History Mönchengladbach–Stolberg railway

odenkirchen station in 1874

on 1 february 1870 bergisch-märkische railway company opened first part of line between mönchengladbach , odenkirchen.

the concession construction , operation of extension of line hochneukirch, jülich, inden , weisweiler eschweiler-aue, total length of 48.77 km, granted bme on 23 september 1870. section put operation 3 years later on 1 october 1873.

another section stolberg followed in 1875. stolberg bme station located few hundred metres south of stolberg rhe station on cologne–aachen line, built rhenish railway company (rheinische eisenbahn-gesellschaft, rhe). station called stolberg (rheinland) hauptbahnhof.

at end of year, connection line built stolberg aie station of aachen industrial railway (aachener industriebahn ag) put operation, after nationalisation of (nominally) private prussian railway companies @ end of 19th century, closed.

when line between mönchengladbach , stolberg nationalised, came under royal railway division @ cologne of east bank of rhine (königlichen eisenbahndirection zu cöln rechtsrheinisch) 1 april 1883, other railway lines in region (despite being west of rhine), integrated individual lines. connecting line still located in area of stolberg rhe station connected eschweiler-aue on 15 october 1884.

the prussian state railways, introduced first direct passenger trains stolberg mönchengladbach. in 1920 company became part of deutsche reichsbahn.

post-war period

after turmoil of world war ii, operations resumed in summer of 1945 , operations taken on in 1949 deutsche bundesbahn. in 1950s freight link opened frenz station weisweiler power station. became important freight customer line.

until closure of business in 1970s, brown coal briquettes transported rheinbraun briquette factory in weisweiler stolberg. traffic hauled class 50 steam locomotives based in stolberg depot until 1975.

from 1950s steam-hauled passenger services replaced railbuses of classes vt 95 , vt 98. in recent years, passenger train services operated battery railcars of class 515.

decline

during rise of car ownership, passenger traffic fell sharply in 1970s. deutsche bundesbahn operated own buses , these increasingly diverted traffic railway on route. poor connections between db operated buses trains–especially @ hochneukirch station–further discouraged potential passengers, 1976 buses gradually replaced railway services on hochneukirch–jülich section during evening hours, after midday on saturdays , on sundays. anyway, whole line threatened in medium term impending interruption expnasions of 2 open-cut mines @ inden , garzweiler.

so on 1 june 1980, passenger services closed between hochneukirch , jülich , freight traffic closed between ameln , jülich on 15 july 1980. freight traffic closed between ameln , hochneukirch on 1 june 1984.

on 31 may 1981, stations of eschweiler-röhe , eschweiler-aue closed. on 22 may 1983, remaining section of valley railway closed passenger traffic. @ same time freight operations closed between frenz , julich.

the connection between rheydt-odenkirchen , rheydt hauptbahnhof opened in 1908 meant two-track line via geneicken opened in 1870 became secondary line between mönchengladbach hauptbahnhof , rheydt station. section, used trains between mönchengladbach , cologne , still electrified in 1968, closed in may 1985 , dismantled between odenkirchen , geneicken. former stations on section served buses of niederrheinische versorgung und verkehr (lower rhine supply , transport). hiking trail built on part of route. geneicken station building bought in 1988 city of mönchengladbach , houses restaurant , community space.