Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund Railway
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The Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund railway (also called the Cologne-Minden Emscher Valley Railway) was built by the
Cologne-Minden Railway Company The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th ...
(''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', CME) in the area to the north of its original Ruhr line to improve connections to mines and factories in the northern
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 ...
region, which is now in the German state of
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
. The track at the time of the
Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...
mostly consisted of at least two tracks; now two-track, single track and completely dismantled sections alternate. The section from Oberhausen-Sterkrade to Herne was electrified between 1963 and 1975.


History

For a long time the main focus of the CME was on regional routes in the
Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...
and
Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...
. With the migration of the coal mining industry north from the vicinity of the
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 ...
to the
Emscher The Emscher () is a river, a tributary of the Rhine, that flows through the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. Its overall length is with a mean outflow near the mouth into the lower Rhine of . Description The Emscher ha ...
, the area between the two rivers became more of interest to the CME. The CME began the construction of two lines, starting from the stations of Herne and Wanne on its trunk line. These ultimately connected to form a continuous line from Duisburg-Ruhrort to Dortmund with a long section along the Emscher, leading to it be called the "Cologne-Minden Emscher Valley Railway" (''Köln-Mindener Emschertalbahn'').


Wanne–Herne

In 1866, the CME completed the rebuilding of the busy section between the stations of ''Pluto'' (called ''Wanne CME'' from 1869 and now called
Wanne-Eickel Hauptbahnhof Wanne-Eickel Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the former city of Wanne-Eickel, now part of Herne in western Germany. History The station grew out of the ''Pluto-Thies'' freight yard, opened in 1856 on the Duisburg–Dortmund line section ...
) and ''Herne CME'' (now called
Herne station Herne station was opened in the inner city of Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Herne in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1847 together with the Cologne-Minden trunk line. It was located between the village of Herne, which had about ...
) with four tracks. It also had sidings, including to the Pluto colliery west of Wanne.


Wanne–Ruhrort

On the western section of the line, the CME established Wanne CME station in 1867, which soon became a railway junction. The first section to Schalke CME (now Gelsenkirchen-Schalke operations depot) was opened on 7 November 1871 for freight. Two years later, on 15 November 1873, this was followed by the second section from Osterfeld CME (now Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd) station to Sterkrade CME (now Oberhausen-Sterkrade) station. The first passenger trains ran from Sterkrade CME, which had served passengers on the Arnhem-Oberhausen railway since 1856, to Wanne on 1 July 1874. The last section from Ruhrort CME (now
Duisburg-Ruhrort station Duisburg-Ruhrort is a railway station in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The station The station is located on the Oberhausen–Duisburg-Ruhrort railway and is served by Regionalbahn, RB services operated by NordWestBahn. Train servi ...
) was opened on 1 July 1875, at first for freight and also for passengers from 15 October 1875. Finally, on 1 December 1878, a direct connection was opened between Grafenbusch junction and Neumühl station so that freight trains could pass through Sterkrade without reversing.


Herne–Dortmund

The eastern section of the line had previously been used as siding to the Erin colliery. This ran at first from Herne CME station for several kilometres parallel to the CME’s original line. With the establishment of Castrop (Stadt) station on 1 December 1874, this siding was converted from a freight siding into a line for general traffic. By the beginning of 1878, the CME had extended the line via Merklinde (now Dortmund Bövinghausen) and Marten CME (now Dortmund-Marten) to Huckarde CME (now Dortmund-Huckarde) to the area of Dortmund freight yard, where it connected back to the original CME line to Dortmund CME (now
Dortmund Hauptbahnhof Dortmund Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The station's origins lie in a joint station of the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn and Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn which was built north of the city cen ...
). Passenger trains ran between Herne CME and Dortmund CME from 1 April 1878.


Operations

The section between Dortmund and Herne is not electrified and has sections of single track. Passenger services are mainly operated as
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 ...
service RB 43 (''Emschertal Bahn'') from Dortmund to
Dorsten Dorsten (; Westphalian: ''Dössen'') is a town in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and has a population of about 75,000. Dorsten is situated on the western rim of Westphalia bordering the Rhineland. Its histori ...
. The long section between Herne and Oberhausen-Sterkrade is now continuously electrified. Until Wanne-Eickel Central Station and from Nordstern junction it is continuously double-track and almost exclusively used by freight trains. The Regionalbahn service RB 44 (''Der Dorstener'') from
Oberhausen Central Station Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The station was opened in 1847 and is located on the Duisburg–Dortmund Railway, Duisburg–Dortmund railway, Arnhem-Oberhausen railway, Oberhausen–D ...
to Dorsten runs on a short section between Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd and Grafenbusch junction, although strictly speaking, this is a remnant of the Bergisch-Märkische Emscher Valley Railway.


Current situation

From Oberhausen-Sterkrade station and from Grafenbusch junction to the former Duisburg-Ruhrort Hafen station, the line is now completely closed and dismantled. A pedestrian and cycle path (the ''Grüner Pfad'', "green path") has been built on the former track to the
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord Landschaftspark is a public park located in Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany. It was designed in 1991 by Latz + Partner ( Peter Latz), with the intention that it work to heal and understand the industrial past, rather than trying to reject it. The ...
("Duisburg North Landscape Park"). A commercial area is located on the site of the former Duisburg-Neumühl station. It has long been planned that line S4 of the
Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn () is a polycentric S-bahn network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr (and cities such as Dortmund, Duisburg and Essen), the B ...
would be extended in tunnel from Dortmund-Lütgendortmund station to immediately south of Dortmund-Bövinghausen station and it would then take over passenger operations on the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund line (which would be electrified) from Bövinghausen to Herne and the Herne–
Essen Essen () 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 Dortmund, as well as ...
branch of the current line S2. The RB 43 service would then only run between Herne and
Dorsten Dorsten (; Westphalian: ''Dössen'') is a town in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and has a population of about 75,000. Dorsten is situated on the western rim of Westphalia bordering the Rhineland. Its histori ...
. The eastern section of the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund line between Dortmund-Bövinghausen and Dortmund Hauptbahnhof would be used by a new line of the
Dortmund Stadtbahn __NOTOC__ The Dortmund Stadtbahn is a light rail system in the German city of Dortmund and is integrated in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn network. Its network consists of eight lines and is operated by Dortmunder Stadtwerke, which is operating under ...
. For a long time funds have been available for the construction of the line to Bövinghausen, however, the financing for the operation of the line is not guaranteed. The Emschertal Bahn service runs between Dortmund-Bövinghausen and Herne every hour, but the S2 would run between Herne and Essen every twenty minutes as an S-Bahn service, so the
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (), abbreviated VRR, is a public transport association (Verkehrsverbund) in the Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It covers large parts of the Ruhr, Ruhr area, the Lower Rhine region including Düsse ...
would have to fund the increased services through savings in other areas. Upon taking office, the transport minister Oliver Wittke called for all such proposals to be re-evaluated. The project has been removed from the integrated transportation plan for North Rhine-Westphalia; a resubmission is possible from 2015.


Notes


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duisburg-Ruhrort-Dortmund railway Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Railway lines opened in 1866 1866 establishments in Prussia