Rhein-Hellweg-Express

RE 11: Rhein-Hellweg-Express
200px
Overview
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Technical
Line length
Route number	415, 430
Route map Hamm (Westf) ICE, IC Nordbögge (not hourly) Kamen Kamen-Methler Dortmund-Kurl Dortmund-Scharnhorst (not hourly) Dortmund Hbf ICE, IC Bochum Hbf ICE, IC Wattenscheid Essen Hbf ICE, IC Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf Duisburg Hbf ICE, IC Rheinhausen Krefeld-Uerdingen Krefeld Hbf Viersen Mönchengladbach Hbf ICE, IC Source: German railway atlas

The Rhein-Hellweg-Express (RE 11) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Hamm via Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Duisburg and Krefeld to Mönchengladbach.

History

In 1988 the first regular interval regional rapid train service was established from Dortmund via Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf to Cologne. This operated hourly on the Cologne–Duisburg and Dortmund–Duisburg lines, which even then were the most important railway lines for passenger traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia.

With the introduction of high-speed regional services in the early 1990s, this line was named the NRW-Express (originally numbered RSB 1; from 1995 it was redesignated as Stadt-Express line SE 1) and ran from Bielefeld via Hamm, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Cologne to Aachen. With the extension of the service on the Hamm–Bielefeld and Cologne–Aachen lines, the service soon had insufficient capacity. Therefore, in May 1998 with the NRW-wide implementation of regional express lines, the NRW-Express (now RE 1) was supplemented by the Westfalen-Express (RE 6) from Bielefeld via Hamm, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg to Düsseldorf so that on the northern section there were two Regional-Expresses per hour.

After the timetable change in December 2002, services on the central Ruhr axis between Hamm and Düsseldorf increased to five Regional-Express services in each two hour period with the introduction of the new Rhein-Hellweg-Express (RE 11) at two hourly intervals, from Düsseldorf to Hamm and continuing on the line to Paderborn.

When the timetable change in December 2010 there was an exchange of sections between the NRW-Express, the Rhein-Hellweg Express and Rhein-Haard-Express (RE 2):

• The section of the Rhein-Hellweg-Express from Hamm via Soest and Lippstadt to Paderborn was taken over by the NRW-Express; this section continues to be operated only every two hours.
• The section of the Rhein-Hellweg Express between Duisburg and Düsseldorf (now operated hourly) was taken over by the Rhein-Haard-Express. In return, the Rhein-Hellweg Express runs (now also hourly) on the section between Duisburg and Mönchengladbach. The Duisburg–Mönchengladbach line is for the first time connected directly to the eastern Ruhr region by Regional-Express services.

The timetable change increased service levels: there are now three Regional-Express trains per hour between Hamm and Duisburg (RE 1, 6 and 11), a four hourly Regional-Express services between Hamm and Dortmund (with the addition of RE 3), between Bochum and Essen (with RE 16) and between Essen and Duisburg (with RE 2).

Route

The Rhein-Hellweg Express runs daily every hour and utilises four railway lines:

• The Dortmund–Hamm railway (built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company), which is also used by three other Regional-Express services and long-distance trains,
• the Ruhr line from Dortmund to Duisburg (built by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company), using the long-distance tracks, which is also used by regional and long-distance trains,
• The Osterath–Dortmund Süd railway (built by the Rhenish Railway Company) from Duisburg to Krefeld-Uerdingen, which is also used by other regional services and freight trains,
• the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach railway (built by the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company), which is also used by other regional services and freight trains.

Operations

RE 11 services runs hourly from Monday to Sunday. Initially, when the service operated between Hamm and Paderborn on weekdays at two hourly intervals, trains were composed of class 110 and 111 locomotives, usually hauling five Silberling carriages. But it was soon noticed that the number of passengers required higher capacity, which meant that class 112 (sometimes class 111) locomotives are now used with four double-decker carriages. The carriages have air conditioning and are approved for a maximum speed of 160 km/h (99 mph). The service has an average speed of 81 km/h (50 mph).

Since 21 February 2011, in addition to the double-decker trains, class 425 electric multiple units are used on the Rhein-Hellweg Express, these had previously been modernised for use on this service. Double-deck trains remain operating on the line until the completion of the conversion of the class 425 EMUs.

Operator

The line is operated by DB Regio NRW under a special contract with the North Rhine-Westphalian public transport associations. DB Regio NRW has the contract to operate the line until the timetable change on 13 December 2015; in turn it is committed to use only air-conditioned double-deck carriages.

See also

• List of regional rail lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
• List of scheduled railway routes in Germany