Line length 36 km (22 mi) | Line number 2931 | |
Locale North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ⁄2 in) standard gauge Electrification 15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary Operating speed Route number 410, 455 (long distance) | ||
The Münster–Hamm railway is an almost 36 kilometre-long, continuous double-track and electrified main line railway from Münster to Hamm in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was one of Germany’s oldest railways, built by the Munster Hamm Railway Company, which was established for this purpose, and opened on 26 May 1848.
Contents
History
The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German: Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME) built its trunk line directly across Westphalia, bypassing the region around the town of Münster. The Munster Hamm Railway Company (Münster-Hammer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, MHE) was established to build a branch line to connect with the CME line. This line was opened on 26 May 1848 for passengers and on 8 July 1848 for freight traffic.
The company and line were taken over in 1855 by the Prussian government-funded Royal Westphalian Railway Company (KWE). The line was extended in the following year to Rheine as the Münster–Rheine line.
Operations
Although, formerly individual InterCity services ran on the line, it is now mainly used by regional (Regional-Express and regionalbahn) services running through western Westphalia and southern Münsterland. It is served by: