Münster–Rheine railway

Münster–Rheine
Route number:	410
Line length:	39
Gauge:	1435
Voltage:	15 kV 16.7 Hz AC
Legend from Almelo (NL) / Emsland Railway from Spelle from Ochtrup 208.9 Rheine to Osnabrück Rheine marshalling yard to Dorsten 202.0 Rheine-Mesum 195.5 Emsdetten 193.2 Emsdetten Stadt siding 190.6 Reckenfeld 185.2 Greven A 1 179.6 Münster-Sprakel from Enschede 173.4 Nevinghoff 173.1 Münster Zentrum Nord from Hamburg from Rheda-Wiedenbrück 170.3 Münster (Westf) Hbf to Lippstadt to Coesfeld to Wanne-Eickel to Lünen to Hamm

The Münster–Rheine railway is a nearly 39 km long main line railway from Münster to Rheine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is entirely double track and electrified.

It was opened by the Prussian government-funded Royal Westphalian Railway Company in 1856 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany.

History

The Royal Westphalian Railway (German: Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn, KWE) built its main line from Hamm to Warburg in the early 1850s. In 1855, the KWE took over the Munster-Hamm Railway Company (Münster-Hammer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), together with its line to Munster, which it then extended further north to Rheine. It opened its line on 23 June 1856, reaching Rheine station on the same day as both of the two sections of the Hanoverian Western Railway were completed to the station: the line from Löhne and the Emsland Railway to the North Sea port of Emden.

In 1879, the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RhE) opened its own North Sea route from Duisburg via Rheine to Quakenbrück and so made the station one of the major railway junctions in north-western Germany.

Current operations

IC 2333 leaving Münster Hbf to run to Norddeich Mole via Emden Hbf

One or two Regional-Express and one Regionalbahn service each hour operate on the line. Every two hours InterCity services run on the line between Norddeich Mole and Luxembourg.

External links

• Description of line 2931 in the NRW rail archive of André Joost