Rhein-Haard-Express

The Rhein-Haard-Express (RE 2) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Osnabrück via Münster, Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen, Essen and Duisburg to Düsseldorf.

RE 2 Rhein-Haard-Express
Overview
LocaleNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number425
Technical
Line length144 km (89 mi)
Operating speed160 km/h (99 mph) (maximum)
Route map

0
Osnabrück Hbf
9
Hasbergen
14
Natrup-Hagen
(every 2 hours)
19
Lengerich (Westf)
27
Kattenvenne
(every 2 hours)
33
Ostbevern
39
Westbevern
50
Münster (Westf) Hbf
ICE, IC
79
Dülmen
92
Haltern am See
107
Recklinghausen Hbf
IC
117
Wanne-Eickel Hbf
IC
122
Gelsenkirchen Hbf
IC
130
Essen Hbf
THA, ICE, IC
139
Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf
IC
149
Duisburg Hbf
THA, ICE, IC
former route to Mönchengladbach (see below)
166
Düsseldorf Airport
ICE, IC
173
Düsseldorf Hbf
THA, ICE, IC
Source: NRW rail archive,[1] German railway atlas[2]
Route from 12/2002 until 12/2010
Current route from Münster to Düsseldorf
(see above)
107
Rheinhausen
113
Krefeld-Uerdingen
119
Krefeld Hbf
134
Viersen
143
Mönchengladbach Hbf
ICE, IC
RE 42 Niers-Haard-Express
Overview
LocaleNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number425
Technical
Line length123 km (76 mi)
Operating speed160 km/h (99 mph) (maximum)
Route map

0
Münster (Westf) Hbf
ICE, IC
10
Münster-Albachten
13
Bösensell
17
Nottuln-Appelhülsen
22
Buldern
29
Dülmen
37
Sythen
42
Haltern am See
51
Marl-Sinsen
57
Recklinghausen Hbf
ICE, IC
63
Recklinghausen Süd
67
Wanne-Eickel Hbf
IC
72
Gelsenkirchen Hbf
ICE, IC
80
Essen Hbf
THA, ICE, IC
89
Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf
IC
99
Duisburg Hbf
THA, ICE, IC
107
Rheinhausen
113
Krefeld-Uerdingen
119
Krefeld Hbf
134
Viersen
143
Mönchengladbach Hbf
ICE, IC
Source: NRW rail archive,[3] German railway atlas[2]

The Haard-Bahn (RB 42) operated at an interval of about half an hour after RE 2 on the section between Münster and Essen. This differed only by an additional stop in Recklinghausen Süd, which RE 2 stops at only in the off-peak.

On 11 December 2016, the Haard-Bahn was renamed the Niers-Haard-Express (RE 42) and extended to Duisburg, Krefeld and Mönchengladbach. Since December 2019, the additional trains in the peak hour between Haltern am See and Essen have been replaced by a service every 30 minutes between Münster and Essen.

History

The Rhein-Haard-Express operated from 1998 to 2002 as the Haard-Express only between Münster and Essen. From the timetable change in December 2002, it ran via Duisburg to Mönchengladbach, taking over the Duisburg–Mönchengladbach section from the Rhein-Emscher-Express (RE 3), which ran to Düsseldorf instead.

With the timetable change on 12 December 2010 there was another exchange of routes with the Duisburg–Mönchengladbach section operated by the Rhein-Hellweg-Express (RE 11), which now runs hourly between Hamm and Mönchengladbach.

In return the Rhein-Haard-Express took over the Duisburg–Düsseldorf section and also operates as an hourly service. In this section, there are normally five Regional-Express services per hour (RE 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6), and four Regional-Express trains per hour on the Essen-Duisburg section (RE 1, 2, 6 and 11).

