Osterath–Dortmund Süd railway

The Osterath–Dortmund-Süd railway is a historically significant line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Parts of it are closed, much of it is now used for freight only, but several sections are still used for Regional-Express, Regionalbahn or Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn services.

This article deals with the Ruhr line of the Rhenish Railway Company, for other lines on this route see Dortmund–Duisburg railway (disambiguation).
Osterath–Dortmund Süd railway
Network of the former Rhenish Railway Company
Overview
Line number
  • 2610 (Osterath – Lohbruch)
  • 2504 (Lohbruch – DU-Rheinhausen)
  • 2505 (DU-Rheinhausen – BO Nord)
  • 2151 (BO Nord – DO-Dorstfeld)
  • 2126 (DO-Dorstfeld – DO Süd)
  • Connecting lines:
  • 2312 (DU-Hochfeld Süd – DU Hbf)
  • 2326 (DU Hbf – DU-Hochfeld Süd Vorbf)
LocaleNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number
  • 425 (KR-Oppum – DU Hbf)
  • 450.4 (DO-Lüttgendortmund – DO Süd)
Technical
Line length76 km (47 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed120 km/h (74.6 mph) or 80 km/h (49.7 mph)
Route map
Line from Unna-Königsborn S 4
Former line from Dortmund Ost
Former "Wuppertal Northern Railway"
69.5
Dortmund Süd
(former Dortmund RhE/KWE)
69.1
 Dortmund Stadthaus
67.9
 Dortmund Möllerbrücke
66.9
Dortmund West
(interchange station planned)**
Line from Dortmund S 2
Line from Dortmunderfeld
9.0 66.1
Dortmund-Dorstfeld
(interchange station, high level) *
Line to Dortmund-Mengede S 2
7.7 00.0
 Dortmund-Dorstfeld West junction
Line from Dortmund-Huckarde
64.6
 Dortmund-Dorstfeld freight yard
63.3
 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund Flm junction
Long distance line from Dortmund Hbf
6.2
 Dortmund-Marten Süd
62.4
 Lütgendortmund junction
4.2
 Dortmund-Germania
61.4
 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund freight yard
3.9 61 
 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund (old)
3.3
Dortmund-Somborn crossover
(single track from here)
3.3
 Dortmund-Somborn
Lütgendortmund Tunnel (1236m)
1.8
 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund
(S 4 new, planned)
Line from Dortmund
0.0
 Dortmund-Bövinghausen
Line to Herne
Line from Dortmund-Dorstfeld (low) S 1
Line to Witten
Former line from Dortmund-Löttringhausen
Line from Witten
57.0
 Bochum-Langendreer southern part
 Bochum-Langendreer S-Bahn
 Bochum-Langendreer Lpf
 Bochum-Langendreer West
57.2
 Bochum-Langendreer Lgf
Line to Bochum-Laer
55.6
 Bochum-Langendreer western part
Line to Bochum Hbf S 1
52.2
 Prinz von Preußen junction
Long distance line to Bochum Hbf
Connecting curve to Bochum Hbf
Former line from Bochum-Weitmar
50.5
 Bochum Nord
(formerly Bochum RhE)
49.2
 Bochum Präsident
Line to Herne-Rottbruch
Herne-Rottbruch–Bochum line
48.7
 Bochum Präsident freight yard
 ThyssenKrupp steel/strip mill siding
