The Cologne Airport Loop is a railway line, which connects the

Cologne/Bonn Airport station Cologne/Bonn Airport station () is a station at Cologne Bonn Airport in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was built as part of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line and opened in June 2004 on the approximately Cologne Ai ...

to the

Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line The Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line () is a high-speed line in Germany, connecting the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt. Its route follows the Bundesautobahn 3 for the greater part, and currently the travel time is about 62 minutes. Th ...

. The loop is used by

Intercity-Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this Train categories in Europe, category) is a high-speed rail in Germany, high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland an ...

trains, the Rhein-Erft-Bahn (RB 27) and S-Bahn line 13.

Route

The double track line branches off the high-speed rail line north-west of the

Cologne 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 ...

district of Gremberghoven and crosses the B8 highway (Frankfurter Straße). After the A59 autobahn underpass it swings towards the southeast and crosses farmland in a cutting. The newly established Frankfurter Strasse station connects the industrial zone of Gremberghoven and the Airport Business Park to public transport. The station is served by the S-Bahn and the S-Bahn-like ''Oberbergische'' line RB 25 regional service on the Köln-Kalk–Overath railway. After passing through the Schloss-Röttgen tunnel, the line turns to run parallel and to the north of the A59 in a northeasterly direction to the Airport interchange and the Porz-Grengel motorway junction. It then enters into the Airport Tunnel. It passes the Wahner Heide nature reserve and through the airport, the airport station and back under the A59 completely underground. The route then returns to the surface and passes between Eisdorf and Wahn on a ridge. After a long embankment, the line connects with the new line. The line runs for , with of the line at ground level, in cuttings, on embankments, in tunnel, and on bridges and ramps.

History

The connection of the airport loop railway was approved by the Federal Government on 20 December 1989 as part of the decision to build the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line on its current alignment. The construction of the Airport Link began on 4 December 2000 at Porz-Wahn station and was handed over to its operator on 12 June 2004.

Operating

While the airport loop was planned and built as part of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed line, few trains run along both lines. The main mode of transport on the airport loop is S-Bahn line S13 between

and

Troisdorf Troisdorf () is a city in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis (district), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Troisdorf is located approximately 22 kilometers south of Cologne and 13 kilometers north east of Bonn. Division of the city Troisdorf consi ...

with 58 pairs of trains on weekdays. The connection to the south is served very poorly. The

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

line RE 8 operates over the airport loop every hour. However, the first train from the south reaches the airport after 7 AM and on Sundays, after 10 AM. Getting to the airport earlier than this from Bonn and Koblenz is only possible on significantly slower indirect services. Formerly, most of the hourly Intercity-Express services between Cologne and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

started or stopped at the airport station. This created operational problems, as the airport station was planned as a through station only and no turning facilities were built. Since the station has limited facilities, the terminating ICE trains took up platform space properly reserved for S-Bahn trains. As a result, two-thirds of the S-Bahn trains operating towards Cologne must use the outer platform, with the low platforms designed in Germany for long-distance trains, 20 centimetres lower than appropriate for S-Bahn trains, thus creating a step between the platform and the carriage floor.

References

{{reflist Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Transport in Cologne Porz Airport rail links in Germany Railway lines opened in 2004 2004 establishments in Germany