Rhein-Niers-Bahn

The Rhine-Niers-Bahn (RB 33) is a Regionalbahn service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It connects Essen Hbf, Duisburg Hbf on the Rhine with Mönchengladbach on the Niers, Aachen and Heinsberg (sections of timetable routes 420, 425 and 485).

RB 33 Rhein-Niers-Bahn
Overview
LocaleNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number420, 425, 485
Technical
Operating speed140 km/h (87 mph) (maximum)
Route map

0 000
Wesel
(until 12/2016)
4 000
Friedrichsfeld (Niederrhein)
(until 12/2016)
8 000
Voerde (Niederrhein)
(until 12/2016)
13 000
Dinslaken
(until 12/2016)
19 000
Oberhausen-Holten
(until 12/2016)
23 000
Oberhausen-Sterkrade
(until 12/2016)
27 000
Oberhausen Hbf
(until 12/2016)
000
Essen Hbf
(since 12/2019)
ICE, IC
000
Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf
(since 12/2019)
ICE, IC
000
Mülheim (Ruhr)-Styrum
(since 12/2019)
35 000
Duisburg Hbf
ICE, IC
39 004
Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd
41 006
Rheinhausen-Ost
42 007
Rheinhausen
47 012
Krefeld-Hohenbudberg Chempark
49 014
Krefeld-Uerdingen
51 016
Krefeld-Linn
53 018
Krefeld-Oppum
56 021
Krefeld Hbf
IC
61 026
Forsthaus
65 030
Anrath
71 036
Viersen
IC
80 045
Mönchengladbach Hbf
ICE, IC
49
Rheydt Hbf
52
Wickrath
57
Herrath
61
Erkelenz
68
Hückelhoven-Baal
72
Brachelen
0 000
Heinsberg (Rheinl)
(since 12/2013)
1 000
Heinsberg Kreishaus
(since 12/2013)
3 000
Heinsberg-Oberbruch
(since 12/2013)
5 000
Heinsberg-Dremmen
(since 12/2013)
6 000
Heinsberg-Porselen
(since 12/2013)
8 000
Heinsberg-Horst
(since 12/2013)
9 000
Heinsberg-Randerath
(since 12/2013)
12 074
Lindern
Portion working with reversal
19 081
Geilenkirchen
24 086
Übach-Palenberg
31 093
Herzogenrath
37 099
Kohlscheid
(until 12/2013, since 12/2016)
42 104
Aachen West
44 106
Aachen Schanz
45 107
Aachen Hbf
THA, ICE, IC
Source: German railway atlas[1]

Operations

The service runs every hour between Essen and Aachen. In Lindern station between Mönchengladbach and Aachen, trains running from Aachen are uncoupled. The front section of the train continues as before running towards Mönchengladbach, while the rear section of the train is uncoupled and reverses to run towards Heinsberg. On the way back it is again coupled with a set coming from Mönchengladbach and continues as a coupled set towards Aachen.

Class 425 and class 426 electric multiple units are usually used on the line as double sets. In exceptional cases (e.g. in case of problems with EMUS during the leaf-fall season) push–pull trains, consisting of Silberling carriages and a class 111 locomotive are used. The service is operated by DB Regio–Region NRW.

History

At first, the service only ran between Wesel or Duisburg and Mönchengladbach. It was created at the timetable change in December 2002 as an extension to Duisburg of the Mönchengladbach–Aachen section of the Grenzlandbahn ("border land railway"), which until then had started in Mönchengladbach, where it connected with the Rhein-Emscher-Express, and run via Aachen over the Cologne–Aachen railway to Köln Messe/Deutz station as route RB 21.

This resulted in the following method of operations, which operated until December 2016. The line was formed of two hourly services, which were offset by about 30 minutes:

  1. Wesel–Duisburg–Krefeld–Mönchengladbach
  2. Duisburg–Krefeld–Mönchengladbach–Lindern–Aachen; this includes a portion that is worked between Heinsberg and Lindern.

This meant there were services every 30 minutes on the section between Duisburg and Mönchengladbach. From December 2016 the Wesel–Duisburg–Krefeld–Mönchengladbach service has been operated as the Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn (RB 35).

The 1998 transport plan of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the resolution adopting it provided for the renaming of the Rhine-Nier-Bahn. It would operate from 2015 on the Wesel–Duisburg section as S-Bahn line S 20, which would continue from Duisburg towards Düsseldorf. On the Wickrathberg–Duisburg section, the Rhine-Nier-Bahn would from no later than 2015 run as the S 21, which would continue from Duisburg to Kamen. There was no provision in the plan for adoption of the Aachen–Wickrathberg section into the S-Bahn network. These plans were not implemented.

On 1 March 2008, the AVV published the Zukunftskonzept 2015 (future concept 2015), which envisaged the Rhein-Niers-Bahn (RB 33) being operated from both Duisburg and Mönchengladbach and Heinsberg to Aachen via Lindern. Thus, the Rhein-Niers-Bahn would take over operations on the Heinsberg–Lindern railway, with services to be operated by Euregiobahn under contract.[2] The final plans ultimately provided for portion working, in which two units of class 425 sets running from Aachen in double traction would be uncoupled.[3] This concept was finally implemented at the timetable change on 15 December 2013.

The existing stop in Kohlscheid station was deleted with the introduction of the new timetable. However, the stop at Kohlscheid station was restored at the timetable change on 13 December 2015 at the request of many customers.

Since the timetable change on 11 December 2016, a double set consisting of a class 425 (running to Duisburg) and a class 426 (running to Heinsberg) has been used as a rule. The Rhein-Niers-Bahn was extended to Essen Hauptbahnhof via Mülheim on 15 December 2019.

Route

The Regionalbahn service runs over the full length of the following railway lines:

The former northern section of the line also operated over:

Notes

  1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  2. "Modifikation des Zielnetzes (2016) für den SPNV im Gebiet des AVV (euregiobahn und Bahnverkehr NL)" (PDF) (in German). Aachener Zeitung. 10 October 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  3. "Betriebskonzept der Rhein-Niers-Bahn" (in German). Wurmtalbahn. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2017.

See also

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