West Rhine Railway

The West Rhine railway (German: Linke Rheinstrecke, literally 'left (bank of the) Rhine route') is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It is situated close to the western (left) bank of the river Rhine and mostly aligned to allow 160 km/h operation between Cologne and Koblenz and between Bingen and Mainz. Line speed between Koblenz and Bingen is restricted by the meandering nature of the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

West Rhine Railway
Overview
Other name(s)	Left Rhine Railway
Native name	Linke Rheinstrecke
Line number	2630
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, Germany
Termini	Cologne Mainz
Service
Route number	470
Technical
Line length	152 km (94 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead catenary
Operating speed	160 km/h (99 mph) (max)
Maximum incline	< 0.02%
Route map km Cologne–Frankfurt HSR East Rhine Railway & Sieg Railway Cologne–Duisburg railway & S-Bahn to Köln-Mülheim Köln Messe/Deutz Gruiten–Köln-Deutz railway to Köln-Mülheim Hohenzollern Bridge 2.0 Cologne Central Left Lower Rhine Railway to Neuss Cologne–Mönchengladbach railway to Mönchengladbach & Cologne–Aachen HSR to Aachen   0.4 to Cologne Central 1.1 Köln West Stadtbahn 1 7 Stadtbahn 9 3.2 Köln Süd │Köln Süd junction Stadtbahn 18 Vorgebirge Railway 3.0 Cöln-Pantaleon Cologne freight bypass railway 5.8 Köln Eifeltor A 4 8.0 Köln Eifeltor container terminal 9.4 Hürth-Kalscheuren Eifel Railway to Euskirchen 10.1 Hürth-Kalscheuren Südkopf junction 12.9 Brühl freight station to Vorgebirge Railway (to Vochem) Brühl-Vochem–Cologne- Godorf Harbour railway 14.6 Brühl 19.5 Sechtem 25.8 Roisdorf Stadtbahn 18 Vorgebirge Railway Voreifel Railway to Euskirchen 31.1 Bonn goods 31.9 Bonn Bonn–Oberkassel train ferry Bonn UN Campus 37.2 Bonn-Bad Godesberg Nord 39.0 Bonn-Bad Godesberg 41.3 Bonn-Mehlem 43.6 Bonn Neuer Weg North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate border 45.9 Rolandseck 48.2 Oberwinter 52.7 Remagen ← Ahr Valley Railway to Ahrbrück to Ludendorff Bridge → Ahrbrücke junction to Ahr Valley Railway 56.7 Sinzig 62.5 Bad Breisig Brohl Valley Railway (metre gauge) 65.7 Brohl 69.2 Namedy 73.2 Andernach Cross Eifel Railway to Kaisersesch 76.9 Weißenthurm 81.6 Urmitz Neuwied–Koblenz railway to Neuwied & East Rhine railway Koblenz substation siding to Rhine port of Koblenz Koblenz-Lützel–Mayen Ost railway to Mayen 87.0 Koblenz-Lützel Nord (DB Museum) Koblenz-Lützel–Mayen Ost railway to Mayen 89.4 Koblenz-Lützel Moselle railway bridge port railway Koblenz Rheinbahnhof freight to Moselle line Koblenz-Stadtmitte Pfaffendorf Bridge (now road bridge) to East Rhine Railway Koblenz–Trier railway to Trier 91.2 Koblenz Horchheim Railway Bridge Lahntal railway to East Rhine Railway 94.3 Königsbach 99.8 Rhens 103.3 Spay Hunsrück Railway to Emmelshausen 110.7 Boppard 115.6 Boppard-Bad Salzig 119.4 Boppard-Hirzenach 122.4 Werlau 125.3 St. Goar Bank tunnel (367 m) 127.4 Urbar Nord Bett tunnel (236 m) Kammereck tunnel (289 m) 128.8 Urbar Süd 132.1 Oberwesel 138.5 Bacharach 142.0 Niederheimbach 146.6 Trechtingshausen 150.6 Bingen Vorbf 152.0 Bingen (Rhein) Nahe Valley Railway to Saarbrücken & Alsenz Valley Railway to Kaiserslautern 152.4 0.0 Nahe Prussia Hesse former border 1.0 Bingen (Rhein) Stadt Nahe Valley Railway Hindenburg Bridge → Rheinhessen Railway to Worms 4.6 Bingen-Gaulsheim Gau Algesheim–Bad Kreuznach railway to Bad Kreuznach 9.4 Gau Algesheim Selz Valley Railway to Jugenheim-Partenheim 12.5 Ingelheim Selz Valley Railway to Frei-Weinheim 17.5 Heidesheim (Rheinhessen) 20.2 Uhlerborn 23.1 Budenheim A 643 Lenneberg viaduct 27.3 Mainz-Mombach to Emperor Bridge, freight bypass and Taunus line Alzey–Mainz railway to Alzey 30.6 Mainz Main Railway to Frankfurt Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway to Ludwigshafen km Source: German railway atlas

