Almelo–Salzbergen railway

Almelo–Salzbergen railway
Overview
Status Operational
Locale The Netherlands, Germany
Termini Almelo railway station
Salzbergen railway station
Stations 9
Operation
Opened 18 October 1865
Operator(s) Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Deutsche Bahn,
Syntus, Westfalenbahn
Technical
Line length 54.5 km (33.9 mi)
No. of tracks Double track
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) Standard gauge
Electrification 1.5 kV DC (Almelo - Bad Bentheim)
15 kV AC (Bad Bentheim - Salzbergen)
Operating speed 130 km/h (81 mph) (Almelo - Hengelo)
125 km/h (78 mph) (Hengelo - Salzbergen)

The Almelo-Salzbergen railway is an important Dutch and German 54 kilometre long railway line, that connects Almelo with Salzbergen, offering a rail link between The Netherlands and Germany.

Contents

History

The railway was opened by the Spoorweg-Maatschappij Almelo-Salzbergen (English:The Almelo-Salzbergen railway company) on 18 October 1865, with construction starting in 1862. In Salzbergen the line connected to the Emsland Railway, which had opened in 1855.

The Dutch section of the line (Almelo - Oldenzaal) was electrified in 1951 and the remainder of the line in 1976.

From 2006 to 2009 the line through Almelo went through a huge project called Almelo Verdiept Almelo Lowered, which moved the railway line through the centre of Almelo into a lowered embankment, with sections of tunnels.

Route

The line leaves Almelo in a south easterly direction towards Hengelo. Before Hengelo station the line from Zutphen railway station joins on and after the station the line to Enschede railway station leaves in a south easterly direction. From Hengelo the line heads north east towards the former border station of Oldenzaal and heads east across the border to Bad Bentheim. Here the electric current changes, which often results in a change from a Dutch to a German locomotive. At Bad Bentheim the private freight railway to Nordhorn and Coevorden leave, heading north. The line continues through large areas of countryside, when the line joins with the Emsland Railway from Emden before arriving at Salzbergen.

Main stations

The main stations on the Almelo–Salzbergen railway are:

Train Services

The Almelo–Salzbergen railway is used by the following passenger services:

Train Types

A wide variety of trains can be found regularly on the Almelo-Salzbergen railway:

There are also large numbers of freight trains operating along the line.

Gallery

See Also