Neuwied–Koblenz railway
Encyclopedia
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
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The Koblenz–Neuwied railway is a two-track, electrified main line railway in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
. It connects the Neuwied station on the Right (east) Rhine line to the major railway junction at Koblenz Hauptbahnhof
Koblenz Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is the focal point of rail transport in the Rhine-Moselle-Lahn area. It is a through station in southern Koblenz built below Fort Großfürst Konstantin and opened in 1902 in the Neustadt , which was built...
(central station) and to the Left (west) Rhine and Moselle lines.
History
The railway line and the Crown Prince William Bridge were built during the First World War for military and strategic reasonsStrategic railway
A strategic railway is a railway proposed or constructed primarily for military strategic purposes, as opposed to the usual purpose of a railway, which is the transport of civilian passengers or freight. Although the archetypal strategic railway would be one constructed solely as part of a...
by the Prussian state railways
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
and opened on 15 August 1918. Also built at the same time were the Ludendorff Bridge
Ludendorff Bridge
The Ludendorff Bridge was a railway bridge across the River Rhine in Germany, connecting the villages of Remagen and Erpel between two ridge lines of hills flanking the river...
at Remagen
Remagen
Remagen is a town in Germany in Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one hour drive from Cologne , just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the River Rhine. There is a ferry across the Rhine from Remagen every 10–15 minutes in the summer...
, together with a connection to the Ahr Valley Railway and the Hindenburg Bridge at Rudesheim, together with a connection to the Nahe Valley Railway.
On 15 September 1935, Urmitz Rheinbrücke halt was opened. The line was out of service on 9 March 1945, late in the Second World War, by the demolition of the line by German pioneers and reconstruction was not completed until 1954. Just two years later the bridge was damaged by fire, with repairs lasting until May 1957.
On 22 September 1962, the bridge became fully functional again, with two tracks, upgraded and electrified with overhead wire. For a better connection to the Brexbach Valley Railway and the Westerwald
Westerwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
, a single track curve was built connecting to the right bank line running south towards Engers station but it was never put into operation.
In 1987 the Urmitz Rheinbrücke halt was closed. After the renovation of the bridge in 2005, the halt was reopened on 28 May 2006.
Route
Flying junction
A flying junction or flyover is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements. A more technical term is "grade-separated junction"...
. The current crossover
Crossover
-Fiction and media:* Fictional crossover, a storyline combining characters or settings from separate fictional properties** Fictional crossovers in video games* Crossover , a 2002 documentary by Justin Lin...
at Neuwied Rheinbrücke was formerly the location of the junction to the connecting line to Engers station and the Brexbach Valley Railway.
Urmitz Rheinbrücke halt is immediately west of the end of the Urmitz railway bridge. The line then runs on an embankment through the Neuwied Basin and crosses the A 48 autobahn.
At Kesselheim junction a single track line branches off to run on the eastern side of the line and continues on the eastern side of the Left Rhine line, which it merges with in the Koblenz north industrial area in Koblenz-Bubenheim. In the northern track field of Koblenz-Lützel station there is a connection to the port railway of Koblenz Rhine port.
The line crosses the Left Rhine line for the first time and runs through the northern track field of Koblenz-Lützel station to the west and parallel with the Left Rhine line and continues through Koblenz-Lützel station and over the Moselle railway bridge, which was widened to accommodate four tracks in 1927.
At the location of the former Koblenz station of the Rhenish Railway
Rhenish Railway Company
The Rhenish Railway Company was along with the Cologne-Minden Railway Company and the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th century built the first railways in the Ruhr and large parts of today's North Rhine-Westphalia.-Foundation :The...
, the line branches. Two tracks run on a large curve to the right to the former Koblenz Moselle freight yard and one track continues to run parallel with the Left Rhine line through Koblenz-Stadtmitte station
Koblenz-Stadtmitte station
Koblenz Stadtmitte station was opened on 14 April 2011 on the West Rhine Railway in central Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland Palatinate. The main purpose of this station is to improve public transport access to central Koblenz because it is more convenient than Koblenz Hauptbahnhof...
to Koblenz Hauptbahnhof.
Operations
The only passenger services on the line until December 2010 was RegionalbahnRegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
service RB 27: Rhein-Erft-Bahn. This runs hourly between Cologne Hauptbahnhof and Koblenz Hauptbahnhof, some starting at Rommerskirchen
Rommerskirchen
Rommerskirchen is the southernmost municipality in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Notable places:Rommerskirchen possesses rich historical inheritances, including numerous remains of the Roman Villae Rusticae, and those from several Frankish settlements. The town centre...
station or Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof
Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof
is a railway station in the city of Mönchengladbach in western Germany.-Overview:The station is the largest railway station in the city and, along with Rheydt Hbf, one of the two Hauptbahnhof stations in Mönchengladbach...
, and leaves the Right Rhine line at Neuwied station.
The first stop on the line is at Urmitz Rheinbrücke halt, where the line has already reached the left (western) bank of the Rhine. RB 27 stops at the western platforms of Koblenz-Lützel and Koblenz-Stadtmitte stations.
Since the timetable change on 12 December 2010, the Stadt-Express
Stadt-Express
The Stadt-Express , formerly City-Bahn , was a category of train in the Deutsche Bahn, that linked conurbations in Germany with the outer reaches of the surrounding countryside...
SE 10 service (RheingauLinie) is also operated hourly by the VIAS company. The service previously ran from Frankfurt via Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Wiesbaden, the state capital of the German state of Hesse. It is a terminal station at the southern edge of the city center and is served by over 500 long-distance and regional trains and used by more than 30,000 travelers each day.-History:The current station...
and Rüdesheim am Rhein to Koblenz and it is now extended to Neuwied. Its only stop between Koblenz and Neuwied is at Koblenz-Mitte.