Dortmund–Soest railway

The Dortmund–Soest railway is a line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs from Dortmund Hauptbahnhof through the southern Dortmund district of Holzwickede to Unna and from there through the Hellweg Börde parallel to the Haarstrang ridge on the southern edge of the Westphalian Lowland via Werl to Soest. As the line was opened in 1855, it is one of the oldest railways in Germany.

Dortmund–Soest railway
Overview
Native name	Bahnstrecke Dortmund–Soest
Line number	2103
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia
Service
Route number	431
Technical
Line length	54 km (34 mi)
Number 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
Operating speed	150 km/h (93 mph) (max)
Route map Main line from Hamm Line from Lünen 164.4 Dortmund Hbf Line to Wanne-Eickel Main line to Bochum/Witten Dortmund West (planned) S4; lines from Dortmund-Lüttgendortmund and to Unna S-Bahn line to Witten S5 lines from Dortmund-Dortmunderfeld, D-Huckarde and D-Lüttgendortmund 169.3 Schnettkerbrücke junction 170.1 Dortmund Signal-Iduna-Park* Connecting line to Rhenish line Former Rhenish line Former Elias Railway Formerly from Elias Railway 173.0 Dortmund-Hörde Ardey Railway to Iserlohn 177.0 Dortmund-Aplerbeck 179.6 Dortmund-Sölde Line from Hagen 182.0 Holzwickede S-Bahn line from Unna-Königsborn S4 188.9 Unna Line to Fröndenberg Line to Hamm 193.7 Lünern 196.9 Hemmerde 204.6 Werl 207.9 Westönnen 210.9 Ostönnen Line from Hamm 218.4 Soest Line to Warburg Source: German railway atlas * formerly Dortmund Westfalenhalle

This electrified route is entirely double track and is classified as a main line. It is served for its full length by the Regionalbahn RB 59 Hellwegbahn service of the Hellweg Network.

History

After an initial proposal to build a railway from Dortmund to Soest was approved in 1850, on 3 June 1852, the Prussian king, Frederick William IV issued a cabinet order authorising the construction of the line from Dortmund-Hörde to Soest. Construction began on 15 September 1853 in Werl. After a first test run on 7 June 1855, the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (German: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) operated the first scheduled train from Dortmund to Soest on 9 July 1855. The line was double tracked in 1866 and electrified by the end of 1970.

Operations

Eurobahn Hellweg-Bahn service in Westönnen

Regionalbahn RB 59 Hellweg-Bahn services run on the route Dortmund–Soest line, every half hour from Monday to Friday and every hour on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Hellweg-Bahn has been operated by the Eurobahn company since 14 December 2008, after winning the contract. These services are operated by Stadler FLIRT Electric multiple units at speeds of up to 160 km/h (99 mph).

The line's finances and tariffs are managed by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (Rhine-Ruhr Transport Association, VRR) and the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe (Ruhr-Lippe Transport Community, VRL).

Further reading

• Günter Krause (2005). "Die Hellweg Bahn. Vom Revier aufs Land. 150 Jahre Dortmund–Soest". Eisenbahn Geschichte (in German) (11): 42–50.
• Axel Heimsoth (2006). Die Wiederentdeckung des Hellwegs – Regionale Identität im Spiegel verkehrspolitischer Diskussionen bis zum Bau der Dortmund-Soester-Eisenbahn (in German). Essen: Klartext Verlag. ISBN 3-89861-591-X.