Since the timetable change on 12 December 2010, the Rhein-Haard-Express trains have operated with five instead of four carriages.[4] After an EU-wide tender, DB Regio NRW contract to operate the service has been extended from December 2014 to December 2029.[5]

With the timetable change in December 2016, there was a further change in the route of the service. The RE 11 service returned to its former route between Duisburg and Düsseldorf. The section of the RE 2's former route between Essen to Mönchengladbach, was not resumed by the Rhein-Haardt-Express. Instead, the Haard-Bahn (RB 42), which previously ran between Münster and Essen on the same route as the Rhein-Haardt-Express, was extended to Mönchengladbach and renamed the Rhein-Haard-Express (RE 42).[6] This reflects the fact that the train does not stop at every station between Duisburg and Mönchengladbach, unlike the parallel Rhein-Niers-Bahn (RB 33) and Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn (RB 35), so it was considered appropriate to designate it as an "express".

At the timetable change in December 2019, the Rhein-Haard-Express on the Münster–Essen section was accelerated by skipping stops and extended to the Lower Saxony regional centre of Osnabrück. At the same time, the Niers-Haard-Express began operating at half-hourly intervals on this section, stopping at all intermediate stations.[7]

Route

The Rhein-Haard-Express runs daily every hour and utilises five railway lines:

Rail services

The Rhein-Haard-Express runs every hour and stops between Wanne-Eickel and Münster only in Recklinghausen Hbf, Haltern am See and Dülmen, vur stopping at every stop north of Münster. It runs on a long section parallel to S-Bahn lines and from Münster to Duisburg it runs on the same route as the Niers-Haard-Express (RE 42).

The RE 2 is operated by DB Regio AG, using push-pull trains of five double-deck carriages hauled by class 146 electric locomotives at speeds of up to 160 km/h. The RE 42 is operated with class 1428 (Stadler FLIRT) sets, which are slower that the RE 2 trains but have better acceleration. As a result, the Rhein-Haard-Express takes two minutes longer between Essen and Münster than the Niers-Haard-Express. The average speed is 71 km/h.

In the evening or at night, when the RE 42 no longer runs, the Rhein-Haard-Express stops at all stations between Essen and Münster.

The Rhein-Haard-Express was the last RE line in North Rhine-Westphalia that still featured a so-called ZugCafé (dining car). In recent years, this bistro was only open during the peak hour from Monday to Friday. With the new contract awarded to DB Regio AG for the operation of the service from 14 December 2014, continued operation of the bistro was omitted.

The sets have been converted for the Rhein-Haard-Express, so that the first class seating is now be located in the control car. This is where step-free access and a toilet for the disabled is located, along with bicycle parking spaces. The control car heads the trains running towards Düsseldorf, while the locomotive leads towards Münster. Barrier-free entry and exit is not always possible because some stations have a platform height of only 38 centimetres above the rail.

The Rhein-Haard-Express connects in Munster, Gelsenkirchen, Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf with other transport services. In addition, it has direct connections with long-distance rail services in Duisburg and Münster.

Two North Rhine-Westphalian municipal transport associations, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr ("Rhine-Ruhr Transport Association", VRR) and the Zweckverband SPNV Münsterland ("Münsterland rail transport association", ZVM) are involved in the operation of the service. After a call for tenders from European companies to operate the Rhein-Haard-Express and the Haard-Bahn, the contract for operating both lines was awarded in 2001 for the period from 2004 to 2014 to DB Regio NRW.

Notes

  1. "Rhein-Haard-Express". NRW rail archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  2. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  3. "Haard-Bahn". NRW rail archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  4. "RE 2 (Rhein-Haard-Express)" (in German). Deutsche Bahn. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  5. Stefan Hennigfeld (11 January 2012). "VRR und NWL erteilen DB Regio NRW den Zuschlag zur Haardachse". Eisenbahnjournal Zughalt.de (in German).
  6. "Rhein-Ruhr-Express: Mobilitätsprojekt mit Zukunft" (PDF) (Press release) (in German). RRX. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  7. "Neues zum Fahrplanwechsel im Dezember 2019" (in German). Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr. Retrieved 18 February 2019.

See also

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