Cologne Airport loop

Cologne Airport loop
Overview
Native name	Flughafenschleife Köln
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia
Line number	450.13 (S-Bahn) 465 (East Rhine Railway) 472 (High-speed line)
Technical
Line length	15.2[1] km (9.4 mi)
Operating speed	130km/h (max)
Route number	2691 (2692/3/4)
Route map Legend 5.5         Airport northwest junction(Long distance) 0,0 Airport northeast junction(S-Bahn) 1.5 Köln-Frankfurter Straße 8.5   2.3 Frankfurter Straße junction A59 Köln-Kalk–Overath railway Schloß-Röttgen Tunnel (1,047 m) Airport Tunnel (4,210 m) 15.2         Cologne/Bonn Airport A59 18.5   0.0 Porz-Wahn Nord junction Sieg Railway from Cologne High-speed line from Cologne 1.3 Porz-Wahn 19.5         Porz-Wahn Süd junction Source: German railway atlas[2]

The Cologne Airport Loop is a 15.2 kilometre-long railway line, which connects the Cologne/Bonn Airport station to the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line. The loop is used by Intercity-Express trains, the Rhine-Erft Express (RE 8) and S-Bahn line 13.

Route

View from ICE train to Cologne on high-speed line about to pass under the southern end of the loop line

North portal of the Schloß-Röttgen Tunnel

The double track line branches off the high-speed rail line north-west of the Cologne district of Gremberghoven and crosses the B8 highway (Frankfurter Straße). After the A59 autobahn underpass it swings towards the southeast and crosses farmland in a cutting. The newly established Frankfurter Strasse station connects the industrial zone of Gremberghoven and the Airport Business Park to public transport. The station is served by the S-Bahn and the S-Bahn-like Oberbergische line RB25 regional service on the Köln-Kalk–Overath railway.^[1]

After passing under the Schloß-Röttgen tunnel (1,047 m) the line turns to run parallel and to the north of the A59 in a northeasterly direction to the Airport interchange and the Porz-Grengel motorway junction. It then enters into the 4,210 m Airport Tunnel. It passes the Wahner Heide nature reserve and through the airport, the airport station and back under the A59 completely underground. The route then returns to the surface and passes between Eisdorf and Wahn on a ridge. After a 400 m long embankment, the line connects with the new line.^[1]

The line runs for 15.19 kilometres, with 2.50 km of the line at ground level, 5.01 km in cuttings, 1.01 km on embankments, 5.26 km in tunnel and 1.41 km on bridges and ramps.^[1]

History

The connection of the airport loop railway was approved by the Federal Government on 20 December 1989 as part of the decision to build the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line on its current alignment.^[3] The construction of the Airport Link began on 4 December 2000 at Porz-Wahn station and was handed over to its operator on 12 June 2004.

Operating

While the airport loop was planned and built as part of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed line, few trains run along both lines. The main mode of transport on the airport loop is S-Bahn line S13 between Cologne and Troisdorf with 58 pairs of trains on weekdays. The connection to the south is served very poorly. The Regional-Express line RE 8 operates over the airport loop every hour. However, the first train from the south reaches the airport after 7 AM and on Sundays, after 10 AM. Getting to the airport earlier than this from Bonn and Koblenz is only possible on significantly slower indirect services.

Most of the hourly Intercity-Express services between Cologne and Berlin start or stop at the airport station. This creates operational problems, as the airport station was planned as a through station only and no turning facilities were built. Since the station has limited facilities, the terminating ICE trains take up platform space properly reserved for S-Bahn trains. As a result, two thirds of the S-Bahn trains operating towards Cologne must use the outer platform, with the low platforms designed in Germany for long-distance trains, twenty centimetres lower than appropriate for S-Bahn trains, thus creating a step between the platform and the carriage floor.

References