History

West Rhine railway, near Remagen

Map of railway lines in the Koblenz area

Ludendorff Bridge on 17 March 1945 four hours before the collapse

The first section of the line opened on 15 February 1844, by the Bonn–Cologne Railway Company (Bonn-Cölner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) between the former station of Cologne St. Pantaleon Cologne and Bonn. It was extended on 21 January 1856, south to Rolandseck station and in 1859 north to the Cologne central station.

After the takeover by the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft, RhE) on 1 January 1857 the line was extended in 1858 through Remagen and Andernach and crossed the Moselle to Koblenz via the Moselle railway bridge, opened on 11 November 1858. The particularly beautiful section of the line between Koblenz and Bingerbrück (now called Bingen Hbf), which runs close to the river through this winding section of the Rhine Valley was opened on 15 December 1859. Bingerbrück station was at the time on the border of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Here it connected with the Rhine-Main line of the Hessian Ludwig Railway (Hessische Ludwigsbahn), opened on 17 October 1859, from Mainz and the Nahe Valley Railway to Saarbrücken.

In Koblenz, the Pfaffendorf Bridge over the Rhine was completed in 1864 to connect to the Right Rhine line to Niederlahnstein and Wiesbaden. With the construction of the Horchheim Bridge south of Koblenz, opened in 1879, and the Urmitz Bridge north of Koblenz, opened in 1918, this bridge was progressively given over to pedestrian, vehicular and, eventually, tram traffic and the last train used it at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914.

From 1861 the Nassau State Railways established a train ferry between Bingen and Rüdesheim am Rhein; this was converted to a passenger ferry in 1900. From 1870 to 1914 another train ferry operated between Bonn and Oberkassel to transfer trains between the West Rhine line and the East Rhine railway.

During the First World War three strategic Rhine crossings were built at the request of the German generals in order to bring troops and war materials to the Western Front. The Bingen–Rüdesheim ferry was replaced by the Hindenburg Bridge, built between 1913 and 1915 and connecting the East Rhine line with the West Rhine railway and the Nahe Valley Railway. From 1916 to 1918, the Neuwied–Koblenz line, including the Crown Prince Wilhelm Bridge, was built between Urmitz and Neuwied-Engers. The Ludendorff Bridge between Erpel and Remagen was built from 1916 to 1919. It connected the East and West Rhine railway lines and the strategically important Ahr Valley Railway. The Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Kronprinz-Wilhelm Bridges were destroyed in World War II. Only the Crown Prince Wilhelm Bridge was rebuilt, as the Urmitz bridge, in 1954.

The line was electrified in 1959.

Current operations

Until the opening of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line, the line was one of the busiest in Germany. The fastest trains connecting the Rhineland and southern Germany ran on the line. The importance of the line for long distance travel has diminished since the opening of the high-speed line. The line is now generally used by one InterCity or Intercity-Express service (stopping at Bonn, Koblenz and Mainz) each hour, one Regional-Express train each hour (the Rhein-Express to Koblenz Hauptbahnhof and one RegionalBahn (stopping) train each hour in each direction, as well as by many freight trains. Before the opening of the high-speed line, freight trains were largely restricted to the Right Rhine line, but with the increased availability of train paths on the Left Rhine line many of them are now routed over it.

References

• Semmler, Horst (1994). 150 Jahre Eisenbahn Bonn-Köln [150 years of the Bonn-Cologne Railway] (in German). Nordhorn Kenning. ISBN 978-3-927587-23-6. OCLC 75399335.
• Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland [Railway Atlas of Germany] (in German) (2005/2006 ed.). Aachen: Schweers + Wall. 2005. ISBN 978-3-89494-134-5. OCLC 190850467. Also OCLC 71200092 and OCLC 217548594.
• Kandler, Udo (2007). "Eisenbahn wie auf einer Ansichtskarte. Die Linke Rheinstrecke" [A picture postcard railway: the left Rhine railway line]. Lok Magazin (in German). 46 (305). GeraNova Zeitschriftenverlag: 36–55. ISSN 0458-1822.