Deister Railway

History

The line was built by the Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company (Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), mainly to transport bulk freight (coal, stone) from the 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. Some halts were only added later: Winninghausen (in 1901), Lemmie (15 December 1904), Kirchdorf (in 1955), and Bantorf (in 1975).

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 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, and was operated electrically from 31 May 1970. At first, locomotive-hauled trains of Silberling coaches operated on the line. From 1989 City-Bahn services operated on the line, primarily using class 141 locomotives in push–pull mode. The locomotive generally faced towards Haste. In preparation for Expo 2000 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 Barsinghausen were in the stations of Wennigsen and Egestorf.

The stations of Wennigsen, Egestorf, and Barsinghausen had additional sidings for freight operations. These operations ceased in Egestorf in the 1970s, in Wennigsen in the 1980s. The sidings have been removed when the line was converted to a S-Bahn line, as well as the local operated mechanical signal boxes in these stations. Bad Nenndorf has been a station where the line to Bad Münder started. After that line was closed all sidings, signals and the signal box were removed, degrading the station to a halt.

Barsinghausen had sidings east of the station, too. To the south the mine Klosterstollen was reached, to the north Schacht IV (Shaft4). The remainder of the latter track is still in use for some industrial customers.

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, and extends from there through Gehrden, Wennigsen, Barsinghausen, Bad Nenndorf 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 region.

The stations in Weetzen and Haste are classified by Deutsche Bahn as category 4, the halts in Kirchdorf and Winninghausen in category 6, while all other stations are classified as category 6.

Operation

The Deister line is now used by lines S 1, S 2, and S 21 of the Hanover S-Bahn. 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 flatcars 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.

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.