| RE 16 Ruhr-Lenne-Express | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route number | 415, 427, 440 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) | VIAS Rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 153 km (95 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating speed | 140 km/h (87 mph) (maximum) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ruhr-Lenne-Express (RE 16) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, running from Essen via Bochum, Witten, Bochum, Hagen and Iserlohn-Letmathe to Iserlohn. It is operated by VIAS Rail hourly. [2]
In the summer of 2001, DB Reise&Touristik abandoned InterRegio line 22, which ran from Frankfurt on the Ruhr–Sieg railway to Düsseldorf (until the summer of 1999 to Münster), continuing once a day to Norddeich Mole). The RE 16 (Ruhr-Sieg-Express) service was established to replace it from the timetable change of 10 June 2001 by the transport association of the Rhine-Ruhr, Ruhr-Lippe and Westfalen-Süd. The newly created service ran initially via Siegen to Au (Sieg); this branch was taken over in December 2002 by the RB 95 (Sieg-Dill-Bahn) service operated by Deutsche Bahn and operated since December 2004 under the brand name of DreiLänderBahn.
In 2004, the operations of the RE 16 was tendered together with the RB 40 (Ruhr-Lenne-Bahn), RB 56 (Der Iserlohner) and RB 91 (Ruhr-Sieg-Bahn) services as the Ruhr-Sieg network. The tender was won by Abellio Rail and the operations of the tendered lines was awarded for twelve years from 9 December 2007. With the commencement of Abellio services, Welschen Ennest was added as a stop.
After Abellio went bankrupt, the line has been operated by DB Regio again since 1 February 2022. [3]
When the timetable changed in December 2022, the former branch from Iserlohn-Letmathe to Siegen was taken over by the new RE 34 (Dortmund–Siegerland-Express). Since then, there has been no splitting of trains in Letmathe. Because the trains now only run between Essen and Iserlohn, the line was renamed the "Ruhr-Lenne-Express". RE 16 and RE 34 leave Letmathe at intervals of a few minutes one after the other. From Siegen to Hagen and vice versa, it is possible to change trains in Letmathe on the same platform.
The Ruhr-Sieg-Express runs daily every hour and utilises four railway lines built by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company:
There are plans, with the introduction of the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network commenced in 2020, for the Ruhr-Sieg-Express and the Ruhr-Lenne-Bahn services to run between Essen and Bochum on the S-Bahn route via Wattenscheid-Höntrop instead of on the main line via Wattenscheid. The Ruhr-Lenne-Bahn would then run via Essen-Steele rather than Essen-Kray Süd.
The Ruhr-Sieg-Express is operated under the integrated regular-interval timetable of North Rhine-Westphalia, called NRW-Takt, under which trains arrive at major interchange stations at roughly the same time in order to facilitate transfers.
To supplement services in parallel with the Ruhr-Sieg-Express, two Regionalbahn services are operated, the Ruhr-Lenne-Bahn (RB 40) between Essen and Hagen and the Ruhr-Sieg-Bahn (RB 91) between Hagen and Siegen/Iserlohn. Due to the different number of intermediate stops for the different services, the combined services only provides stops at stations served by the express trains at approximately 30-minute intervals.
In Siegen, the Ruhr-Sieg-Express has regular-interval connections with the Rhein-Sieg-Express (RE 9) towards Cologne, the Sieg-Dill-Bahn (RB 95) to Au (Sieg) and Dillenburg, as well as the Main-Sieg-Express (RE 99) to Gießen, continuing every two hours to Frankfurt.
There are other connections in Iserlohn to the Ardey-Bahn (RB 53) to Dortmund and in Finnentrop to the Biggesee-Express (RB 92) to Olpe. In Iserlohn-Letmathe, it is a possible to change from services from Siegen to services to Iserlohn and vice versa each hour.
Coming from Siegen/Iserlohn on the RE 16, it is possible to change in Hagen to the Volmetal-Bahn (RB 52) to Dortmund and Lüdenscheid, the Maas-Wupper-Express (RE 13) to Hamm and Venlo, the Sauerland-Express (RE 17) to Warburg and long-distance services to Bremen/Hamburg and Hannover/Leipzig.
In the early days of the Ruhr-Sieg-Express it was mainly operated with class 425 electric multiple units, but later the rolling stock used varied considerably.
So sometimes two class 426 EMUs were coupled, sometimes a class 425 and a class 426 set were coupled and sometimes singled sets were operated. Occasionally a triple set of class 426 was operated, which sometimes caused problems. In the last weeks before the change of operator this often occurred, as the class 425 sets were no longer used.
The use of both classes ended at the timetable change on 9 December 2007, when Abellio Rail NRW took over operations on the line with two-and three-part Stadler FLIRT EMUs. The EMUs were taken over by DB Regio after the change of operator in February 2022 and are continuing to be used. The line has been operated by Vias since 10 December 2023, using the same FLIRT EMUs.
Hagen-Hohenlimburg, on the Lenne river, is a borough of the city of Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Abellio Deutschland is a public transit operator in Germany operating bus and rail networks. Headquartered in Berlin, it is a subsidiary of the Dutch state-owned Abellio.
