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The Deister Railway is a railway line in the German state of Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

 between Weetzen and Haste. It is now a section of the Hanover S-Bahn

Hanover S-Bahn

The Hanover S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network operated by DB Regio in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony...

 network.

History

The line was built by the Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company

Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company

The Hanover-Altenbekener Railway Company was among the companies of the German "railway king" Bethel Henry Strousberg. Its route network at the end of the first phase consisted of two lines, Hanover–Altenbeken and Weetzen–Haste . In addition, a branch line was opened from Linden-Küchengarten to...

 (Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), mainly to transport bulk freight (coal, stone) from the Deister

Deister

The Deister is a chain of hills in the German state of Lower Saxony, about 15 mi southwest of the city of Hanover. It runs in a north-westerly direction from Springe in the south to Rodenberg in the north. The next the chain of hills that attaches in the south is called Small Deister...

 hills. The Weetzen–Barsinghausen section was opened on 1 May 1872; the remainder of the line opened as far as Haste on 15 August 1872. On 22 March 1969, the last steam locomotive hauled a regular passenger train on the line and the line was converted to diesel traction.

After Deutsche Bundesbahn

Deutsche Bundesbahn

The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...

 planned to close the line in the late 1960s, the line was electrified with financial support from the Municipal Association of Greater Hanover, a predecessor of the Hanover Region

Hanover (district)

Hanover Region is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Heidekreis, Celle, Gifhorn, Peine, Hildesheim, Hamelin-Pyrmont, Schaumburg and Nienburg....

, and was operated electrically from 31 May 1970. At first, locomotive-hauled trains of Silberling

Silberling

Silberling is the colloquial name for the n-coaches of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, a type of regional passenger coach of which more than 7,000 units were built from 1958 to 1981...

 coaches operated on the line. From 1989 City-Bahn

City-Bahn

The City-Bahn was a German train category introduced by the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1984 for local train services, in order to make secondary routes more attractive. Old Silberling coaches were modernised and a more frequent fixed-interval service introduced. As its use spread the DB changed the...

 services operated on the line, primarily using class 141 locomotives

DB Class E 41

The Baureihe E 41 is the first class of German Einheits-Elektrolokomotive commissioned by the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1956.-Development and first years of service:...

 in push–pull mode. The locomotive generally faced towards Haste. In preparation for Expo 2000

Expo 2000

Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...

 in Hanover, the line from Weetzen to Egestorf (Deister) was duplicated and its stations were renovated or rebuilt. Only a small section west of Weetzen station is still single track, since a double-track line there would have significantly increased costs while producing little benefit. Prior to the duplication, the only passing places on the section between Weetzen and Egestorf were in the stations of Wennigsen and Egestorf.

Route

The line runs on the north-eastern side of the Deister hills. It branches from the Hanover–Altenbeken line in Weetzen, which is in the municipality of Ronnenberg

Ronnenberg

Ronnenberg is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 8 km southwest of Hanover....

, and extends from there through Gehrden

Gehrden

Gehrden is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. southwest of Hanover.- References :...

, Wennigsen

Wennigsen

Wennigsen is a municipality in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Deister hills, approx. 15 km southwest of Hanover.-Geography:...

, Barsinghausen

Barsinghausen

Barsinghausen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the Deister chain of hills approx. 20 km west of Hanover...

, Bad Nenndorf

Bad Nenndorf

Bad Nenndorf is a small town in the district of Schaumburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Its population is 10,210 . It is situated approx. 12 km east of Stadthagen, and 25 km west of Hanover, at the southern edge of the North German Plain and the northern edge of the Deister ridge...

 and Haste to the Hanover–Minden line. In the area of Egestorf (Deister) station, the line runs directly on the edge of the Deister range. The route is largely flat and has no tunnels. Near Weetzen junction the line passes over federal highway B 217. West of Wennigsen station it runs under state highway 391 in a cutting. Many other intersections with roads are level crossings, e.g. at the stations of Weetzen, Lemmie, Wennigsen, Egestorf and Kirchdorf, and in several places in the town of Barsinghausen.

Since a considerable part of the route runs along at the foot the Deister, which are the closest hills to Hanover, rising to a height of 405 m, it is also used heavily at weekends for excursions and walks. At Haste station the Deister line terminates on a separate track, running beside the line connecting Hanover to Minden and the Ruhr

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...

 region.

The stations in Weetzen and Haste are classified by Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

 as category 4

German railway station categories

About 5,400 railway stations in Germany that are owned and operated by the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Station&Service are assigned into seven categories, denoting the service level available at the station....

, all other stations are classified as category 5.

Operation

The Deister line is now used by lines S 1 and S 2 of the Hanover S-Bahn

Hanover S-Bahn

The Hanover S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network operated by DB Regio in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony...

. Services operate from 5 am to 10 pm, Monday to Friday at half-hour intervals. This is the best level of service on the line in its history.

There is now little freight traffic on the line, although two companies in the industrial area of Barsinghausen are served about once daily from Hannover-Linden by gas tankers and flatcar

Flatcar

A flatcar is a piece of railroad or railway rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck on four or six wheels or a pair of trucks or bogies . The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads...

s for steel products.

Operationally, the line is classified as a main line from Weetzen to Barsinghausen and as a branch line from Barsinghausen to Haste. In the latter section, level crossings are only marked by Saint Andrew's crosses

Saltire

A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....

.

A relay interlocking installation in Weetzen remotely controls the signal boxes at Wennigsen, while the Barsinghausen signal box controls those at Egestorf and Bantorfas well as Barsinghausen.

The goal of a regular service is almost achieved, in conjunction with bus connections.