46.5
 Centrumstraße LC
45.3
 Blücherstraße LC
44.9
 Bochum IKEA siding
Former line from Wanne-Eickel Hbf
43.1
 Gelsenkirchen-Wattenscheid
Former line to Gelsenkirchen Hbf
41.4
 Krayer Straße LC
41.4
 Essen-Kray Nord RWE siding
Former line from Wanne-Eickel Hbf
Line from Gelsenkirchen Hbf S 2
39.1
 Essen-Kray Nord
36.3
 Frillendorf junction
(last Bk)
Line to Essen Hbf S 2
Former Essen-Stoppenberg–Essen Hbf line
 Essen Ost freight yard
Former line from Essen-Stoppenberg
34.0
 Essen Nord
(depot; formerly Essen RhE)
Former line to Essen-Altenessen
and Essen-Bergeborbeck
31.0
Essen-Altendorf junction
(formerly Altendorf station)
Former line to Essen-Borbeck
Essen-Borbeck–Essen West line
Former line to Essen-Borbeck
Connecting line from Essen West
Trunk line from Essen West S 1
Former line from Altendorf (Ruhr)
28.0
Mülheim (Ruhr)-Heißen
(depot; former station)
23.5
Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf
(former Keilbahnhof)
Trunk line to Duisburg S 1
Mülheim city viaduct over the Ruhr
Former Lower Ruhr Valley Railway
MH-Styrum–E-Kettwig
22.0
 Mülheim (Ruhr) MüGa
(MüGa 1992)
Former Lower Ruhr Valley Railway
from Essen-Kettwig
Connecting curve from Rhine-Ruhr Port
 Speldorf Bf LC
20.9
 Mülheim (Ruhr)-Speldorf
18.6
 Katzenbruch LC
Former line to Duisburg-Wedau
Oberhausen West–Duisburg-Wedau line
(above here closed for passenger traffic)
16.1
 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Hd
Line from Duisburg-Wedau
15.3
 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Vorbf
Line from Oberhausen West
2.8
 Duisburg Hbf
 Duisburg-Regattabahn
(branch line from 1870 and 1880)
Trunk line to Düsseldorf
0.0 14.1
 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd junction
 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Hafen
13.8
 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd
Freight line to Duisburg-Wanheim
13.7
Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge (Rhine)
13,0
 Rheinhausen train ferry station
from Duisburg Intermodal Terminal
11.8
 Rheinhausen Ost
10.8
 Rheinhausen freight yard
10.2 ≡ 10.1
 Rheinhausen
former line from Duisburg-Meiderich Nord
freight line from Trompet
Rheinhausen–Kleve railway to Trompet
(former course via
Hohenbudberg marshalling yard)
former link from Rheinhausen–Kleve railway
7.9
 Hohenbudberg Siedlung
6.9
 Hohenbudberg
7.5 00000
 Mühlenberg
(junction)
6.5 00000
 Krefeld-Hohenbudberg Chempark
4.7
 Krefeld-Uerdingen Bf
4.3 00000
 Krefeld-Uerdingen Hp
1.7 00 1.6
 Krefeld-Linn
A 57
current/original Rhenish route to Krefeld
0.7
 Krefeld BMW
(siding)
current Lower Left Rhine Railway
from Krefeld
0.0 00000
 Krefeld-Oppum
-0.1
49.2
 Lohbruch
(junction)
current line to Krefeld
original Rhenish route to Krefeld
(only freight)
original Lower Left Rhine Railway
from Krefeld
43.2
 Meerbusch-Osterath
Lower Left Rhine Railway to Neuss
Source: German railway atlas[1]


