Cologne-Minden trunk line
Encyclopedia
The Cologne-Minden trunk line is a railway built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company
(Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME). The line is the westernmost part of the railway line from Berlin
to the Rhine that was proposed by Friedrich List
in his Concept for a railway network in Germany, published in 1833. In fact, Friedrich Harkort (“father of the Ruhr”) had proposed the construction of a railway line from Cologne
to Minden
in 1825.
, the cities of the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial area
and Minden to connect with the network of the Royal Hanoverian State Railways
.
A route through the Bergisches Land
had been dropped was due to the high cost of the engineering structures that would have been required on the advice of the Aachen
merchant and banker David Hansemann
(1790-1864), who was then briefly Prussia
n Minister of Finance. Instead, the chosen route that bypassed the Bergisches Landran was selected. It ran from Deutz (now a suburb of Cologne) further north through Mülheim am Rhein
, Düsseldorf, Duisburg
, Oberhausen
, Altenessen
, Gelsenkirchen
, Wanne
, Herne
and Castrop-Rauxel
to Dortmund and on to Hamm
, Oelde
, Rheda
, Bielefeld
and Herford
to Minden.
The first leg from Deutz to Düsseldorf opened on 20 December 1845. Only a few weeks later, on 9 February 1846, the second section was completed to a temporary terminus at the site of present-day Duisburg Hauptbahnhof
called the Duisburg Cologne-Minden station, the first of three stations built on the same site. The next section from Duisburg to Hamm was opened on 15 May 1847. On 15 October 1847, the last section was opened to Minden, thus completing the entire 263 kilometre long, single track railway.
The line with the Schildesche viaduct and other engineering structures were designed for eventual duplication.
On the same day as its line opened to Minden, the Royal Hanoverian State Railways opened its Hanover–Minden line. On 1 September 1847 the Saxon-Silesian Railway Company opened a line connecting Görlitz
with a branch of the Lower Silesian-Markish Railway. On 18 October 1847 the Upper Silesian Railway reached the border station of Mysłowice. On 13 October 1847 Kraków-Upper Silesian Railway opened. The opening of several hundred kilometres of railway lines in September and October 1847 together with other lines opened in the previous few years, created a continuous rail link from the Rhine via Brunswick
, Oschersleben
, Magdeburg
, Dresden
and Wrocław to the Vistula
river. The lines from Berlin to Magdeburg and Wrocław were opened in the previous year, but until 1851 there was no rail connection between the various railway stations in Berlin. With the opening of a connecting line between the Wrocław stations on 3 February 1848, it was connected to the Upper Silesian Railway and the Kraków–Upper Silesian railway, creating a continuous rail link from Deutz to Kraków
. Less than a year later on 1 September 1848, the William’s Railway (Wilhelmsbahn) was opened from Koźle
to Bohumín
(now in the Czech Republic
, then in the Austrian Empire
), closing the gap between the Upper Silesian Railway and the Austrian Northern Railway
, which had opened to Bohumín on 1 April 1847. This created a continuous rail link between Cologne and Vienna
.
The line is now treated as four different lines as set out below with their current significance in terms of the number of trains running:
Cologne-Minden Railway Company
The Cologne-Minden Railway Company was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th century built the first railways in the Ruhr and large parts of today's North Rhine-Westphalia.-Founding :The founding of the...
(Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME). The line is the westernmost part of the railway line from Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to the Rhine that was proposed by Friedrich List
Friedrich List
Georg Friedrich List was a leading 19th century German economist who developed the "National System" or what some would call today the National System of Innovation...
in his Concept for a railway network in Germany, published in 1833. In fact, Friedrich Harkort (“father of the Ruhr”) had proposed the construction of a railway line from Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
to Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
in 1825.
History
On 18 December 1843, the CME was awarded the concession to build a railway line between the metropolis of CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, the cities of the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial area
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
and Minden to connect with the network of the Royal Hanoverian State Railways
Royal Hanoverian State Railways
The Royal Hanoverian State Railways existed from 1843 until the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866...
.
A route through the Bergisches Land
Bergisches Land
The Bergisches Land is a low mountain range region within the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, east of Rhine river, south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by woods, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over 20 artificial lakes...
had been dropped was due to the high cost of the engineering structures that would have been required on the advice of the Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
merchant and banker David Hansemann
David Hansemann
David Justus Ludwig Hansemann was a Prussian politician and banker, serving as the Prussian Minister of Finance in 1848.- Life :...
(1790-1864), who was then briefly Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n Minister of Finance. Instead, the chosen route that bypassed the Bergisches Landran was selected. It ran from Deutz (now a suburb of Cologne) further north through Mülheim am Rhein
Mülheim am Rhein
Mülheim is a city district of Cologne in Germany and a formerly independent town . Mülheim is located on the right bank of the Rhine opposite the old town of Cologne....
