Essen (dpa / lnw) – Traffic on the main railway line through the Ruhr area has been severely restricted since Monday evening (9 p.m.). Train passengers and especially commuters have to be prepared for considerable problems until Thursday morning (5 a.m.). New rails are being laid over a distance of more than 3,800 meters between Dortmund Central Station and Bochum-Langendreer. Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) announced that 630 sleepers and 600 tons of gravel were to be replaced. During the modernization work, which cost a good one million euros, there were restrictions on local and long-distance traffic.
The most important connections of the National Express lines RE1, RE6 and RE11 are affected. RE6 and RE1 will be diverted and will not stop in Mülheim/Ruhr, Essen, Wattenscheid and Bochum during this time. Replacement stops are planned in Oberhausen, Essen-Altenessen, Gelsenkirchen and Herne. The RE11 also sometimes does not stop between Dortmund and Duisburg. The other RE11 trains via Dortmund-Hörde and Unna are scheduled to run. The S1 was not affected by the closures, it said.
Long-distance traffic is also affected. According to DB, the long-distance trains will be diverted between Dortmund and Duisburg or Cologne until the end of the construction work and will then not stop in Bochum and Essen. Depending on the detour, they also do not stop in Mülheim, Duisburg, Düsseldorf Airport and Düsseldorf Hbf.
All timetable changes are included in the online information systems of DB and VRR and are also announced on notices on the platforms. In addition, the changes can be viewed at “bauinfos.deutschebahn.com/nrw”, “zuginfo.nrw” and via the “DB Bauarbeiten” app.