Right: RhE kilometrage, left new S-Bahn kilometrage
*  Dortmund–Bochum S 1
** Dortmund–Hagen S 5

The nearly 76 kilometre long line was built in three stages between 1866 and 1874 by the Rhenish Railway Company (German: Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RhE), creating a third major east-west line through the Ruhr area. It was intended to compete effectively with the established and profitable lines of its competitors—the Duisburg–Dortmund line of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company and the Ruhr line of Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company, but it was not successful.

History

The Rhenish Railway concentrated for a long time left on the territories next to the Rhine, leaving the Ruhr area with its coal mines and emerging industries to be opened up by the Cologne-Minden and the Bergisch-Märkische railway companies. The RhE wanted to penetrate this lucrative market and began building the Rurh line from its Osterath station on its Lower Left Rhine line.

Between the port of Mülheim and Essen's Graf Beust colliery, the line used the route of a horse-hauled railway operated by the colliery from 1853 to 1865.[2]

Rhenish Railway Company
23 August 1866 (2610) Osterath – Lohbruch
1 September 1866 (2505) Osterath – Essen RhE
including Rheinhausen-Hochfeld train ferry (now Kultushafen)
1 January 1868 (2505) Essen RhE – Wattenscheid RhE
15 February 1870 (2312) Hochfeld Süd – Duisburg RhE
branch line, beginning of line to Quakenbrück
1 June 1872 (2168) Essen-Kray Nord – Gelsenkirchen RhE
15 October 1874 (2505) Wattenscheid RhE – Bochum RhE
19 November 1874 (2151) Bochum RhE – Dortmund-Dorstfeld (old)
19 November 1874 (2126) Dortmund-Dorstfeld (old) – Dortmund RhE
Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn
3 July 1984 (2213) Dortmund-Germania – Dortmund-Dorstfeld
23 May 1993 (2213) Dortmund-Lütgendortmund – Dortmund-Germania

Current situation

Little passenger traffic developed on the line due to the parallel railway of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company. Passenger services were abandoned on the section between Mülheim-Heißen and Essen-Kray-Nord in 1959, between Essen-Kray Nord and Bochum Präsident in 1965 and between Bochum Präsident and Bochum-Langendreer in 1979.

Until 30 May 1986, accumulator railcars of class 515 ran between Duisburg-Rheinhausen and Hohenbudberg Siedlung. Then the Rhenish line from Krefeld-Linn to the former Hohenbudberg marshalling yard was completely dismantled along with the yard. Instead, the line now uses the parallel route of the Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company (Ruhrort–Crefeld−Kreis Gladbach Eisenbahngesellschaft).

Four services operate each hour on the RhE line between Duisburg and Rheinhausen: the line from Mönchengladbach is served by the Niers-Haard-Express (RE 42), the Rhein-Niers-Bahn (RB 33) and the Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn (RB 35) services and the Der Niederrheiner (RB 31) service connects with the Lower Rhine Railway. After crossing over the Rhine on the Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge, which was destroyed in the Second World War and then rebuilt, all passenger trains leave the main line and continue on the branch line built in 1870 to Duisburg Hauptbahnhof.

The section of the Rhenish line from Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd to Mülheim (Ruhr) Hauptbahnhof was closed down in several stages and where it is still open it is used mainly for freight operations. As part of the merger that created the University of Duisburg-Essen there were brief but inconclusive discussions on creating a direct transport link on the route from Duisburg-Neudorf via Speldorf, Mülheim Hauptbahnhof andHeißen to Essen Nord, connecting the two campuses. Meanwhile, the overall line between Speldorf and Mülheim Hauptbahnhof was dismantled.

In Essen, the line has been interrupted several times, the bridges over Segeroth-Strasse and Hans-Böckler-Strasse were demolished and the new Berthold-Beitz-Boulevard was built on the line’s embankment. The Essen-Nord station and its two signal boxes have been decommissioned and demolished and in its place the new university district has been built. The main line from Essen-Nord to Essen-Kray Nord has been closed along with Essen-Nord station and signals have been removed from the station platforms at Essen-Kray Nord station.[3] Essen-Kray Nord and the Goldschmidt plant can still be accessed via Essen-Nord.

The Rhenish line east of Essen-Kray station running towards Bochum has also been demolished. Thus the railway bridge of the Rhenish line over the A40 in Bochum-Stahlhausen has already been removed during the upgrading of the autobahn.

The easternmost section of the line between Dortmund Dorstfeld (high level) and Dortmund Süd station has been upgraded for the S-Bahn S 4 and extended to Dortmund Lütgendortmund and is served by the S-Bahn at 20-minute intervals. From Dortmund Süd, the S 4 uses the line to Welver of the former Royal Westphalian Railway Company (Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn, KWE) to Unna-Königsborn and then the Fröndenberg–Kamen railway to Unna station.

The low level of Dortmund-Dorstfeld station is connected by S-Bahn services from Dortmund Hauptbahnhof: line S 1 runs to Essen Hauptbahnhof on the Bergisch-Märkische line and line S 2 runs to Herne station on the line to Dortmund-Mengede.

  • Freight train in Gelsenkirchen-Wattenscheid in 1993
  • Bochum-Nord station in 1995

Notes
  1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. pp. 136–40. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  2. "Der frühe Bergbau an der Ruhr" (in German). Michael Tiedt. Retrieved 18 October 2011  (with maps)
  3. "Track plan of Essen-Nord" (PDF) (in German). Deutsche Bahn. Retrieved 18 October 2011.

NRW rail archive of André Joost:

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