Oberbergische Bahn

The Oberbergische Bahn (RB 25) is a Regionalbahn rail service running between Cologne Hansaring and Lüdenscheid in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).^[2]

Quick Facts RB 25, Overview ...

RB 25 Oberbergische Bahn
Overview
Line number	2620 (Köln Hansaring-Köln) 2670 (Köln-Köln Posthof) 2621 (Köln Posthof–Flughafen NO) 2692 (Flughafen NO–Frankfurter Str) 2655 (Frankfurter Str–Overath) 2657 (Overath–Gummersbach-Dieringhausen) 2810 (Dieringhausen–Lüdenscheid-Brügge) 2813 (Lüdenscheid-Brügge–Lüdenscheid)
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia
Service
Route number	459
Technical
Line length	97 km (60 mi)
Operating speed	120 km/h (74.6 mph) (maximum)
Route map Legend 0 Köln Hansaring (Hp) 1 Cologne Hbf ICE, Thalys, IC, RE 2 Köln Messe/Deutz ICE, RE 4 Köln Trimbornstraße (Hp) 8 Köln Frankfurter Straße 17 Rösrath-Stümpen 19 Rösrath 21 Hoffnungsthal 25 Honrath 29 Overath 41 Engelskirchen 46 Ründeroth 54 Gummersbach-Dieringhausen 59 Gummersbach 67 Marienheide 76 Meinerzhagen 80 Kierspe 88 Halver-Oberbrügge 91 Lüdenscheid-Brügge RB 97 Lüdenscheid Source: German railway atlas[1]

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This service is operated by DB Regio NRW with Alstom Coradia LINT 54 and 81 railcars.

The RB 25 service starts at Cologne Hansaring and runs over the tracks of the S-Bahn line to the Cologne–Overath railway to Overath then on the Siegburg–Olpe railway (also called the Agger Valley Railway) to Gummersbach-Dieringhausen, continuing over the Hagen–Dieringhausen railway (Volme Valley Railway) and Lüdenscheid-Brügge to its terminus at Lüdenscheid.

The RB 25 service runs on the section between Cologne Hansaring and Gummersbach every half hour. Trains continue from Gummersbach to Lüdenscheid hourly.

Fares on the entire line are regulated by Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (Rhine-Sieg Transport Association).

Oliver Wittke, the former NRW transport minister, turned down a proposal to reactivate the entire section in 2005. The Marienheide–Meinerzhagen section returned to operation in 2013.^[3] The section of the Volme Valley Railway between Meinerzhagen and Lüdenscheid-Brügge was finally reactivated at the timetable change in December 2017. Now trains from Cologne can run directly to Lüdenscheid.

Since, work at Meinerzhagen station was largely completed by December 2017, the stations Kierspe and Halver-Oberbügge were reopened in December 2019.

It is proposed to operate the section between Cologne Hansaring and Marienheide at 20-minute intervals. This, however, requires the part of the line to be duplicated. It is proposed that the line be integrated into the network of the Rhine-Sieg S-Bahn and be extended through Cologne to the Eifel Railway.

In March 2011, the Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (Westphalia-Lippe Regional Transport) awarded operations of the Cologne diesel network (Kölner Dieselnetz) to DB Regio Rheinland from December 2013 for 20 years. This contract requires the following actions on the Oberbergische network to be undertaken:

• line extension (reactivation) from Marienheide to Meinerzhagen
• duplication of the Dieringhausen–Gummersbach section
• measures to raise speeds between Köln-Porz and Rösrath
• increased services on the Overath–Engelskirchen section by increasing services between Cologne and Overath (13 services from Monday to Friday)
• increased services on the Overath–Gummersbach section to 14 services from Monday to Friday
• an extra service in the morning peak from Overath (7:11 AM) to Cologne (7:48 AM)
• establishment of a half-hourly service between Marienheide and Gummersbach between 7:00 and 8:00 AM for students and school children.

Alstom Coradia LINT 54 and 81 railcars are used for the service.