, Düsseldorf, Duisburg
Duisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
, Oberhausen
Oberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
, Altenessen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
, Wanne
Wanne
Wanne is a residential area in the northern outskirts of the city of Tübingen, Germany. Beyond Wanne extends the vast state nature protection area of the Schönbuch...
, Herne
Herne, Germany
Herne is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area directly between the cities of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen.- History :Like most other cities in the region Herne was a tiny village until the 19th century...
and Castrop-Rauxel
Castrop-Rauxel
-Geography:Castrop-Rauxel is between Dortmund to the east, Bochum , Herne , and to the north, Recklinghausen, Datteln and Waltrop.- Urban Area :The urban area of Castrop-Rauxel has an total expanse of...
to Dortmund and on to Hamm
Hamm
Hamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of December 2003 its population was 180,849. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway...
, Oelde
Oelde
Oelde is a town in the district of Warendorf, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near Beckum.-Division of the town:Oelde consists of 5 districts:* Oelde* Stromberg* Lette* Sünninghausen* Kirchspiel...
, Rheda
Rheda, Germany
Rheda is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, a part of the municipality of Rheda-Wiedenbrück in the Kreis of Gütersloh.-History:Rheda was first mentioned in documents from the year 1085, at the latest 1088...
, Bielefeld
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...
and Herford
Herford
Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...
to Minden.
The first leg from Deutz to Düsseldorf opened on 20 December 1845. Only a few weeks later, on 9 February 1846, the second section was completed to a temporary terminus at the site of present-day Duisburg Hauptbahnhof
Duisburg Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof of the city of Duisburg in western Germany. It is situated at the meeting point of many important national and international railway lines in the Northwestern Ruhr valley.- Lines :...
called the Duisburg Cologne-Minden station, the first of three stations built on the same site. The next section from Duisburg to Hamm was opened on 15 May 1847. On 15 October 1847, the last section was opened to Minden, thus completing the entire 263 kilometre long, single track railway.
The line with the Schildesche viaduct and other engineering structures were designed for eventual duplication.
Network developments in 1847/48
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
with a branch of the Lower Silesian-Markish Railway. On 18 October 1847 the Upper Silesian Railway reached the border station of Mysłowice. On 13 October 1847 Kraków-Upper Silesian Railway opened. The opening of several hundred kilometres of railway lines in September and October 1847 together with other lines opened in the previous few years, created a continuous rail link from the Rhine via Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
, Oschersleben
Oschersleben
Oschersleben is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2005 about 18,000.-Geography:...
, Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
and Wrocław to the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
river. The lines from Berlin to Magdeburg and Wrocław were opened in the previous year, but until 1851 there was no rail connection between the various railway stations in Berlin. With the opening of a connecting line between the Wrocław stations on 3 February 1848, it was connected to the Upper Silesian Railway and the Kraków–Upper Silesian railway, creating a continuous rail link from Deutz to Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. Less than a year later on 1 September 1848, the William’s Railway (Wilhelmsbahn) was opened from Koźle
Kozle
Koźle is a district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle and is at the junction of the Kłodnica and Odra rivers, 29 Ifl. southeast of Opole by rail. The district has a Roman Catholic church, a medieval chateau, remains of a 19th century fortress and a high school...
to Bohumín
Bohumín
Bohumín is a town in Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic on the border with Poland. The confluence of the Oder and Olza Rivers is situated just north of the town. The town lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia....
(now in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, then in the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
), closing the gap between the Upper Silesian Railway and the Austrian Northern Railway
Northern Railway (Austria)
The Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Its main line was supposed to connect Vienna with salt mines in Bochnia near Kraków...
, which had opened to Bohumín on 1 April 1847. This created a continuous rail link between Cologne and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Current significance
In modern times the trunk line is no longer a continuous main line. The section between Duisburg and Dortmund is not a regular route for long-distance trains; instead through trains run on the more central Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg line of the former Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company.The line is now treated as four different lines as set out below with their current significance in terms of the number of trains running:
- Cologne–Duisburg lineCologne–Duisburg railwayThe 64 km long Cologne–Duisburg railway is one of the most important lines in Germany. It is the main axis for long distance and urban passenger rail services between Cologne and the Ruhr, served by Intercity Express, Intercity, Regional Express, regionalbahn and S-Bahn trains...
(extremely high) - Duisburg–Dortmund line (Duisburg–Oberhausen and Gelsenkirchen–Wanne-Eickel: medium, otherwise low)
- Dortmund–Hamm line (high)
- Hamm–Minden line (very high)