. The acronym ''LINT'' is short for the German ''"leichter innovativer Nahverkehrstriebwagen"'' (light innovative loca ...

diesel railcars, which are owned by Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen mbH (Lower Saxony state transport company, LNVG). In operations, the trains on the Weser-Bahn service continue through Hildesheim towards the Lamme Valley Railway to

Bodenburg Bodenburg is a village in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located about 20 km south of Hildesheim, and about 5 km from Bad Salzdetfurth. The community has a population of 1,814 (2021). Overview A castle with a moat and a stand-alone tower w ...

Fares

The ''Weser-Bahn'' runs through several fare zones, some of which overlap. It can be used with the following fares: *between Bünde and Rinteln ''Der Sechser'' ("the six") fare of the ''Verkehrsverbund OstWestfalenLippe'' (transport association of

Ostwestfalen-Lippe Ostwestfalen-Lippe (, literally ''East(ern) Westphalia-Lippe'', abbreviation OWL) is the eastern region of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, congruent with the administrative region of Detmold and containing the eastern part of Westph ...

) applies; *between

Hessisch Oldendorf Hessisch Oldendorf ( is a town in the Hamelin-Pyrmont district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Weser, approximately northwest of Hamelin. The adjective "Hessisch" has been used since 1905 to distinguish it from other towns ...

and Hildesheim and on the Lamme Valley Railway to Bodenburg 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 (but only for travel cards, trips must include at least one station in the outer ring of the GVH); *for all journeys not included in the transport association zones, Deutsche Bahn fares and the NRW state fare (''NRW-Tarif''). The Lower Saxony state fare (''Niedersachsen-Ticket'') is valid on the entire Weser-Bahn between Bünde and Hildesheim. Adjacent bus fare zones are: *between Hessian Oldendorf and Osterwald (Salzhemmendorf), the ''Öffi-Tarif'' of ''Nahverkehr Hameln-Pyrmont'' (Hameln-Pyrmont local transport); *between Elze and Hildesheim Hbf the fares of the ''Regionalverkehr Hildesheim'' (Hildesheim regional transport, RVHI).

Notes

{{Reflist Rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia