NRW-Express

The service has one of the highest levels of patronage in Germany (about 34,500 persons per day, mainly commuters and students) and is susceptible to delays of 2.9 minutes on average per journey.^[2]

History

Today's NRW-Express replaced existing express services on individual sections of the route after the regionalisation of transport in Germany. A number of stations previously served by long-distance trains, such as Düsseldorf-Benrath and Wattenscheid came to be served by regional services only. The NRW-Express was first classified as Regionalschnellbahn ("regional fast train") RSB 1, then as StadtExpress ("city express") SE 1 and eventually as Regional-Express RE 1, when it was also given the name of NRW-Express.

The service originally operated on the Aachen–Bielefeld route and was composed of class 110 locomotives hauling six partly modernised Silberling carriages. If necessary, trains had an additional carriage. From the mid-90s, the trains were formed of non air-conditioned double-deck carriages and class 111 locomotives. Shortly later control cars were added, so that push–pull operations could be introduced. From 1998, air-conditioned double-deck carriages were introduced, but only after Expo 2000 in Hanover were all services of the NRW-Express operated with new air-conditioned carriages equipped to operate at 160 km/h. The sets were now mostly hauled by class 146 locomotives, which had originally been supplied for the Expo.

The class 145 locomotives, with their AC engines, had performed well on services at Expo 2000, so their introduction on the NRW-Express services was hoped to improve on-time running with their better acceleration. A passenger version of class 145, which has a top speed of 140 km/h, was ordered as class 146 with a top speed of 160 km/h in the autumn of 2001 and was first used for the NRW-Express services.

RE 1 provided travel times that were very competitive with long-distance trains through North Rhine-Westphalia and had good connections in Bielefeld to Hanover, so the train on weekends was heavily used by long-distance travellers to Hamburg and Berlin as part of the so-called Wochenend-Ticket-Rennstrecke ("weekend-ticket race track"). This attractiveness became a problem since the trains were often overcrowded. An extension of the trains with an additional carriage failed to overcome this problem because the trains still used single-deck carriages and some platforms were too short for the extra carriage. At the time double-deck carriages were in short supply and their increased weight caused travel times to be extended (only during a few timetable periods were services formed with six double-deck carriages). The high loadings often meant that the scheduled stopping times were insufficient, so delays were created. Delays to long-distance trains also had a strong influence on the punctuality of the NRW-Express. The situation was aggravated several times when DB Regio tried to change the timetable by shortening the turnaround time in Bielefeld from 70 to 10 minutes to save a train set. These trials were always given up after a few weeks at the most.

With the timetable change in December 2002, the route was cut back from Bielefeld to Hamm. On the section that was eliminated, the NRW-Express was replaced by the newly created Westfalen-Express (RE 6) from Düsseldorf via Duisburg, Essen, Hamm and Bielefeld to Minden. On the last section from Dortmund, the NRW-Express, however, now stopped only in Kamen, except every second hour it stopped at all five stations on the section. As a result of the shortening of the route of the trains, punctuality was significantly improved, although in the past most lost time could be made up between Hamm and Bielefeld. RE 1 therefore remains one of the lines in North Rhine-Westphalia that is most vulnerable to delay.

A bomb plot on the train in 2006 failed due to faulty construction.

Since the timetable change in December 2010, services have been extended every 2 hours to run between Hamm an Paderborn. In the off-peak it also stops only at Dortmund-Scharnhorst, Dortmund-Kurl, Kamen-Methler and Nordbögge. The first morning service to Paderborn stops at all stations between Hamm and Paderborn.

A sixth carriage was gradually introduced on each train between March 2011 and September 2011. This increased the capacity from 602 to 735 seats per train.

Route

NRW-Express in Cologne Hbf

NRW-Express in Aachen Hbf

Control car in Aachen Hbf

The NRW-Express runs daily every hour from Aachen to Hamm on the Aachen–Cologne line (built by the former Rhenish Railway Company), the Cologne–Duisburg line (built by the former Cologne-Minden Railway Company, CME), the Ruhr line between Duisburg and Dortmund (built by the former Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company), the Dortmund–Hamm line (built by the CME) and every two hours on the Hamm–Paderborn line.

Other Regional-Express services run on sections of the route, at least doubling or tripling the frequency of Regional-Express services. The Rhein-Sieg-Express (RE 9) runs between Aachen and Cologne; the Rhein-Hellweg-Express (RE 11) runs between Duisburg and Hamm; the Rhein-Express (RE 5) runs between Cologne and Duisburg and the Westfalen-Express (RE 6) runs between Düsseldorf and Hamm.

Extra trains run in the peak hour between Aachen and Köln Messe/Deutz.

Large parts of the route of the NRW-Express runs parallel with Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn lines, and it has some of the character of a fast S-Bahn service and is perceived by the passengers accordingly. The push–pull trains currently consist of five to six double-deck carriages, mostly hauled by class 146 locomotives at speeds of up to 160 km/h.

The NRW-Express is linked in Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund, Hamm and Paderborn with the whole transport network of North Rhine-Westphalia. It also has direct connections at these stations with long-distance passenger services.

Three public transport associations are involved in the operation of the Rhein-Express: the Zweckverband Nahverkehr Rheinland (local transport association of Rhineland, NVR), Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (transport association of the Rhine-Ruhr, VRR) and the Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (local transport association of Westphalia-Lippe).

Future

A reorganisation of services is planned in 2020 between Cologne and Dortmund, under the program known as the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX). As part of the planning for the Rhine-Ruhr Express, the NRW-Express will operate from the timetable change in December 2016 as line RRX 1. The course of the line RRX 1 will run between Aachen and Hamm only. The Hamm–Paderborn section will be taken over by line RRX 2 (Düsseldorf–Paderborn).^[3]

References

↑ Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
↑ "Qualitätsbericht SPNV Im Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr für 2011, Section Pünktlichkeit" (PDF) (in German). Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr A. ö. R. 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
↑ "RRX:Aufgabenträger entwickeln Stufenkonzept zur Einführung". Eisenbahnjournal Zughalt.de (in German). Retrieved 1 November 2010.

External links

"NRW-Express". NRWbahnarchiv (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
"NRW-Express on Openstreetmap" (in German). Retrieved 22 May 2011.
mytrainsim "NRW-Express" Check |url= value (help) (in German). mytrainsim.de. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
"NRW-Express timetable" (PDF) (in German). zrl.de. Retrieved 10 September 2011.

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