The Wupper-Express (RE 4) 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 f ...

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 ...

(NRW) 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

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 ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

Hagen Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

. The service is operated every hour by

DB Regio DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and there part of the DB Regio bus ...

NRW. It is the third most widely used

line in the area administered by the

Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (), abbreviated VRR, is a public transport association (Verkehrsverbund) in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It covers most of the Ruhr area, as well as neighbouring parts of the Lower Rhine region, includ ...

with approximately 24,000 passengers a day. The line is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network an is operated by

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

History

Today's RE 4 is the successor to the former ''StädteExpress'' line SE from

to Hagen and

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geography Iserlohn is locat ...

. Later, the end point was moved to Hamm and after the abolition of InterRegio services it was extended to

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

. Under the second stage of North Rhine-Westphalia's integrated timetable (ITF 2), introduced in December 2002, it was replaced by the

Maas-Wupper-Express The Maas-Wupper-Express (RE 13) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from the Dutch border town of Venlo to Hamm in Westphalia. Route Together with the Wupper-Express (RE 4) and Rhine-Ruhr S ...

(RE 13) and the Ems-Börde-Bahn (RB 89) services between Hagen and Munster and the Wupper-Express has since then run to Dortmund with a stop in

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum * Dortmu ...

. A reorganisation of services between Cologne and Dortmund is being undertaken in a program known as the ''Rhine-Ruhr Express'' (RRX). Since 18 March 2022, the Wupper-Express has also stopped in with the completion of the new regional platform.

Route

The Wupper-Express runs successively over the Aachen–Mönchengladbach, the Mönchengladbach–Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorf–Elberfeld lines. The service then follows the

Elberfeld–Dortmund railway The Elberfeld–Dortmund railway is a major railway in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is part of a major axis for long distance and regional rail services between Wuppertal and Cologne, and is served by Intercity Express, InterCit ...

as far as Witten station, from where it uses the tracks of the

Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg railway The Witten/Dortmund, Oberhausen/Duisburg railway is one of the most important railways in Germany. It is the main axis of long distance and regional rail transport on the east–west axis of the Ruhr and is served by Intercity-Express, InterCi ...

and the Oberstraße Tunnel on its way to Dortmund station. At night, the RE 4 operates to

Düsseldorf Airport Terminal station Düsseldorf Airport Terminal (''Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal'') is an underground station on the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn at the end of the Düsseldorf-Unterrath–Düsseldorf Airport Terminal railway, situated underneath Terminal C of Düsseldorf A ...

. The Wupper-Express runs parallel to

Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr) is a polycentric and electrically driven S-train network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr (and ci ...

lines on large sections of track and it has some of the character of a fast S-Bahn service and is perceived by passengers accordingly.

Rollingstock

The Wupper-Express formerly used class 111 locomotives and non-air conditioned double-deck coaches. Additional peak hour services operated between Düsseldorf and Aachen with class 110 and 111 locomotives, operated exclusively with refurbished

Silberling Silberling is the colloquial name for the n-coaches of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, a type of regional passenger coach of which more than 5,000 units were built from 1958 to 1981. Nearly all of the coaches have undergone extensive modernisation � ...

carriages. Since December 2020, the line has been operated by National Express with new Siemens Desiro HC EMU's in coupled sets, which serve as a reserve for possible expansions of the Rhein-Ruhr-Express lines. File:RE4.jpg, Wupper-Express near Baal File:BereitstellungRE4-2.JPG, Preparation of the train in Aachen File:Wupper-Expresszugschild.jpg, Train running label File:RE4 Aachen 3337.jpg, Leaving Aachen Hbf File:RE4 in Aachen Hbf KA.jpg, Wupper-Express on track 3 in Aachen Hbf

Notes

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://nrwbahnarchiv.bplaced.net/linien/RE4.htm , title=Wupper-Express , work=NRW rail archive, publisher= André Joost , language=German , accessdate= 7 September 2011 Rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia Named DB Regio services

History

Route

Rollingstock

See also

Notes

External links