Rhein-Haard-Express

RE 2: Rhein-Haard-Express
Overview
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Technical
Line length	144 km (89 mi)
Operating speed	160 km/h (99 mph) (maximum)
Route number	425
Route map Legend Münster (Westf) Hbf ICE, IC 0 Münster-Albachten ICE, IC 10 Bösensell 13 Nottuln-Appelhülsen 17 Buldern 29 Dülmen 37 Sythen 42 Haltern am See 51 Marl-Sinsen 57 Recklinghausen Hbf IC 67 Wanne-Eickel Hbf IC 72 Gelsenkirchen Hbf IC 80 Essen Hbf THA, ICE, IC 89 Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf (since 12/2002) IC 99 Duisburg Hbf (since 12/2002) THA, ICE, IC former route to Mönchengladbach (see below) Düsseldorf Airport (since 12/2010) ICE, IC Düsseldorf Hbf (since 12/2010) THA, ICE, IC Source: NRW rail archive,[1] German railway atlas[2]

Route from 12/2002 until 12/2010
Legend
Current route from Münster to Düsseldorf (see above) 107 Rheinhausen 113 Krefeld-Uerdingen 119 Krefeld Hbf 134 Viersen 143 Mönchengladbach Hbf ICE, IC

RB 42: Haard-Bahn
Overview
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Technical
Line length	123 km (76 mi)
Operating speed	160 km/h (99 mph) (maximum)
Route number	425
Route map Legend 0 Münster (Westf) Hbf ICE, IC 10 Münster-Albachten 13 Bösensell 17 Nottuln-Appelhülsen 22 Buldern 29 Dülmen 37 Sythen 42 Haltern am See 51 Marl-Sinsen 57 Recklinghausen Hbf ICE, IC 63 Recklinghausen Süd 67 Wanne-Eickel Hbf IC 72 Gelsenkirchen Hbf ICE, IC 80 Essen Hbf THA, ICE, IC 89 Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf (from 12/2016) IC 99 Duisburg Hbf (from 12/2016) THA, ICE, IC 107 Rheinhausen (from 12/2016) 113 Krefeld-Uerdingen (from 12/2016) 119 Krefeld Hbf (from 12/2016) 134 Viersen (from 12/2016) 143 Mönchengladbach Hbf (from 12/2016) ICE, IC Source: NRW rail archive,[3] German railway atlas[2]

The Rhein-Haard-Express (RE 2) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Münster via Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen, Essen and Duisburg to Düsseldorf.

History

The Rhein-Haard-Express operated from 1998 to 2002 as the Haard-Express only between Münster and Essen. From the timetable change in December 2002, it ran via Duisburg to Mönchengladbach, taking over the Duisburg–Mönchengladbach section from the Rhein-Emscher-Express (RE 3), which ran to Düsseldorf instead.

With the timetable change on 12 December 2010 there was another exchange of routes with the Duisburg–Mönchengladbach section operated by the Rhein-Hellweg-Express (RE 11), which now runs hourly between Hamm and Mönchengladbach.

In return the Rhein-Haard-Express took over the Duisburg–Düsseldorf section and also operates as an hourly service. In this section, there are normally five Regional-Express services per hour (RE 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6), and four Regional-Express trains per hour on the Essen-Duisburg section (RE 1, 2, 6 and 11).

Since the timetable change on 12 December 2010, the Rhein-Haard-Express trains have operated with five instead of four carriages.^[4] After an EU-wide tender, DB Regio NRW contract to operate the service has been extended from December 2014 to December 2029.^[5]

With the timetable change in December 2016, there will lead to a further change in the route of the service. The RE 11 service will return to its former route between Duisburg and Düsseldorf and the RE 2 service will terminate at Essen. The section of the RE 2's former route between Essen to Mönchengladbach, will not be taken over by the Rhein-Haardt-Express. Instead, the Haard-Bahn (RB 42), which currently runs between Münster and Essen on the same route as the Rhein-Haardt-Express, will be extended to Mönchengladbach.^[6] This reflects the fact that the train will stop at every station between Duisburg and Mönchengladbach, like the parallel Rhein-Niers-Bahn (RB 33), so it is not considered appropriate to designate it as an "express".

Route

The Rhein-Hellweg Express runs daily every hour and utilises five railway lines:

• The Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg railway between Munster and Wanne-Eickel (which is also used by various Intercity services and Regionalbahn service RB 42),
• The Duisburg–Dortmund railway between Wanne-Eickel and Gelsenkirchen (shared with a variety of traffic and without intervening stations),
• The whole of the Essen–Gelsenkirchen railway (shared with RB 42 and Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn line S 2)
• The Dortmund–Duisburg line between Essen and Duisburg (on the long-distance tracks, which is used by all types of regional and long distance traffic),
• The Cologne–Duisburg railway between Duisburg and Düsseldorf. In this four to six track section the Rhein-Haard-Express uses the S-Bahn tracks or the so-called "local" tracks where they exist, along with the Rhein-Emscher-Express (RE 3) and the Westfalen-Express (RE 6). Only the NRW-Express (RE 1), the Rhein-Express (RE 5) and, in the peak periods, the Regionalbahn service Der Weseler (RB 35) use the long-distance tracks.

Rail services

The Rhein-Haard-Express runs hourly every day and it stops at every station north of Recklinghausen Hbf. It runs on a long section parallel to S-Bahn lines and from Münster to Essen it runs in the same route as the Haard-Bahn (RB 42) but 30 minutes earlier or later. In the peak hour additional services of the RB 42 run between Haltern am See station and Essen Hbf.

All RB trains are operated with class 1428 (Stadler FLIRT) sets. The RE 2 is operated by DB Regio AG, using push-pull trains of five double-deck carriages hauled by class 146 electric locomotives at speeds of up to 160 km/h. The average speed is 71 km/h. Nevertheless, the Express services takes two minutes between Essen and Münster than the RB 42 services, since the latter have better acceleration.

In the evening or at night, when the RB 42 no longer runs, the Rhein-Haard-Express stops in Recklinghausen Süd.

The Rhein-Haard-Express was the last RE line in North Rhine-Westphalia that still featured a so-called ZugCafé (dining car). In recent years, this bistro was only open during the peak hour from Monday to Friday. With the new contract awarded to DB Regio AG for the operation of the service from 14 December 2014, continued operation of the bistro was omitted. The sets have been converted for the Rhein-Haard-Express, so that the first class seating is now be located in the control car. This is where step-free access and a toilet for the disabled is located, along with bicycle parking spaces. The control car heads the trains running towards Düsseldorf, while the locomotive leads towards Münster. Barrier-free entry and exit is not always possible because some stations have a platform height of only 38 centimetres above the rail.

The Rhein-Haard-Express connects in Munster, Gelsenkirchen, Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf with other transport services. In addition, it has direct connections with long-distance rail services in Duisburg and Münster.

Two North Rhine-Westphalian municipal transport associations, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr ("Rhine-Ruhr Transport Association", VRR) and the Zweckverband SPNV Münsterland ("Münsterland rail transport association", ZVM) are involved in the operation of the service. After a call for tenders from European companies to operate the Rhein-Haard-Express and the Haard-Bahn, the contract for operating both lines was awarded in 2001 for the period from 2004 to 2014 to DB Regio NRW.

Notes

See also

• List of regional rail lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
• List of scheduled railway routes in Germany