History
The station grew out of the Pluto-Thies freight yard, opened in 1856 on the Duisburg–Dortmund line section of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company's trunk line, which was opened in 1847. In 1864, a halt was opened there for passengers. In 1867 a new freight yard was opened, which was initially called Pluto, but changed to Wanne (literally “basin”, a description of the landscape) in 1869, because the surrounding villages could not agree on a name for the yard. The station's name was reflected in 1875 when the villages of Eickel, Bicker, Crange, Holsterhausen and Röhlinghausen were merged under the name of Amt Wanne. [4]
With the opening of the line to Münster on 1 January 1870, Wanne station became a railway junction. In 1913 the station building and the track work were rebuilt and extended.
After the formation of the city of Wanne-Eickel in 1926, the station was renamed Wanne-Eickel Hauptbahnhof. It became the largest marshalling yard in the central Ruhr area and the only station in the Ruhr that included all four forms of rail operations: in addition to its role as a marshalling yard, it was the home depot for over 300 locomotives along with associated rolling stock, a freight yard and a passenger station.
Current operations
Wanne-Eickel Hauptbahnhof is a station of major traffic importance as a crossroads on the east-west Dortmund–Duisburg line and the north-south Münster–Essen line, which among other things, is the beginning of the Rollbahn (rolling railway) to Hamburg. In addition, the station is located on the Emscher Valley Railway (Dortmund–Wanne-Eickel–Dorsten) and the Bochum–Gelsenkirchen Railway (also known as the Glückauf-Bahn— a reference to Glück auf, the traditional German miners greeting). Part of the old marshalling yard still operates with shunting from west to east over a hump, but other freight operations are closed.
Following the merger of the cities of Herne and Wanne-Eickel in 1975 the name of the station remained as Wanne–Eickel Hauptbahnhof, although it is the largest station in the city of Herne on its current boundaries. In 2003, Deutsche Bahn planned to rename it Herne-Wanne or Herne Hauptbahnhof. However, these plans met with considerable resistance in the Wanne area, as well as from local politicians in Herne.
Duisburg Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the city of Duisburg in western Germany. It is situated at the meeting point of many important national and international railway lines in the Northwestern Ruhr valley.
Witten Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the town of Witten in western Germany. It is situated southwest of the town.
Line S2 is a S-Bahn line in the Rhein-Ruhr network. It starts in Dortmund Hauptbahnhof and runs westerly. During weekdays one service per hour runs each to Essen Hauptbahnhof and Recklinghausen Hauptbahnhof using Stadler FLIRT 3XL units.
Line S 4 is an S-Bahn of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn, running from Unna to the Dortmund suburb of Dortmund-Lütgendortmund. It is operated by DB Regio on behalf of Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr. It is operated at 30-minute intervals using class 422 four-car electrical multiple units.
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 Duisburg-Dortmund Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany. It is a major axis for long distance and regional passenger freight transport in the northern Ruhr. It is served by Intercity-Express, InterCity, Regional-Express, Regionalbahn and S-Bahn trains. It includes the central stations of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund and Wanne-Eickel and the regionally important stations of Essen-Altenessen and Herne. It is the middle section of the Cologne-Minden trunk line from Cologne-Deutz to Minden. It was opened in 1847 and has been modernised and developed several times since then. Today, it has two to four tracks and is electrified and classified as a main line.
Dortmund-Dorstfeld is an S-Bahn station in Dortmund in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It the second most important S-Bahn node in the city after Dortmund Hauptbahnhof. It has four above-ground tracks, which are accessible via two island platforms and two underground tracks that are accessible via side platforms. The station is classified as a category 3 station. It is served by Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn lines S1, S2 and S4.
The Gelsenkirchen Essen railway is a double-track, electrified main line railway in the central Ruhr area of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs from Essen Hauptbahnhof via Essen-Kray Nord to Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof.
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 Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd–Hamm railway, also called the Hamm-Osterfeld line, is a 76-kilometre long double-track electrified main line railway at the northern edge of the Ruhr in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Hagen-Vorhalle station is a large marshalling yard of national importance and a small passenger station for local services in the Hagen district of Vorhalle in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was opened in its present form in 1910 in and is one of the nine major marshalling yards in Germany and a key element of the 200X program to upgrade Germany's freight infrastructure initiated in 2006 by the former Railion Deutschland AG. The station is located on the Ruhr Valley Railway and the Elberfeld–Dortmund line. The station was opened on the 9 March 1849 as Herdecke station and successively renamed as Herdecke Süd, Herdecke-Vorhalle and Vorhalle. It was renamed as Hagen-Vorhalle in the early 1950s.
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.
Recklinghausen Süd station is located in the city of Recklinghausen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line. The line and station opened between 1880 and 1886, originally as Bruch station. it was renamed Recklinghausen Süd between 1897 and 1905. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station.
The Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund railway was built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company 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.
The Bochum–Essen/Oberhausen railway was built by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company to the north of its main line through the central Ruhr to tap traffic from mines and factories in the northern Ruhr region, which is now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Bochum–Gelsenkirchen railway, also known as the Glückauf-Bahn, is a passenger railway from Bochum Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) to Gelsenkirchen Central Station in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is served by Regionalbahn passenger service RB 46). It is also used by freight traffic from Bochum freight yard at the former Bochum Süd station and Bochum-Präsident to Gelsenkirchen-Schalke Nord. The line was built in sections between 1867 and 1876 of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company. The curve connecting to Bochum Central Station was opened in 1979.
Bochum Nord station was a station on the Ostring in the city of Bochum in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was built by the Rhenish Railway Company between 1871 and 1874 and opened on 15 October 1874. The station, which was originally called Bochum Rheinisch ("Rhenish") station, for a long time served passenger and freight traffic on the Osterath–Dortmund Süd railway.
Dülmen station is one of two operating tower stations in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in Dülmen in western Münsterland. It is at the crossing of the Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg and the Dortmund–Enschede railways.
The Dortmund freight bypass railway is a railway line in the north of the city of Dortmund in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is designed for the carriage of freight only, allowing freight trains that pass through Dortmund to avoid Dortmund Hauptbahnhof, reducing delays to passenger traffic and reducing threat of dangerous accidents in the city centre.
The Münster freight bypass railway is an electrified and mostly single track bypass railway in Münster in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is only regularly used by freight to avoid Münster Hauptbahnhof.
