The Bochum Stadtbahn is a Light Rail system in the cities of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen and the surrounding cities of Herne, Hattingen and Witten, and is operated by BOGESTRA. It consists of one real Stadtbahn line and some sections of tram tunnel under the city centres of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen.[1]
The only real Stadtbahn line is the U35. It runs north-south from Schloss Strünkede in Herne, via the city centre of Bochum and the Ruhr University Bochum, to Querenburg in Bochum. More than two-thirds of this line runs underground.[2] Only the southernmost six stations are at grade in the middle of a freeway. On this section, there are three crossings, making it not a true metro. The U35 is by far the busiest public transport line in the service area of BOGESTRA. Therefore, it is the only one to run every 5 minutes on weekdays and the only one on which the trains consist of two coupled train sets.
The other planned Stadtbahn lines were never finished, but parts of them were built and are in use. In Bochum, two more tunnels were built under the city centre, one east-west tunnel and one northeast-southwest tunnel. Both of them have four underground stations. In Gelsenkirchen a tunnel was built as well. It begins at the train station and from there heads north, via the city centre.
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