Cologne–Aachen High-Speed RailwayCologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway(Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Aachen) The Cologne–Aachen high-speed line is the German part of the Trans-European transport networks project high-speed line Paris–Brussels–Cologne. It is not a newly built railway line, but a project to upgrade the existing railway line which was opened in 1841 by the Rhenish Railway Company. When it was continued into Belgium in 1843, it became the world's first international railway line. The line inside Germany has a length of about 70 kilometres (43 mi). The first 40 km (25 mi) from Cologne to Düren have been rebuilt. Since 2002 the line allows for speeds up to 250 km/h (155 mph). Separate tracks have been built parallel to the high-speed tracks for local S-Bahn traffic. The remaining line from Düren to Aachen allows speeds up to 160 km/h (100 mph) with some slower sections. Upgrades of Düren–Aachen are planned for the near future. In Belgium, the high-speed line is continued as HSL 3. Regional-Express services on the line are RE 1 (NRW-Express) and RE 9 (Rhein-Sieg-Express) with push-pull trains with six double-decker carriages. Long-distance trains are operated by Thalys between Paris and Cologne (six pairs of trains each day), three pairs of ICE 3 trains daily between Frankfurt and Brussels Monday to Saturday and a morning ICE 2 between Aachen and Berlin. Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway History Plans for the construction of a railway between Cologne and the Belgian border began in December 1833 with the issue of concession to the Cologne Railway Committee, which was to develop a line under the direction of Cologne Lord Mayor Johann Adolph Steinberger and the entrepreneur Ludolf Camphausen. The Cologne Railway Committee presented a draft route that would bypass Aachen to reduce costs: the line would run from Eschweiler to Kornelimünster along the Inde and from there to the Belgian border. Düren would also not have been connected to the railway. The Aachen merchants resisted this proposal and they founded the Aachen Railway Committee under the direction of David Hansemann and Philipp Heinrich Pastor. This was the beginning of the so-called Eisenbahnstreites zwischen Köln und Aachen (railway dispute between Cologne and Aachen). In October, the Aachen Railway Committee presented an alternative proposal for the route that ran from Cologne via Düren and Aachen to the Belgian border. On 6 April 1836, a conference of representatives of the traders of Aachen and Cologne in Jülich, chaired by the Oberpräsident of the Rhine Province Ernst von Bodelschwingh, could not resolve to the railway dispute. Hansemann and the Aachen cloth manufacturer Joseph van Gülpen then travelled to Berlin and lodged an application for a line running through Aachen. In Berlin, lengthy negotiations took place between representatives of Aachen and Cologne. Prussian king Frederick William III decided on 12 February 1837 that the line would run through Aachen and thus ended the railway dispute. In June 1837, the Aachen and Cologne representatives agreed to the merger of the two committees of their cities and founded the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), which received a concession to build the line from Cologne to the Belgian border in Herbesthal. Construction of the line began on 11 April 1838. The proposal to develop a direct line from Düren to Aachen was discarded due to the geological conditions of the northern Eifel and a curve to the north was adopted between Düren and Aachen that is still used by the line. The share capital of 9 million marks was raised to enable the Rhenish Railway to build the line by the issuing of shares. But due to the difficult route, construction costs increased to 21 million marks. The additional costs of 12 million marks were raised by issuing additional shares worth 4.5 million marks and bonds worth 7.5 million marks. The Belgian government alone acquired bonds for 3 million marks. The first section from Cologne to Müngersdorf was opened on 2 August 1839, less than four years after the Nuremberg–Fürth railway, the first German railway, and was the seventh railway on German territory. To this end, open and closed carriages and wagons were delivered by Waggonfabrik Talbot of Aachen using road transport at the beginning of the year. Another section from Müngersdorf to Lövenich was opened on 2 July 1840. The last section from Lövenich to Aachen was opened on 1 September 1841 with an inaugural trip from Cologne to Aachen and back, during which a banquet for 360 invited guests was held. Regular passenger services on the whole route commenced on 6 September 1841. A panel on the east side of Düren station still marks this event. With the connection of the line from Belgium, a special train ran from Antwerp to Cologne on 15 October 1843. This made the line between Cologne and Aachen part of the world's first cross-border railway. The Belgian railways were connected to the French railway network in 1845, so the Cologne-Aachen line handled traffic to and from France. Operations Until