Bonn Stadtbahn

The Bonn Stadtbahn ("city rail") is a part of the local public transit system in Bonn and the surrounding Rhein-Sieg area. Although with six actual Stadtbahn lines and three tram lines it is relatively small, two of the Stadtbahn lines connect to the much larger Cologne Stadtbahn (and are numbered according to that system, not Bonn's).

The entire network comprises 125.36 kilometres of trackage, of which 95.84 km are allocated for Stadtbahn use and the remaining 29.52 km are used by the tram network. There are 64 stations. Additionally, 8.5 kilometres of the Stadtbahn and 12 of the stations are located underground. [cite web | url=http://www.stadtwerke-bonn.de/Kennzahlen_SWB_Bus_und_Bahn.272.0.html | title=Kennzahlen SWB Bus und Bahn | accessdate=2007-01-29 | work=SWB]

History

In the middle of the 1960s Bonn lay at the heart of five different railway enterprises. Besides the Deutsche Bundesbahn (the West German national railway company) there was the independent Cologne-Bonn railway (KBE) and three separate tram concerns:
*The tram network operated by the city of Bonn (SWB), which had declined in the 1950s.
*The SSB, which operated electrified services in the Rhein-Seig area between Bonn, Beuel, Siegburg, and Bad Honnef.
*The BGM, which operated a tram line from Bonn through Bad Godesberg to Mehlem.This arrangement was inexpedient for a city which boasted 140,000 inhabitants and served as the seat of government for West Germany. The existing arrangement faced competition from the development of automobile traffic, and the federal government was anxious to transform Bonn from a provincial town to a modern capital. At the time trams were considered outmoded and un-modern, so the government was willing to provide funds for removal and replacement.

In 1967 the Bonn City Council approved a new transportation plan which included underground railway (U-Bahn) between Bonn and Bad Godesberg; the initial ground breaking took place in October of the same year. The overall concept involved a mixed system of streetcars (operated by the SSB) and heavy rail (operated by the KBE). However, the KBE went into financial decline at the end of the decade and survived only with the support of the North Rhine-Westphalia government; in this environment expansion was impossible. Instead, the railway lines of the KBE would be used to provide a link between Bonn and the Cologne tram network. To this end, new, lighter rolling stock was introduced that would be more suitable on Cologne's Rhine bridges and subway tunnels. The Siegburg lines had already switched to Stadtbahn rolling stock in 1974. On 22 March, 1975, the Bonn Stadtbahn was officially inaugurated.

Routes

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Stammstrecke

The "Stammstrecke" (trunk route) is the 4.5 kilometre segment between the Bonn Hbf and the Deutsche Telekom stop at United Nations place, which is served by all Stadtbahn lines, but not by the tram system. The majority of the line runs through a tunnel constructed in 1975, replacing the BGM-operated tram line which ran aboveground along the Adenauerallee and down to Bad Godesberg.

Lines

Stadtbahn

The Bonn Stadtbahn is composed of six lines all together, of which four operate regularly and two at peak hours:

Tram

In addition to the Stadtbahn three tram lines remain in service:

References

External links

* [http://www.stadtwerke-bonn.de/busundbahn/ Website der SWB Bus und Bahn] (German)
* [http://home.arcor.de/e.lauterbach/bonn/ Bahnen in Bonn – Historie und neue Ideen] (German)
* [http://www.streckenkun.de Stadtbahnbetrieb auf den Überlandstrecken zwischen Köln und Bonn] (German)
* [http://www.haltestellenbonn.de.vu Fotodokumentation Bonner Haltestellen mit Hintergrundinformationen] (German)
* [http://www.hvswb.de Historical Club SWB – We show history] (German & English(soon)