Osterath–Dortmund Süd railway
Network of the former Rhenish Railway Company
Overview
Line number	2610 (Osterath – Lohbruch) 2504 (Lohbruch – DU-Rheinhausen) 2505 (DU-Rheinhausen – BO Nord) 2151 (BO Nord – DO-Dorstfeld) 2126 (DO-Dorstfeld – DO Süd) Connecting lines: 2312 (DU-Hochfeld Süd – DU Hbf) 2326 (DU Hbf – DU-Hochfeld Süd Vorbf)
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number	425 (KR-Oppum – DU Hbf) 450.4 (DO-Lüttgendortmund – DO Süd)
Technical
Line length	76 km (47 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	120 km/h (74.6 mph) or 80 km/h (49.7 mph)
Route map Legend Line from Unna-Königsborn S4 Former line from Dortmund Ost Former "Wuppertal Northern Railway" 69.5 Dortmund Süd (former Dortmund RhE/KWE) 69.1 Dortmund Stadthaus 67.9 Dortmund Möllerbrücke 66.9 Dortmund West (interchange station planned)** Line from Dortmund S2 Line from Dortmunderfeld 9.0 66.1 Dortmund-Dorstfeld (interchange station, high level) * Line to Dortmund-Mengede S2 7.7 00.0 Dortmund-Dorstfeld West junction Line from Dortmund-Huckarde 64.6 Dortmund-Dorstfeld freight yard 63.3 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund Flm junction Long distance line from Dortmund Hbf 6.2 Dortmund-Marten Süd 62.4 Lütgendortmund junction 4.2 Dortmund-Germania 61.4 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund freight yard 3.9 61  Dortmund-Lütgendortmund (old) 3.3 Dortmund-Somborn crossover (single track from here) 3.3 Dortmund-Somborn Lütgendortmund Tunnel (1236m) 1.8 Dortmund-Lütgendortmund (S4 new, planned) Line from Dortmund 0.0 Dortmund-Bövinghausen Line to Herne Line from Dortmund-Dorstfeld (low) S1 Line to Witten Former line from Dortmund-Löttringhausen Line from Witten 57.0 Bochum-Langendreer southern part Bochum-Langendreer S-Bahn Bochum-Langendreer Lpf Bochum-Langendreer West 57.2 Bochum-Langendreer Lgf Line to Bochum-Laer 55.6 Bochum-Langendreer western part Line to Bochum Hbf S1 52.2 Prinz von Preußen junction Long distance line to Bochum Hbf Connecting curve to Bochum Hbf Former line from Bochum-Weitmar 50.5 Bochum Nord (formerly Bochum RhE) 49.2 Bochum Präsident Line to Herne-Rottbruch Herne-Rottbruch–Bochum line 48.7 Bochum Präsident freight yard ThyssenKrupp steel/strip mill siding 46.5 Centrumstraße LC 45.3 Blücherstraße LC 44.9 Bochum IKEA siding Former line from Wanne-Eickel Hbf 43.1 Gelsenkirchen-Wattenscheid Former line to Gelsenkirchen Hbf 41.4 Krayer Straße LC 41.4 Essen-Kray Nord RWE siding Former line from Wanne-Eickel Hbf Line from Gelsenkirchen Hbf S2 39.1 Essen-Kray Nord 36.3 Frillendorf junction (last Bk) Line to Essen Hbf S2 Former Essen-Stoppenberg–Essen Hbf line Essen Ost freight yard Former line from Essen-Stoppenberg 34.0 Essen Nord (depot; formerly Essen RhE) Former line to Essen-Altenessen and Essen-Bergeborbeck 31.0 Essen-Altendorf junction (formerly Altendorf station) Former line to Essen-Borbeck Essen-Borbeck–Essen West line Former line to Essen-Borbeck Connecting line from Essen West Trunk line from Essen West S1 Former line from Altendorf (Ruhr) 28.0 Mülheim (Ruhr)-Heißen (depot; former station) 23.5 Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf (former Keilbahnhof) Trunk line to Duisburg S1 Mülheim city viaduct over the Ruhr Former Lower Ruhr Valley Railway MH-Styrum–E-Kettwig 22.0 Mülheim (Ruhr) MüGa (MüGa 1992) Former Lower Ruhr Valley Railway from Essen-Kettwig Connecting curve from Rhine-Ruhr Port Speldorf Bf LC 20.9 Mülheim (Ruhr)-Speldorf 18.6 Katzenbruch LC Former line to Duisburg-Wedau Oberhausen West–Duisburg-Wedau line (above here closed for passenger traffic) 16.1 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Hd Line from Duisburg-Wedau 15.3 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Vorbf Line from Oberhausen West 2.8 Duisburg Hbf Duisburg-Regattabahn (branch line from 1870 and 1880) Trunk line to Düsseldorf 0.0 14.1 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd junction Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Hafen 13.8 Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Freight line to Duisburg-Wanheim 13.7 Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge (Rhine) 13,0 Rheinhausen train ferry station from Duisburg Intermodal Terminal 11.8 Rheinhausen Ost 10.8 Rheinhausen freight yard 10.2 ≡ 10.1 Rheinhausen former line from Duisburg-Meiderich Nord freight line from Trompet Rheinhausen–Kleve railway to Trompet (former course via Hohenbudberg marshalling yard) former link from Rheinhausen–Kleve railway 7.9 Hohenbudberg Siedlung 6.9 Hohenbudberg 7.5 00000 Mühlenberg (junction) 6.5 00000 Krefeld-Hohenbudberg Chempark 4.7 Krefeld-Uerdingen Bf 4.3 00000 Krefeld-Uerdingen Hp 1.7 00 1.6 Krefeld-Linn A 57 current/original Rhenish route to Krefeld 0.7 Krefeld BMW (siding) current Lower Left Rhine Railway from Krefeld 0.0 00000 Krefeld-Oppum -0.1 49.2 Lohbruch (junction) current line to Krefeld original Rhenish route to Krefeld (only freight) original Lower Left Rhine Railway from Krefeld 43.2 Meerbusch-Osterath Lower Left Rhine Railway to Neuss Source: German railway atlas[1] Right: RhE kilometrage, left new S-Bahn kilometrage *  Dortmund–Bochum S1 ** Dortmund–Hagen S5

The Osterath–Dortmund-Süd railway is a historically significant line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Parts of it are closed, much of it is now used for freight only, but several sections are still used for Regional-Express, Regionalbahn or Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn services.

The nearly 76 kilometre long line was built in three stages between 1866 and 1874 by the Rhenish Railway Company (German: Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RhE), creating a third major east-west line through the Ruhr area. It was intended to compete effectively with the established and profitable lines of its competitors—the Duisburg–Dortmund line of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company and the Ruhr line of Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company, but it was not successful.

The Rhenish Railway concentrated for a long time left on the territories next to the Rhine, leaving the Ruhr area with its coal mines and emerging industries to be opened up by the Cologne-Minden and the Bergisch-Märkische railway companies. The RhE wanted to penetrate this lucrative market and began building the Rurh line from its Osterath station on its Lower Left Rhine line.

Between the port of Mülheim and Essen's Graf Beust colliery, the line used the route of a horse-hauled railway operated by the colliery from 1853 to 1865.^[2]

Little passenger traffic developed on the line due to the parallel railway of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company. Passenger services were abandoned on the section between Mülheim-Heißen and Essen-Kray-Nord in 1959, between Essen-Kray Nord and Bochum Präsident in 1965 and between Bochum Präsident and Bochum-Langendreer in 1979.

