The word ''Rheinpfeil'' was used to name a number of

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes few or no stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, providing faster service than local trains that stop at many or all of the stations along their ...

s that ran in Germany between the 1950s and 1991. For much of that period, a train carrying the name ''Rheinpfeil'' also linked Germany with at least one neighbouring country. ''Rheinpfeil'' is a German word meaning "Rhine arrow", and alludes to the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

valley, which always formed part of the route of the train carrying that name. During its time as a first-class-only

Trans Europe Express The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express (TEE), was an international first-class railway service in western and central Europe that was founded in 1957 and ceased in 1995. At the height of its operations, in 1974, the TEE network compri ...

(TEE), the ''Rheinpfeil'' formation (

consist A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

) included a "vista-dome car","Table 19: Rheinpfeil (Rhine Arrow)", '' Cooks Continental Timetable'' (February 1967 edition), p. 63; also p. 61. London: Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd. a rarity on European railways. Seating in the dome car was unreserved. The ''Rheinpfeil'' operated as a TEE for the last time on 25 September 1971, then becoming a two-class

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

train. Its dome cars were transferred to the TEE ''

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

'' in 1973. With the summer 1987 timetable change, on 31 May, ''Rheinpfeil'' became

EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...

train number 8/9, running Hannover–Cologne–Basel–

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

.''Thomas Cook Continental Timetable'' (May 1–30, 1987 edition), p. 474. Thomas Cook Publishing. The train carried two through DB second-class carriages Hannover to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, conveyed south of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

by an ordinary express train, running via

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and the

Lötschberg railway The Lötschberg is an Alpine mountain massif, usually associated with a major, historically important transit axis of the Alps in Switzerland with, at its core, the Lötschen Pass (, Swiss German: ''Lötschepass''). The mountain pass, which culmi ...

line.

Route

The core of the ''Rheinpfeils route was the

West Rhine Railway The West Rhine railway (German: ''Linke Rheinstrecke'', literally 'left (bank of the) Rhine route') is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It ...

, a section of line through the Rhine valley: *

Köln Hbf Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

– Bonn Hbf –

Koblenz Hbf Koblenz Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the city of Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is the focal point of rail transport in the Rhine-Moselle-Lahn area. It is a through station in southern Koblenz built below Fort G ...

– Mainz Hbf The train continued southeast via Frankfurt Hbf and Wurzburg Hbf to Munich until its route was changed in 1979 to run via Mannheim Hbf and Karlsruhe Hbf towards Switzerland. However, the northern and southern termini of the train, varied a great deal over the years.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

{{EuroCity trains EuroCity Named passenger trains of Germany Named passenger trains of Switzerland Trans Europ Express Railway services introduced in 1952 Railway services discontinued in 1991

Route

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links