The Oldenburg–Osnabrück railway is a single-track, non-electrified railway line from

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places * Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony * Ol ...

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, both in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

. The line was opened in two stages between 1875 and 1876. The first section, from Oldenburg to Quakenbrück, was built between 1870 and 1875 by the

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg State Railways The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg Railway (''Großherzoglich Oldenburgische Eisenbahn or GOE'') was the railway company that was run as a state railway for the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (''Großherzogtum Oldenburg''), part of the German Empire. History ...

(GOE). The opening of the first section took place on 15 October 1875. The section from Quakenbrück to Osnabrück-Eversburg, then passing through Prussian territory, opened only a year later, on 30 June 1876. The official opening took place on 15 November 1876. Until the mid-1990s, there was a modest long distance train connection over the line. There was a daily express train from Koblenz and Cologne to Wilhelmshaven and a train from Mönchengladbach to Wilhelmshaven. From 2000 onwards, the infrastructure was expanded to introduce a train service with shorter journey times and better connections. Part of the development was to increase the maximum line speed to 120 km/h and the closure of little used stations. The travel time between Oldenburg and Osnabrück was consequently reduced by 22 minutes to 87 minutes. In Oldenburg, good connections were created with the regional and intercity trains on the line between Bremen and Emden. The travel time between Wilhelmshaven and Osnabrück also fell by 45 minutes. The services on the line have been operated by

NordWestBahn The Austrian Northwestern Railway (German: ''Österreichische Nordwestbahn'', ÖNWB, Czech: ''Rakouská severozápadní dráha'') was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Today, the term is still ...

since November 2000. The current contract continues until December 2026.

Usage

The line is used by the following service(s): *Regional services ''Wilhelmshaven - Varel - Oldenburg - Cloppenburg - Bramsche - Osnabrück'' *Local services ''Osnabrück - Bramsche - Vechta - Delmenhorst - Bremen'' between Osnabrück and Hesepe

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldenburg-Osnabruck Railway Railway lines opened in 1875 Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Railway lines in Lower Saxony