Until 30 May 1986, accumulator railcars of class 515 ran between Duisburg-Rheinhausen and Hohenbudberg Siedlung. Then the Rhenish line from Krefeld-Linn to the former Hohenbudberg marshalling yard was completely dismantled along with the yard. Instead, the line now uses the parallel route of the Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company (Ruhrort–Crefeld−Kreis Gladbach Eisenbahngesellschaft).

Four services operate each hour on the RhE line between Duisburg and Rheinhausen: the line from Mönchengladbach is served by the Niers-Haard-Express (RE 42), the Rhein-Niers-Bahn (RB 33) and the Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn (RB 35) services and the Der Niederrheiner (RB 31) service connects with the Lower Rhine Railway. After crossing over the Rhine on the Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge, which was destroyed in the Second World War and then rebuilt, all passenger trains leave the main line and continue on the branch line built in 1870 to Duisburg Hauptbahnhof.

The section of the Rhenish line from Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd to Mülheim (Ruhr) Hauptbahnhof was closed down in several stages and where it is still open it is used mainly for freight operations. As part of the merger that created the University of Duisburg-Essen there were brief but inconclusive discussions on creating a direct transport link on the route from Duisburg-Neudorf via Speldorf, Mülheim Hauptbahnhof and Heißen to Essen Nord, connecting the two campuses. Meanwhile, the overall line between Speldorf and Mülheim Hauptbahnhof was dismantled.

In Essen, the line has been interrupted several times, the bridges over Segeroth-Strasse and Hans-Böckler-Strasse were demolished and the new Berthold-Beitz-Boulevard was built on the line’s embankment. The Essen-Nord station and its two signal boxes have been decommissioned and demolished and in its place the new university district has been built. The main line from Essen-Nord to Essen-Kray Nord has been closed along with Essen-Nord station and signals have been removed from the station platforms at Essen-Kray Nord station.^[3] Essen-Kray Nord and the Goldschmidt plant can still be accessed via Essen-Nord.

The Rhenish line east of Essen-Kray station running towards Bochum has also been demolished. Thus the railway bridge of the Rhenish line over the A40 in Bochum-Stahlhausen has already been removed during the upgrading of the autobahn.

The easternmost section of the line between Dortmund Dorstfeld (high level) and Dortmund Süd station has been upgraded for the S-Bahn S 4 and extended to Dortmund Lütgendortmund and is served by the S-Bahn at 20-minute intervals. From Dortmund Süd, the S 4 uses the line to Welver of the former Royal Westphalian Railway Company (Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn, KWE) to Unna-Königsborn and then the Fröndenberg–Kamen railway to Unna station.

The low level of Dortmund-Dorstfeld station is connected by S-Bahn services from Dortmund Hauptbahnhof: line S 1 runs to Essen Hauptbahnhof on the Bergisch-Märkische line and line S 2 runs to Herne station on the line to Dortmund-Mengede.

• 
  Freight train in Gelsenkirchen-Wattenscheid in 1993
• 
  Bochum-Nord station in 1995

NRW rail archive of André Joost:

• Original line:
  • "Line 2610: Osterath ↔ Lohbruch junction". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • "Line 2504: Lohbruch junction ↔ Duisburg-Rheinhausen". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • "Line 2505: Duisburg-Rheinhausen ↔ Bochum Nord". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • "Line 2151: Bochum Nord ↔ Dortmund-Dorstfeld". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • "Line 2126: Dortmund-Dorstfeld ↔ Dortmund Süd". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
• Connecting line to the CME trunk line:
  • "Line 2312: Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd ↔ Duisburg Hbf". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • "Line 2326: Duisburg Hbf ↔ Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd Vorbf". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • "Line 2181: Mülheim-Heißen ↔ Essen West". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • "Line 2168: Essen-Kray Nord ↔ Gelsenkirchen RhE". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
• Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (new):
  • "Line 2213: Dortmund-Lütgendortmund ↔ Dortmund-Dorstfeld". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
• Other sites:
  • "Photographs of operations at Gelsenkirchen-Wattenscheid" (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2011.