Hagen–Hamm railway

Hagen–Hamm railway
Overview
Line number	2550 (Hagen–Schwerte) 2840 (Schwerte–Holzwickede) 2103 (Holzwickede–Unna) 2932 (Unna–Hamm)
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number	455
Technical
Line length	48 km (30 mi)
Number of tracks	2 (throughout)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	160 km/h (99.4 mph) (maximum)
Route map Line from Münster Trunk line from Minden 207.3 Hamm (Westf) Line to Warburg Trunk line to Dortmund 202.4 Wiescherhöfen 197.6 Bönen former Unna-Königsborn–Welver line Line from Soest Line from Fröndenberg 188.9 Unna, terminus of S4 S-Bahn line to Unna-Königsborn S4 182.0 164.7 Holzwickede Line to Dortmund Ostberger Tunnel (854 m) Ardey Railway from Dortmund 158.6 Schwerte Heide junction Connecting line from/to Schwerte Ost Upper Ruhr Valley Railway from Warburg 155.6 Schwerte (Ruhr) Ardey Railway to Iserlohn 154.5 Schwerte (Ruhr) West 151.5 Westhofen (Westf) Ruhr 149.3 Hohensyburg junction Ruhr-Sieg line from Siegen Connecting line to Hagen-Kabel Freight line from Hagen-Kabel 148.4 Hohensyburg 147.8 Hagen-Hengstey junction (former station) Hagen RWE siding Freight line to Hagen-Vorhalle 145.6 Einhaus, line no change (former junction) former Freight line to Hagen-Eckesey Line from Herdecke/Dortmund Trunk line from Witten/Dortmund S5 Freight line from Hagen-Vorhalle former Freight line from Hagen-Eckesey 143.2 Hagen freight yard 141.7 Hagen Hbf Termini of S5S8 Trunk line to Wuppertal S8 Source: German railway atlas

The Hagen–Hamm railway is a continuous two-track, electrified main line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, connecting Hagen via Schwerte, Holzwickede and Unna to Hamm.

History

The railway line from Hagen to Hamm was built by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (German: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME) to link its existing Elberfeld–Dortmund and Dortmund–Soest lines as well as Hamm station.

The section between Holzwickede and Unna was opened by the BME on 9 July 1855 as part of its Dortmund–Soest line. Ten years later, on 18 January 1866, the section from Unna to Hamm was made available for passenger traffic, while the section from Hagen to Holzwickede opened a year later on 1 April 1867.

Current situation

Schwerte station

The whole length of the line is served hourly by Regional-Express services on lines RE 7, the Rhein-Münsterland-Express (Rheine–Krefeld), and RE 13, the Maas-Wupper-Express (Hamm–Venlo). The section between Hagen and Schwerte is also served by RE 17, the Sauerland-Express (Hagen–Warburg), every hour. The section between Holzwickede and Unna is also served by Regionalbahn service RB 59, Hellweg-Bahn.

Long distance Intercity-Express and InterCity trains operate on the line between Cologne and Hamm (continuing to Berlin) stopping only at Hagen and Hamm.