Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway

Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway

The Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway is a railway line running from Sittard in the Netherlands to Herzogenrath in Germany, passing through Heerlen. The line was opened in 1896.

Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway History

The line was nationalized in 1899. In World War II, cross-border passenger traffic was stopped on the line. In 1992, the first passenger trains began running on the line at 2-hour intervals as a City Express from Aachen to Heerlen. As the first real stage of the transnational regional rail system Euregiobahn in June 2001, the connection from Aachen to Heerlen via Herzogenrath was introduced. The train ran hourly from Heerlen to Stolberg.

Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway in the Present Day

April 2014 marked the start of the electrification of the single-track railway from Landgraaf to Herzogenrath, which was completed at the end of 2018. On 27 January 2019 Arriva started a direct service between Aachen, Heerlen and Maastricht. Plans to extend this service from Maastricht to Liège (Belgium) have been delayed to 2022 or later.

Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway has the following train services on this track:

• Intercity IC 3500: Amsterdam Schiphol – Utrecht – Eindhoven – Heerlen
• Sneltrein RE 18: Aachen – Heerlen – Maastricht
• Stoptrein RS15: Sittard – Heerlen – Kerkrade

Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Stations

The main interchange stations on the Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway are:

• Sittard: to Maastricht and Roermond
• Heerlen: to Maastricht
• Herzogenrath: to Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf and Aachen

Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Overview

Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Status: Operational
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Locale: Germany and the Netherlands
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Termini:
Sittard railway station
Herzogenrath station
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Operator(s): Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Arriva
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Opened: 1896
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Line Length: 29 km (18 mi)
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Number of Tracks: double track (Sittard–Landgraaf)
single track (Landgraaf–Herzogenrath)
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Electrification: 1.5 kV DC (Sittard–border NL/D)
15 kV/16.7 Hz AC (border NL/D–Herzogenrath)
Sittard–Herzogenrath Railway Operating Speed: 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) (Sittard–Landgraaf)
80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) (Landgraaf–Herzogenrath)