The Witten/Dortmund, Oberhausen/Duisburg railway is one of the most important railways in Germany. It is the main axis of long distance and regional rail transport on the east–west axis of the Ruhr and is served by Intercity-Express, InterCity, Regional-Express, Regionalbahn and S-Bahn trains.
The Sieg Railway (‹See Tfd›German: Siegstrecke is a 100-kilometre long, electrified German main line railway between Cologne-Deutz via Porz, Troisdorf, Siegburg, Hennef, Au, Betzdorf to Siegen with a through service to Cologne Hauptbahnhof. Although most of it is two-track, two five-kilometre sections are only single track. Both ends of the line are in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, but between Au and Niederschelden it runs through Rhineland-Palatinate. It is one of the oldest lines in Germany, opened between 1859 and 1862 by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company.
The Ruhr–Sieg railway is a 106 km long double-track, electrified main line from Hagen to Siegen via Iserlohn-Letmathe, Finnentrop and Kreuztal in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The line, which has many tunnels, runs primarily through the valley of the Lenne. South of Altenhundem it crosses the watershed between the Lenne and the Sieg. The line was opened between 1859 and 1861 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany.
Essen-Steele is located in the district of Essen-Steele in the German city of Essen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg line and is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 4 station. It is served by the RB 33 (Rhein-Niers-Bahn) Aachen / Heinsberg, RE 49 (Wupper-Lippe-Express) and Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn lines S1, S3 and S9.
The NRW-Express is a Regional-Express rail service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Aachen via Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund to Hamm as line RE 1. The line is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network and is operated by National Express.
The Rhein Weser Express is a Regional-Express service route in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, connecting some of the most important cities in Westphalia with the Ruhr. Cologne, Neuss, Düsseldorf and Duisburg lie on the Rhine while Minden lies on the Weser.
The Rhein-Münsterland-Express is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The hourly service initially runs to the south east from Krefeld via Neuss to Cologne and then turns to run to the northeast via Solingen, Wuppertal, Hagen to Münster. Every two hours it continues to Rheine.
The Wupper-Express is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) running between Aachen and Dortmund via Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal and Hagen. It is the third most widely used Regional-Express line in the area administered by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) with approximately 24,000 passengers a day. The line is part of the Rhein-Ruhr-Express (RRX) network and is operated by National Express Germany.
The Rhein-Hellweg-Express is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Kassel via Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf Airport to Düsseldorf Hbf. It is named after the Rhine and the Westphalian Hellweg. The line is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network and is operated by National Express.
The Rhein-Emscher-Express is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Düsseldorf via Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund to Hamm. It connects with the rest of the regional rail network of NRW in Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Wanne-Eickel, Dortmund and Hamm. In addition, it connects in Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Dortmund and Hamm with long-distance services.
Bochum-Langendreer station is now a stop on the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn in the district of Langendreer in eastern Bochum in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Langendreer formerly had a 40 hectare marshalling yard, which is now used as a depot, with the location code of EBLA. Until the 1980s, the yard was also the location of a passenger station, which was served by express trains.
The Letmathe–Fröndenberg railway is a two-track, partially electrified and partially disused branch line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. For over 100 years it ran from Letmathe via Iserlohn, Hemer and Menden to Fröndenberg. The section between Hemer and Iserlohn and the branch line from Hemer to Sundwig have been closed and dismantled.
Hagen-Hohenlimburg station is the only station in the Hohenlimburg district of Hagen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the Ruhr–Sieg railway and classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station.
The Sauerland Net is a group of railway services in the western Sauerland and the eastern Ruhr of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and consists of four Regionalbahn services, RB 43 (Dortmund–Dorsten), RB 52 (Dortmund–Hagen–Lüdenscheid), RB 53 (Dortmund–Schwerte–Iserlohn) and RB 54 (Unna–Fröndenberg–Menden–Neuenrade), and the Regional-Express service RE 57. The RB 43 also carries the brand name of the Emschertal-Bahn, the RB 52 is called the Volmetal-Bahn, the RB 53 is called the Ardey-Bahn, the RB 54 is called the Hönnetal-Bahn and the RE 57 is called the Dortmund Sauerland-Express. In December 2004, DB Regio NRW took over or retained operations of these services. Previously the RB 53, RB 54 and RE 57 had been operated by DB Regio NRW and RB 52 had been operated by the Dortmund-Märkische Eisenbahn (DME).
The Ardey Railway is a 38 km long railway line running from Dortmund via Schwerte to Iserlohn in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Vias GmbH is a rail service company based in Frankfurt (Germany). The name of the company was taken from the Latin word via for way and the letter S for service. It operates rail services in the states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Wupper-Lippe-Express is an hourly Regional-Express service in German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which forms part of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn. It connects Wesel with Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof via Oberhausen and Essen.
The Kreuztal–Cölbe railway is a 88-kilometre-long main line in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It branches off the Ruhr–Sieg railway at Kreuztal and runs via Erndtebrück, Bad Laasphe and Biedenkopf to Cölbe. Operationally, the line is now divided into two parts. The Kreuztal–Erndtebrück section is operated together with the Erndtebrück–Bad Berleburg railway as the Rothaar-Bahn and the subsequent section to Cölbe, now operated by the Kurhessenbahn, is called the Obere Lahntalbahn. Trains at the eastern end of the line run to/from Marburg (Lahn).
