The Cologne freight bypass railway (german: Güterumgehungsbahn Köln) is a main line railway in southern

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhab ...

. It is fully duplicated and electrified. The railway crosses the Cologne South Bridge, connecting 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 ...

(''Linke Rheinstrecke''), Cologne South station and the Cologne Eifeltor freight yard on the left (western) side of the

Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...

with the

Sieg Railway The Sieg Railway (german: Siegstrecke is a long, electrified German main line railway between Cologne-Deutz via Porz, Troisdorf, Siegburg, Hennef, Au (Sieg), Betzdorf to Siegen with a through service to Cologne Hauptbahnhof. Although most of i ...

, the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway, the

East Rhine Railway The East Rhine Railway (German: ''Rechte Rheinstrecke'', literally 'right (of the) Rhine railway') is a major, double-track, electrified railway line, running along the right bank of the Rhine from Cologne to Wiesbaden. The -long line forms two De ...

(''Rechte Rheinstrecke''), and the marshalling yards of Cologne-Kalk Nord and Gremberg on the right (eastern) side of the Rhine. It was opened on 5 April 1910, disrupted by the bombing of the South Bridge on 6 January 1945, reopened with one track on 3 May 1946 and two tracks in 1950 and electrified on 27 May 1962.

Operations

The line is mainly used by freight trains in order not to have to run through

Cologne Hauptbahnhof Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

(main or central station). Along the line, there are no passenger stations. During the development of the Western Ring (''Westring'') project as part of the Rhine-Sieg S-Bahn (operated as part of the

Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr) is a polycentric and electrically driven S-train network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr (and ...

), consideration is being given to running over the South Bridge. Until the upgrade of the

Köln Messe/Deutz station Köln Messe/Deutz station (called ''Köln-Deutz'' until November 2004, Colognian: , ) is an important railway junction for long-distance rail and local services in the Cologne district of Deutz in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It i ...

, the bypass line was used by

Intercity-Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed rail, high-speed trains high-speed rail in Germany, predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to ...

(ICE) trains from Düsseldorf and Wuppertal running towards the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway avoiding, on the one hand, a change of direction in Cologne station and, on the other hand, twice using the chronically overloaded

Hohenzollern Bridge The Hohenzollern Bridge (german: Hohenzollernbrücke) is a bridge crossing the river Rhine in the German city of Cologne (German: ''Köln''). It crosses the Rhine at kilometre 688.5. Originally, the bridge was both a railway and road bridge. ...

, which can only be run over at 30 km/h. Currently, except for occasional ICE and

EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category which denotes many main-line national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were bro ...

services, the rail bypass is only used by passenger trains on an unscheduled basis, for example during disruption or construction on the direct line.

Notes

External links

NRWbahnarchiv of André Joost: * * * * * * {{cite web, url=http://nrwbahnarchiv.bplaced.net/strecken/2666.htm , title= Line 2666: Gremberg Nord Abzw ↔ Gremberg Süd Abzw , work=NRW Rail Archive , publisher= André Joost , accessdate=29 June 2013 , language=German Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Railway lines opened in 1910 1910 establishments in Germany Transport in Cologne