The Stadtbahn Dortmund is a light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 system in the German city of Dortmund

Dortmund

Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....

 and is integrated in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn

Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn

Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn includes all Stadtbahn lines in the integrated public transport network of Rhine-Ruhr covering the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area in western Germany, except of Cologne Stadtbahn and Bonn Stadtbahn.-History:...

 network. Its network consists of eight lines which pass the city centre in underground tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

s and belongs to the VRR

Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr

The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr is the public transport association covering the area of the Rhine-Ruhr megalopolis in Germany...

 transport union. Opened 1984, it consecutively replaced the tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 lines that were operating on the surface. On its 77 km of tracks (20 km of which in tunnels), it serves 83 stations, 24 of which underground.

Network

The railway network is separated into three 'cardinal tracks' (Stammstrecken): The Stammstrecke I, which is home to the U41, U45, U47 and U49 lines, connects stations on a north-south-axis between the Leopoldstraße and Markgrafenstraße stations (including the main station

Dortmund Hauptbahnhof

is the central station for the city of Dortmund in Germany.The station's origins lie in a joint station of the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn and Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn which was built north of the city centre in 1847. That station was replaced by a new station, erected in 1910 at the current site....

). Lines U42 and U46 operate on the Stammstrecke II between Brunnenstraße and Stadtgarten and offer connections from the south-west to the north-east of Dortmund. In 2008, the lines on the Stammstrecke III (U43 and U44) finally switched to the Stadtbahn system, a newly built tunnel replacing the tram tracks of the former lines 403 and 404 between Unionstraße and Ostentor.

Line	Route	Stations (of which underground)
U41	DO-Hörde Clarenberg – Hörde Bf – Märkische Str. – Stadthaus – Stadtgarten – Dortmund Hbf – Fredenbaum – Grävingholz – Brechten Zentrum – Brambauer Verkehrshof	28 (12)
U42	DO-Hombruch Grotenbachstraße – Barop Parkhaus – Theodor-Fliedner-Heim – Möllerbrücke – Städtische Kliniken – Stadtgarten – Schulte Rödding – Kirchderne – Scharnhorst Zentrum – Grevel	28 (7)
U43	DO-Dorstfeld – Westentor – Kampstraße – Brackel – Asseln Aplerbecker Straße – Am Hagedorn –Wickede Post/DO-Wickede S	34 (5)
U44	DO-Marten – Dorstfeld – Westentor – Kampstraße – Westfalenhütte	19 (4)
U45	Dortmund Westfalenhallen – Markgrafenstr. – Stadthaus – Stadtgarten – Dortmund Hbf Dortmund Hauptbahnhof is the central station for the city of Dortmund in Germany.The station's origins lie in a joint station of the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn and Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn which was built north of the city centre in 1847. That station was replaced by a new station, erected in 1910 at the current site.... ( - Hafen)	8 (7)
U46	Dortmund Westfalenhallen – Saarlandstraße – Stadtgarten – Brunnenstraße	8 (8)
U47	DO-Westerfilde Dortmund-Westerfilde station Dortmund-Westerfilde is a railway station on the Welver–Sterkrade railway situated in Dortmund in western Germany. It is served by the S2 line of Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn and offers connections to the U47 line of Dortmund Stadtbahn as well as several bus lines.... – Huckarde – Hafen – Dortmund Hbf – Stadtgarten – Stadthaus – Märkische Str. – Westfalendamm – Aplerbeck	27 (8)
U49	DO-Hacheney –Rombergpark – Westfalenpark – Markgrafenstraße – Stadthaus – Stadtgarten – Kampstraße – Dortmund Hauptbahnhof – (Hafen)	11 (8)

External links

• Dortmunder Stadtwerke (DSW21), operator's website