Dortmund–Soest railway

Dortmund–Soest
Route number:	431
Line length:	54
Gauge:	1435
Voltage:	15 kV 16.7 Hz AC
Maximum speed:	150
State:	North Rhine-Westphalia
Legend Main line from Hamm Line from Lünen 164.4 Dortmund Hbf Line to Wanne-Eickel Main line to Bochum/Witten Dortmund West (planned) S 4   Line from Dortmund-Lüttgendortmund   ↔ line to Unna S-Bahn line to Witten S 5 Line from Dortmund-Dortmunderfeld, line from Dortmund-Huckarde and line from Dortmund-Lüttgendortmund 169.3 Schnettkerbrücke junction 170.1 Dortmund Signal-Iduna-Park* Connecting line to Rhenish line Former Rhenish line Former Elias Railway Formerly from Elias Railway 173.0 Dortmund-Hörde Ardey Railway to Iserlohn 177.0 Dortmund-Aplerbeck 179.6 Dortmund-Sölde Line from Hagen 182.0 Holzwickede S-Bahn line from Unna-Königsborn S 4 188.9 Unna Line to Fröndenberg Line to Hamm 193.7 Lünern 196.9 Hemmerde 204.6 Werl 207.9 Westönnen 210.9 Ostönnen Line from Hamm 218.4 Soest Line to Warburg * formerly Dortmund Westfalenhalle

The Dortmund–Soest railway is a line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs from Dortmund Hauptbahnhof through the southern Dortmund district of Holzwickede to Unna and from there through the Hellweg Börde parallel to the Haarstrang ridge on the southern edge of the Westphalian Lowland via Werl to Soest. The line was opened in 1855 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany.

The route is entirely double track and electrified and is classified as a main line. It is served for its full length by the Regionalbahn RB 59 Hellwegbahn service of the Hellweg network.

History

After an initial proposal to build a railway from Dortmund to Soest was approved in 1850, on 3 June 1852, the Prussian king, Frederick William IV issued a cabinet order authorising the construction of the line from Dortmund-Hörde to Soest. Construction began on 15 September 1853 in Werl. After a first test run on 7 June 1855, the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (German: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) operated the first scheduled train from Dortmund to Soest on 9 July 1855. The line was double tracked in 1866 and it was electrified by the end of 1970.

Operations

Eurobahn Hellweg-Bahn service in Westönnen

Regionalbahn RB 59 Hellweg-Bahn services run on the route Dortmund–Soest line, every half hour from Monday to Friday and every hour on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Hellweg-Bahn has been operated by the Eurobahn company since 14 December 2008, after winning the contract. These services are operated by Stadler FLIRT Electric multiple units at speeds of up to 160 km/h (99 mph).

The line's finances and tariffs are managed by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (Rhine-Ruhr Transport Association, VRR) and the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe (Ruhr-Lippe Transport Community, VRL).

External links

NRW rail archive of André Joost:

• Description of line 2103