the First World War Initially, the line was single-track and the timetable was set up so that trains leaving from Aachen and Cologne crossed at the multi-track Düren station. After the line on the Belgian side had been duplicated, the Rhenish Railway Company decided to duplicate the entire line in 1844. According to a report by Gustav von Mevissen, the president of the Rhenish Railway Company on 20 May 1845, the volume of traffic on the line between Cologne and Aachen exceeded the expectations of the planners in the early years. The passenger traffic was one of the largest in Prussia and the freight traffic was "the highest of all continental railways". Freight traffic exceeded passenger traffic in 1847. Work on the Aachen–Eschweiler section is documented as starting in 1848 and was completed in 1852. The Rhenish Railway Company covered the cost by issuing shares and taking out loans. During the German revolutions of 1848–1849, the Cologne–Aachen railway was used for occasional arms shipments. Numerous factories were soon established along the line and coal mining was also important from the start. The Eschweiler Mining Association (Eschweiler Bergwerks-Verein) established coal storage at the stations of Aachen, Düren and Cologne immediately after the opening of a coal loading track. As a result of the opening of the line, the EBV's transport costs fell by two-thirds and contracts were also concluded with the Rhenish Railway Company for coal deliveries to supply its steam locomotives. Every second freight train on the Cologne–Aachen line transported coal from the Aachen coalfield in 1847. The coal from the individual mines was originally carried to the railway line by horsecars on field railway tracks, but were increasingly replaced by standard gauge steam trains. The Reserve colliery (Grube Reserve) was connected to the railway line between Eschweiler Hauptbahnhof and Nothberg in 1865 and the Mariagrube-Stolberg railway was opened in 1870. First World War and the Occupation The Cologne–Aachen railway also became increasingly strategic for military traffic to Belgium and for connecting the strategically important Vennbahn. Numerous improvements were carried out from 1912 to 1914 to improve the performance of the line, including the upgrade of tracks and the establishment of an overtaking loop in Derichsweiler. Quadruplication between Langerwehe and Nothberg was planned in 1914, but this was prevented by the outbreak of the First World War. During the war, the railway was used to transport troops and supplies to the western front. After the German declaration of war on France on 3 August 1914, the line was closed to civilian traffic and only used for the transport of troops. Regular traffic resumed in mid-September. The marshalling yard in Düren was extended for military reasons as late as 1917. After the First World War, the Cologne–Aachen railway was located in the French occupation zone. France intended to transport raw materials via this line from the Ruhr, which was also occupied, but the German railway workers refused to work with them as passive resistance. During the occupation, the line was blocked to regular traffic several times so that French crews could operate coal trains from the Ruhr to France without having to observe German signalling and rail regulations. Occasional acts of sabotage to prevent these operations were mostly unsuccessful. The line was returned to German control with the end of the occupation of the Rhineland. The Buir rail accident occurred between Düren and Horrem on 25 August 1929, resulting in 14 dead and 43 people injured. Due to construction work, trains towards Cologne had to be diverted on the wrong line and the affected points should have been operated at 50 km/h (30 mph). Due to a mistake on the part of the dispatcher, the Paris–Warsaw express ran over these points at full speed and derailed. Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Second World War The Cologne–Aachen railway was used for military purposes again during the Battle of France. Trains carrying troops and war equipment ran over the line. During the war, the line was a frequent target of air raids, causing damage particularly in Aachen and Cologne. The last through train from Aachen to Cologne ran on 12 September 1944. A refugee train from Eschweiler was strafed on 15 September 1944. The locomotive of a passenger train occupied by about 200 was attacked, so it stopped at Hücheln near Langerwehe. Subsequently, a train formed of locked freight wagons was attacked with bombs and gunfire. About 80 people died in the process. Rail traffic from Eschweiler was discontinued on that day. Rail traffic from Düren was discontinued after the air raid on Düren on 16 November 1944. When German troops withdrew, they blew up bridges, such as parts of the Burtscheid Viaduct and the Three Arch Bridge (Dreibogenbrücke). Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Postwar period After the withdrawal of German troops, Allied troops gradually took over the towns along the line and restored operations, initially on one track. The first passenger trains ran from Aachen to Düren on 10 September 1945. A bus service between Düren and Cologne was temporarily established in January 1946. Operations were resumed on the whole line on 15 May 1946. Immediately after the line was restored to traffic, the volume of traffic was very high. On the one hand, there was a lack of alternative means of transport, such as trucks and private cars, on the other hand the number of passengers rose due to the return of soldiers, Heimatvertriebene ("homeland expellees") and Hamsterfahrten ("hamster trips", that is travel by townspeople to the countryside to barter for food). It was announced on 18 November 1947 that services would be severely limited due to a coal shortage. The most significant single structure of this line was the 1,623 metres (5,325 ft)-long Königsdorf Tunnel, which was demolished in 1954. A serious railway accident occurred in the resulting cutting on 27 May 1983 when an express crashed into a landslide at a speed of 130 km/h (80 mph) after heavy rainfall. Seven people died and 23 were injured. The cutting at Königsdorf was widened for the quadruplication of the line in 2000. After the electrification of the federal German network reached Cologne from the south in the late 1950s, the Cologne–Aachen route was also electrified. This involved the conversion of several tunnels into cuttings. Due to the different power system of the Belgian State Railways, Aachen Hauptbahnhof was upgraded to become a system change station, the first (and for 42 years the only place) where the German and Belgian rail electrification systems met directly. With the change of timetable in May 1966, electric train operations commenced on the Cologne–Aachen–Liège route, using the standard Belgium system (3000 V DC) from Aachen. (Liège had been accessible for electric operations from Brussels since 1955.) At that time, Belgium already had a multi-system locomotive. In the autumn of 1966, DB also received its first multi-system locomotives, which could run under both the German and Belgian electric systems, but did not prove themselves, so that ultimately only some of the international express trains were hauled with Belgian multi-system locomotives and the others still had to change locomotive in Aachen until the 1990s. With the dual-class Intercity system of DB introduced in 1979, the line benefitted at the edges of the day: a morning IC service from Cologne to Hamburg already started in Aachen, stopping in Düren, and connected in Cologne to become part of the IC regular interval pattern. It was given the name Karolinger (after Charlemagne) and returned from Hamburg to Aachen in the evening and remained a constant in the timetable for over two decades. A real cyclical service pattern did not develop between Cologne and Aachen until 1984, when the Belgian State Railways introduced its new nationwide timetable concept, which included a service every two hours from Cologne via Aachen and Brussels to Ostend, which was operated with air-conditioned Eurofima coaches. The rest of the services operated, on the other hand, was only switched to regular intervals when the regional rail regular interval timetable was established in 1991. Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Line Upgrade The line is to be upgraded at a total cost of €952 million (as of 2013). The first and third of three sections designated under this project have been completed. The planning approval procedure for the second section, which includes passing tracks and increased speeds, was initiated at the Federal Railway Authority in August 2014. The works are divided into six phases of construction with commissioning due in the second quarter of 2020. Preparatory work began in June 2018. Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Planning The Cologne–Aachen line was already included in the Bundesverkehrswegeplan (Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan) of 1973 as one of eight planned upgraded lines (Ausbaustrecken) in the field of railways. After the development project was not included in the Koordiniertes Investitionsprogramm für die Bundesverkehrswege (coordinated investment program) of 1977, it was listed in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 1980 as a project to be completed by 1990 (stage I). The line was also included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 1985. Planning for the upgrade between Cologne and Aachen started in 1988. In November 1989, the transport ministers of the countries involved in the PBKA project agreed on a schedule according to which the line would be completed in 1995. The project was also included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1992. In 1992, it was planned to complete work by 1997. Of the estimated cost of DM 1.1 billion, around DM 800 million was to be allocated to the section between Cologne and Düren, half of which would be provided by the federal government and half would be funded under the municipal transport finance law (Gemeindeverkehrsfinanzierungsgesetz). Around DM 150 million (as of 1990) would be allocated to the section west of Düren. The upgraded line project and the construction of a new Cologne–Horrem–Düren S-Bahn line (S 12 and S 13) on its own track were planned together. The PBKA project is a European railway project that is connecting the cities of Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam with high-speed lines. The project is funded by the EU as part of the TEN initiative under the acronym PBKAL (Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Amsterdam, London). This line described here was to be upgraded for high-speed traffic and upgraded for around €950 million. The timing of the completion of this project is open. Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Reconstruction Measures The construction work began with a symbolic ramming on 22 October 1997. Among the guests of this event for the construction of section 1 (triangular junction near Cologne station) were Federal Minister of Transport Wissmann and state minister of transport Clement. According to the then planning two new tracks would first be built between Cologne and Düren for the high-speed and the existing line would be upgraded for the S-Bahn line at a cost of DM 1.1 billion. More than 80 percent of the costs would be covered by the federal government and the rest by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Completion was expected in May 2002. By the end of 2002, the existing line between Cologne and Düren had gained one or two more tracks and been upgraded to a high-speed line. Since 14 December 2003, the mainline tracks on this 42-kilometre (26 mi)-long section can be operated at up to 250 km/h (155 mph). All stations on this section of the line have been rebuilt and some of them have been converted into S-Bahn only stations. The S-Bahn started operating at the timetable change in December 2002 on the S-Bahn tracks, which are now operationally separated from the main line. The tracks on the high-speed line are used by regional and international express train services. Until the opening of the Cologne/Bonn Airport station in mid-2004, line S13 of the Cologne S-Bahn (the southern part of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn) operated to Düren, but since then line S12 has run from Au (Sieg) via Hennef, Troisdorf and Cologne to Düren. Köln-Weiden West station, which serves as a link to Cologne Stadtbahn line 1, was opened on 28 May 2006. In particular, it is intended to facilitate arrivals and departures at events in the RheinEnergieStadion. The single-track S-Bahn line was duplicated over a length of 1.6 km (0.99 mi) between Buir and Sindorf to allow the equalisation of S-Bahn frequencies between Düren and Cologne. At night, the S13 runs beyond Horrem to Aachen and back. This gives the region a better connection to Cologne/Bonn Airport.
The long-distance pair of tracks is designed for shared use by long-distance passenger and freight traffic from Ehrenfeld freight yard (line-kilometre 6) towards Aachen. The S-Bahn section between Cologne and Sindorf also has two tracks. Continuing towards Düren, single-track sections alternate with double-track passing sections. The entrance to Düren station (from Merzenich station) is single-track. The long-distance tracks are designed for operations at 250 km/h (155 mph) and the S-Bahn tracks for 120 km/h (75 mph). From Merzenich station east of Düren (line-kilometre 34.480), the design speed of the long-distance tracks is 220 km/h (140 mph), from line-kilometre 38.0 it is 200 km/h (125 mph) and from line-kilometre 39.6 it is 160 km/h (100 mph). The S-Bahn was designed for a 20-minute cycle (during peak hour) with the possibility of shorter cycles. 53 S-Bahn trips per day and direction were planned. Regional trains running on the long-distance tracks between Cologne and Düren still stop in Horrem and Cologne-Ehrenfeld. No plans were made to run the S 6 to Horrem and thus create a ten-minute cycle between Horrem and Cologne. In a second construction phase, the section between Düren and Langerwehe is to be upgraded for speeds of up to 200 km/h (125 mph). The subsequent section via Eschweiler to Aachen is to be upgraded for 140 km/h (90 mph). Currently, speeds of up to 120 km/h (75 mph) are possible between Eschweiler and Stolberg, although sometimes only up to 110 km/h (70 mph). Top speeds of 140 or 160 km/h (90 or 100 mph) are already permitted on the rest of the line. It should be possible for trains to pass through Düren station at 200 km/h (125 mph) after completion of the second stage of construction. In the final state, it should be possible to run at a minimum of 200 km/h (125 mph) over an almost 50 km (31 mi)-long section between Cologne and Langerwehe. The investment framework plan for federal transport infrastructure of 2010 (Investitionsrahmenplan bis 2010 für die Verkehrsinfrastruktur des Bundes) specified total costs of €951.7 million (as of 2006) for new construction and upgrading between Cologne and the German-Belgian border (including the Busch Tunnel). €769.8 million of this was spent up to 2005. Federal funds totaling €88.9 million were invested between 2006 and 2010. Beyond this period, there is a need for finance of €93.0 million (federal funds from 2011, own