Münster–Rheine railway

Münster–Rheine
Overview
Locale North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Line number 2931 (Hamm−Emden)
Technical
Line length 39 km (24 mi)
No. of tracks 2
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification 15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead catenary
Route number 410
Route map

Legend
 Operating points and lines[1] 
 from Almelo (NL) / Emsland Railway
 from Spelle
 from Ochtrup
 208.9 Rheine
 to Osnabrück
 Rheine marshalling yard
 to Dorsten
 202.0 Rheine-Mesum
 195.5 Emsdetten
 193.2 Emsdetten Stadt siding
 190.6 Reckenfeld
 185.2 Greven
 A 1
 179.6 Münster-Sprakel
 from Enschede
 173.4 Nevinghoff
 173.1 Münster Zentrum Nord
 from Hamburg
 from Rheda-Wiedenbrück
 170.3 Münster (Westf) Hbf
 to Lippstadt
 to Coesfeld
 to Wanne-Eickel
 to Lünen
 to Hamm

The Münster–Rheine railway is a nearly 39 km long main line railway from Münster to Rheine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is entirely double track and electrified.

It was opened by the Prussian government-funded Royal Westphalian Railway Company in 1856 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany.

History

The Royal Westphalian Railway (German: Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn, KWE) built its main line from Hamm to Warburg in the early 1850s. In 1855, the KWE took over the Munster-Hamm Railway Company (Münster-Hammer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), together with its line to Munster, which it then extended further north to Rheine. It opened its line on 23 June 1856, reaching Rheine station on the same day as both of the two sections of the Hanoverian Western Railway were completed to the station: the line from Löhne and the Emsland Railway to the North Sea port of Emden.[2]

In 1879, the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RhE) opened its own North Sea route from Duisburg via Rheine to Quakenbrück and so made the station one of the major railway junctions in north-western Germany.[3]

Current operations

IC 2333 leaving Münster Hbf to run to Norddeich Mole via Emden Hbf

Two Regional-Express service operate on the line: the RE 15 (the Emsland-Express), which runs hourly, and the RE 7 (Rhein-Münsterland-Express), which runs every two hours. The RB 65 Regionalbahn service (the Ems-Bahn) runs hourly on the line. Every two hours InterCity services between Norddeich Mole and Luxembourg run on the line.

References

  1. ↑ Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  2. ↑ "Line 2931: Bochum Hbf ↔ Gelsenkirchen-Bismark (↔ Nordstern)". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Connecting line 2273: Bottrop Delog/Detag ↔ Quakenbrück". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
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