Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund railway

This article deals with the Emscher Valley Railway of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company, for other lines on this route see Dortmund–Duisburg railway (disambiguation).

The Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund railway (also called the Cologne-Minden Emscher Valley Railway) was built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (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 region, which is now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund
Overview
Other name(s)	Cologne-Minden Emscher Valley Railway
Native name	Köln-Mindener Emschertalbahn
Line number	2206 (Duisburg-Ruhrort–Gelsenkirchen-Bickern) 2260 (Duisburg-Neumühl–Grafenbusch) 2205 (Gelsenkirchen-Bickern–Wanne-Eickel) 2208 (Wanne-Eickel–Herne) (Herne–Castrop-Rauxel Süd) 2210 (Castrop-Rauxel Süd–Dortmund)
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number	447 (Duisburg-Ruhrort) 423 (Grafenbusch–Bottrop) 426 (Gelsenkirchen-Bickern–Dortmund)
Technical
Line length	61 km (38 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Operating speed	100 km/h (62.1 mph) (maximum)
Route map Legend Trunk line from Hamm Trunk line from Lünen 23.0 Dortmund Hbf Line to Soest and to Ardey Railway to Iserlohn S-Bahn line to Witten S5 Line to DO-Dorstfeld (low) S1 and (high) S2 Trunk line to Bochum and Witten 20.6 Dortmund Werkstätte Trunk line to Dortmund-Mengede Former line from Dortmund freight yard 19.0 Dortmund-Huckarde Nord Former line to Dortmund-Huckarde Süd Herne–Dortmund-Dorstfeld line S2 Former line from Buschstraße junction 17.8 Dortmund-Rahm (crossover) (former junction) 17.4 Dortmund-Rahm 15.4 Dortmund-Marten 12.x Westricher Straße LC 12.7 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund Nord planned S-Bahn line from Dortmund-Dorstfeld 11.0 Merklinder Straße LC 10.8 Dortmund-Bövinghausen 9.9 Hellweg LC 9.8 Castrop-Rauxel-Merklinde 8.4 Cottenburgstraße LC 7.5 Dortmunder Straße LC 7.0 Münster Straße LC 7.0 Castrop-Rauxel Süd (since 1955) former Erin colliery siding 5.3 Castrop-Rauxel Süd (old) 5.3 Castrop-Rauxel Süd (crossover, former junction) 3.3 Herne-Börnig 100.8 2.4 Herne Hot Trunk line from Dortmund S2 100.0 0.0 Herne freight yard 98.4 0.0 Herne (formerly Herne CME) Line to Recklinghausen S2 Connecting line from Herne-Rottbruch A 43 Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck–Bochum line Connecting line from Herne-Rottbruch Line from Recklinghausen 094.5 0.0 Wanne-Eickel Hbf Former line to Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck (until 1988) 1.5 0.0 Wanne-Eickel Wst several former lines Trunk line to Gelsenkirchen S2 Line to Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck 2.4 0.0 Gelsenkirchen-Bickern (km change, formerly junction) 2.5 0.0 Bickern (Junction, old) 2.5 0.0 Erdbrüggenstraße LC 3.2 0.0 Hüllerstraße LC 4.3 0.0 Bismarckstraße (Bk) 4.3 0.0 Bismarckstraße LC 4.5 0.0 Hüttweg LC 5.7 0.0 Gelsenkirchen-Schalke (old, formerly Schalke CME) 6.4 0.0 Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 6.8 0.0 A 42 Former Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck–Essen Hbf line 7.1 0.0 Nordstern (junction) 7.9 0.0 Nordstern (Bk) 8.6 0.0 Nordstern (junction, old) Rhine-Herne Canal, Emscher 9.7 0.0 Gelsenkirchen-Horst Süd 11.4 0.0 Essen-Karnap (old) 12.2 0.0 Essen-Karnap (siding) 13.0 0.0 Bottrop Süd depot 15.7 0.0 Bottrop Süd (formerly Bottrop CME) Line to Gersched junction Bottrop freight yard–Gerschede junction line Line from Bottrop freight yard Line from Essen-Horl Bottrop Hbf–Essen-Dellwig Ost line Bottrop Westf sand mine (siding) 17.4 0.0 Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd Swo Bottrop-Vonderort 18.5 0.0 Hochstraße (crossover) former line to Sterkrade KWE 20.3 0.0 Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd (formerly Osterfeld CME) Oberhausen-Osterfeld Nord–Oberhausen West line 20.9 0.0 Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd Ost Line to Oberhausen West Trunk line from Wesel 23.9 0.0 Oberhausen-Sterkrade (formerly Sterkrade CME) 22.1 1.7 Grafenbusch (junction) line to Oberhausen Hbf Trunk line to Oberhausen Hbf Emscher 4.0 Oberhausen Stadt (siding) 26.4 0.0 Oberhausen-Buschhausen line to Wesel 26.5 4.3 Hindenburg (junction) A 3 4.7 Zielkowski (siding) 5.1 Kübel (siding) 5.4 König-Brauerei (brewery, siding) Former connecting line from Duisburg-Hamborn (grade-separated junction) 28.7 6.5 Duisburg-Neumühl (recently a siding) 30.4 0.0 Duisburg-Meiderich Nord (recently a siding) Former line to Beeck Hohenbudberg–Beeck–Duisburg-Meiderich Süd line Line from Duisburg-Meiderich Süd 32.7 0.0 Duisburg-Ruhrort Hafen (port) old Former line to Duisburg-Ruhrort port 34.2 0.0 Duisburg-Ruhrort Former Ruhrort-Homberg train ferry Former line to Mönchengladbach Source: German railway atlas[1]

The track at the time of the Deutsche Reichsbahn 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 and Westphalia. With the migration of the coal mining industry north from the vicinity of the Ruhr to the Emscher, 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) and Herne CME (now called Herne station) with four tracks.^[2] It also had sidings, including to the Pluto colliery west of Wanne.

Wanne–Ruhrort

DB 216 011-7 on the Gelsenkirchen Schalke–Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd line near Essen-Karnap, August 1989

On the western section of the line, the CME established Wanne CME station in 1867,^[3] 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.^[4]

The last section from Ruhrort CME (now Duisburg-Ruhrort station) was opened on 1 July 1875, at first for freight and also for passengers from 15 October 1875.^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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). Passenger trains ran between Herne CME and Dortmund CME from 1 April 1878.^[6]

Operations

Former route, passing under the Meiderich Süd–Beeck freight line in Duisburg-Meiderich

The section between Dortmund and Herne is not electrified and has sections of single track. Passenger services are mainly operated as Regionalbahn service RB 43 (Emschertal Bahn) from Dortmund to Dorsten.

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 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 ("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 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 branch of the current line S2. The RB 43 service would then only run between Herne and Dorsten. 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. 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 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

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2017. pp. 38, 136–39. ISBN 978-3-89494-146-8.
2. "Line 2208: Wanne-Eickel ↔ Herne". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
3. "Operations: Wanne-Eickel Hbf". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
4. "Line 2206: Gelsenkirchen-Bickern ↔ Duisburg-Ruhrort". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
5. "Line 2260: Duisburg-Neumühl ↔ Grafenbusch" (in German). Retrieved 15 July 2013.
6. "Line 2210: Herne ↔ Dortmund". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 15 July 2013.

External links

• "Line 2205: Wanne-Eickel ↔ Gelsenkirchen-Bickern". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
• "Line 2211: Herne ↔ Castrop-Rauxel Süd Üst". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 15 July 2013.