funds of Deutsche Bahn and contributions from third parties from 2006). In November 2008, additional investments in the Aachen–Stolberg–Eschweiler section were approved as part of an economic stimulus package. It was planned that the Aachen-Rothe Erde–Stolberg section would be partially upgraded to three tracks from 2010. This project has not yet been implemented. Only the Aachen-Rothe Erde station has been modernised. Due to the construction delay, the European Commission cut funding for the project by €2.9 million at the end of 2010. In June 2010, EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz (EVS) acquired Stolberger Hauptbahnhof including the entrance building. Only the dispatcher signal box and the mainline through tracks remained the property of Deutsche Bahn. The EVS started the reconstruction of Stolberg Hauptbahnhof in 2012 and the height of the main platform was increased to 760 millimetres. In 2017, Deutsche Bahn began construction work on the island platform on the mainline through tracks at Stolberger Hauptbahnhof. The existing underpass is to be replaced by an overpass with lifts. The work was expected to take until the middle of 2019. Construction work on the Upgraded line 4, II. upgrade phase, 1. construction stage project at Eschweiler Hauptbahnhof began in 2018. Platforms at the Hauptbahnhof have been raised to 76 cm (30 in) and barrier-free access has been created to the island platform via lifts and the two passing tracks (platform 1 and 4) have been extended to a useful length of 750 m (2,460 ft). The relay interlocking has been replaced by connecting the station to a computer-based interlocking and the last level crossing between Cologne and Aachen at Jägerspfad in Eschweiler is to be closed. Work in Aachen should also begin in 2019. In the district of Eilendorf, the third track is to be extended by about 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) between Eilendorf and the former Aachen-Rothe Erde freight yard. Measures for noise and vibration protection are also planned. The line between Stolberg Hauptbahnhof and Aachen Hauptbahnhof was declared an overloaded railway on 11 November 2019. In the second half of 2029, the Cologne–Aachen route will be completely closed for approximately five months as part of a general renovation. Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Overview Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Native Name: Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Aachen Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Line Number: 2600 (Cologne–Aachen) 2622 (Cologne–Düren) Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Locale: North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Service Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Route Number: 480 Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Line Length: 70 km (43 mi) Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Electrification: 15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Operating Speed: 250 km/h (155 mph) Cologne–Aachen High-Speed Railway Route Map km HSL to Frankfurt… and line to Düsseldorf… Hohenzollern Bridge (from Köln Messe/Deutz) Cologne Stadtbahn 0.0 Cologne 0.8 Köln Hansaring 0.8 Köln Hansaring turnback facility 1.4 to Cologne depot West Rhine Railway to Köln West West Lower Rhine Railway to Köln-Nippes 2.0 Köln-Nippes–Köln West freight line Herkulesstraße junction from Köln West S-Bahn Flying junction 3.2 Cologne Stadtbahn 3.7 Köln-Ehrenfeld Köln-Ehrenfeld freight yard Cologne–Frechen line (HGK) 5.9 Köln-Müngersdorf Technologiepark to Mönchengladbach 9.0 Lövenich (former station) 9.7 Lövenich (S-Bahn) 11.1 Köln-Weiden West 13.8 Frechen-Königsdorf 15.0 start of cutting (former Königsdorf Tunnel) 16.5 North-South Railway (RWE Power) 16.6 start of cutting (former Königsdorf Tunnel) 18.5 Erft Railway to Neuss 18.7 Horrem former Bergheim District Railway to Mödrath Erft 21.4 Sindorf crossover 21.4 Sindorf 22.4 Sindorf 22.6 Sindorf siding 26.0 Dorsfeld 27.8 Buir crossover 30.3 Buir 35.0 Merzenich former line from Neuss 35.7 Merzenich crossover 37.3 Düren Vorbf former bypass curve to Euskirchen former Distelrath–Schneidhausen line 39.0 from Euskirchen from Distelrath 39.1 from Jülich 39.2 Düren DKB tramway Düren–Kreuzau 39.8 to Heimbach Rur (Düren triangular truss bridge) 42.2 Hubertushof crossover, siding Derichsweiler 48.9 Langerwehe (link line to Inde Valley Railway 54.1 Nothberg (until Dec 2009) Jägerspfad (last level crossing until April 2020) 56.9 Eschweiler Hbf 57.0 Ichenberg Tunnel (95 m) 57.9 Three arch bridge (Inde) 58.0 Inde Valley Railway 59.8 Stolberg (Rheinl) freight yard 60.3 to Eupen 60.3 Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf Stolberg (Rheinl) part V to Herzogenrath Nirm Tunnel Eilendorf Tunnel 64.9 Eilendorf from Aachen Nord Aachen-Rothe Erde Wertz (siding) 67.0 Aachen-Rothe freight yard former line from Hahn 68.2 Aachen-Rothe Erde Moltkebahnhof Burtscheid Viaduct 70.2 Aachen Hbf to Mönchengladbach 72.9 Aachen Süd Busch Tunne 77.0 Germany national border Belgium main line… HSL 3… to Liège | |||||
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