The Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway is a 27 km long main line railway in Germany

Rail transport in Germany

, Germany had a railway network of 41,315 km. 19,857 km are electrified. The total track length was 76,473 km. Germany is a member of the International Union of Railways . The UIC Country Code for Germany is 80.-Overview:...

, originally built by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company

Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company

The Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company was founded in October 1835 and officially recognised by a Prussian government statute on 23 September 1837. This gave the company a concession for the construction and operation of the 26 kilometre long Düsseldorf–Elberfeld line via Erkrath, Hochdahl and...

, connecting Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Düsseldorf in Germany, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The station was opened on 1 October 1891 opened as Düsseldorf Central Station...

 and Elberfeld (now Wuppertal) via Erkrath

Erkrath station

Erkrath station is a through station in the town of Erkrath in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has two platform tracks and it is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station.-History:...

, Hochdahl

Hochdahl station

Hochdahl station is a through station in the district of Hochdahl of the town of Erkrath in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has two platform tracks and it is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station.-History:...

 and Vohwinkel

Wuppertal-Vohwinkel station

Vohwinkel station is the most western station in the city of Wuppertal. It is placed in the district of Vohwinkel. It is a triangular station, built at a railway junction.-History:...

. It is served by Regional Express, Regionalbahn

RegionalBahn

The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...

 and S-Bahn trains.

History

The Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway was built from 1838 to 1841 by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company (Düsseldorf-Elberfelder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, DEE), which had been established for this purpose. It was taken over by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME) in 1857 and a continuous second track was built by 1865.

Realignment of lines in Düsseldorf

The Düsseldorf Central Station

Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Düsseldorf in Germany, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The station was opened on 1 October 1891 opened as Düsseldorf Central Station...

 opened on 1 October 1891 replaced the three stations of the recently nationalised, formerly (nominally) private railway companies. The new line from the Düsseldorf station ran north along the existing route of the trunk line

Cologne–Duisburg railway

The 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...

 of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company

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...

 to Wehrhahn CME junction. It then swung east and followed the Düsseldorf-Derendorf–Dortmund Süd line of the Rhenish Railway Company

Rhenish Railway Company

The Rhenish Railway Company was along with the Cologne-Minden Railway Company and the Bergisch-Märkische 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.-Foundation :The...

. East of the intersection with the Troisdorf–Mülheim-Speldorf freight line it rejoined it original route. The Düsseldorf Valley Railway separates at the same place and runs to the northeast.

Erkrath-Hochdahl incline

The biggest challenge in the construction of the line was dealing with the climb between Erkrath and Hochdahl. The line has a gradient of 3.33% and rises 82 m in about 2.5 km. For more than one hundred years, this was the steepest main line in Europe. For many years trains had to be hauled by cable, originally driven by a stationary steam engine. A few months later haulage by cable attached to a stationary steam engine was changed to haulage by cable attached via pulleys to a locomotive running downhill on an additional track. With the duplication of the remainder of the line in 1865, the steep section of line became three-track, until the electrification of the line in 1963. The third track was rebuilt in 1985, as part of the additional third track built for the planned S-Bahn line. In 1926, cable haulage on the incline was replaced by bank engine

Bank engine

A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...

s.

Current situation

Between Gruiten junction and the Düsseldorf-Gerresheim station

Düsseldorf-Gerresheim station

Düsseldorf-Gerresheim station is a through station in the district of Gerresheim in the city of Düsseldorf in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The station was opened along with the Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway from Düsseldorf to Erkrath by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company on 20...

 the long distance line is only single track. Regional Express lines RE 4 Wupper-Express and RE 13 Maas-Wupper-Express run on this line, stopping only at Düsseldorf, Vohwinkel and Wuppertal. S-Bahn line S 8 services runs on the parallel two-track S-Bahn line.