The Rhein-Emscher-Express (RE 3) is a

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 ...

service in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

(NRW), running from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

via

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

and

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

Hamm Hamm may refer to: Places ;Germany: * Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, a city north-east of Dortmund * Hamm (Sieg), a municipality in the eponymous ''Verbandsgemeinde'' in the district of Altenkirchen, Rhineland-Palatinate * Hamm, Bitburg-Prüm, part ...

. It connects with the rest of the regional rail network of NRW in Düsseldorf, Duisburg,

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

Wanne-Eickel Herne () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area directly between the cities of Bochum, and Gelsenkirchen. History Herne (ancient Haranni) was a tiny village until the 19th century. When the mining of coal ...

, Dortmund and Hamm. In addition, it connects in Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Dortmund and Hamm with long-distance services.

History

The ''Rhein-Emscher-Express'' has been operating since the introduction of the integrated regular interval timetable in North Rhine-Westphalia (called ''NRW-Takt'') in 1998. It first ran from

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

via

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

, Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund to Hamm. The Duisburg–Mönchengladbach section was dropped in exchange for an extension from Duisburg to Düsseldorf in the timetable change in December 2002. Since then the ''Rhein-Emscher-Express'' has run entirely on the

trunk line In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...

of the

Cologne-Minden Railway Company The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th ...

, which was opened in 1846 and 1847. As of 15 December 2019, in connection with a change to the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn, a new

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

service line RB 32, the '' Rhein-Emscher-Bahn'', was added to the timetable, which runs parallel to the RE 3 between Dortmund and Duisburg, serving the stops between Gelsenkirchen and Oberhausen that were formally served by a branch of S-Bahn line S 2, including Essen Zollverein Nord.

Route

The Rhine-Emscher-Express runs daily every hour over the tracks of three railway lines: *The whole

Dortmund–Hamm railway The Dortmund–Hamm Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany. It is a major axis for long distance passenger and freight trains between the Ruhr and the north and east of Germany. It is the part of the trunk line ...

, which is also used by three other Regional-Express services and long-distance trains, * the whole

Duisburg–Dortmund railway The Duisburg-Dortmund Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany. It is a major axis for long distance and regional passenger freight transport in the northern Ruhr. It is served by Intercity-Express, InterCity, Regi ...

, shared with the Rhein-Emscher-Bahn (RB 32) and partly with the

Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn The Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn (RB 35) is a Regionalbahn service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs hourly between Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof, Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg Hauptbahnhof, Duisburg with Mönchengladbach Hauptbahn ...

(RB 35) and

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

line

S 2 S2 or S II may refer to: Science and technology * S2 (star), Milky Way galaxy * S/2007 S 2, a natural satellite of Saturn * S2 impact (ie, "Spherules 2"), major impact of early Earth * S2 map projection, a map projection created at Google * S2 stee ...

, *The

Cologne–Duisburg railway The 64 km long Cologne–Duisburg railway is one of the most important lines in Germany. It is the main axis for long distance and urban passenger rail services between Cologne and the Ruhr, served by Intercity Express, Intercity, Regional ...

between Duisburg and Düsseldorf. In this four to six track section, the ''Rhein- Emscher-Express'' uses the S-Bahn tracks or the so-called "local" tracks where they exist, along with the Rhein-Haard-Express (RE 2), the

Rhein-Weser-Express The Rhein Weser Express (RE 6) is a Regional-Express service route in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, connecting some of the most important cities in Westphalia (among others Minden, Bielefeld and Hamm) with the Ruhr (especially Dort ...

(RE 6), the

Rhein-Hellweg-Express The Rhein-Hellweg-Express (RE 11) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Kassel via Dortmund Hauptbahnhof, Dortmund, Bochum Hauptbahnhof, Bochum, Essen Hauptbahnhof, Essen, Duisburg Hauptba ...

(RE 11) and the Rhein-IJssel-Express (RE 19). Only the

NRW-Express The NRW-Express is a Regional-Express rail service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Aachen Hauptbahnhof, Aachen via Köln Hauptbahnhof, Cologne, Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof, Düsseldorf, Duisburg Hauptbahnhof, Duisbur ...

(RE 1) and the

Rhein-Express The Rhein-Express is a Regional-Express (RE 5 (RRX)) service, which generally follows the Rhine () river. It runs daily every hour from 5 am to 9 pm from Wesel via Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, Remagen and Andernach to Koblenz, ...

(RE 5) use the long-distance tracks.

Rail services

The RE 3 runs hourly every day from Düsseldorf to Hamm. It runs parallel with

Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn () is a polycentric S-bahn network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr (and cities such as Dortmund, Duisburg and Essen), the B ...

lines over large parts of its route and it has some of the character of a fast S-Bahn service and is perceived by passengers accordingly. RB 32, the ''Rhein-Emscher-Bahn'', runs parallel to the RE 3 between Dortmund and Duisburg each hour, also stopping at Essen Zollverein Nord, Essen-Bergeborbeck and Essen-Dellwig. The passenger rail transport was operated by

DB Regio DB Regio AG () is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and therefore part of the DB Regio business segment, which also includes DB Regionn ...

NRW until 12 December 2009, using class 425 electric multiple units in coupled sets since the introduction of the winter timetable of 2008. Previously the service had been operated with

push–pull train Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not. A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected vi ...

s of five refurbished

Silberling The n-Wagen ("n-coaches") are a type of passenger coach used by Deutsche Bundesbahn and subsequently Deutsche Bahn. With two double-leafed doors per side to enable a high passenger throughput rate, the coaches were conceived for short dwell ...

carriages or four double-deck carriages with a class 111 electric locomotive. The average speed is only 63 km/h. The reason for this is the frequent stops between Dortmund and Hamm. The current operator of this service and the

Maas-Wupper-Express The Maas-Wupper-Express (RE 13) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from the Netherlands, Dutch border town of Venlo railway station, Venlo to Hamm (Westfalen) station, Hamm in Westphalia. Rou ...

Eurobahn Eurobahn GmbH & Co. KG is a railway operator in Germany, established in 1998. It operates 15 regional train services in 4 contracts in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with cross-border services including Lower Saxony and the Netherlands. ...

, a subsidiary of

Keolis Keolis is a French transportation company that operates public transport systems all over the world. It manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus, and funicular services. B ...

. Operations are carried out using 4 four-carriage and 14 five-carriage

Stadler FLIRT Stadler FLIRT (, ) is a passenger multiple unit trainset made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. The baseline design of FLIRT is an electric multiple unit Articulated car, articulated trainset that can come in units of two to twelve cars with two t ...

electrical multiple units with a top speed of 160 km/h, rented from

Angel Trains Angel Trains is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Angel Trains was established in March 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. In No ...

. In the period from 13 December 2009 to 11 December 2010 (during '' RUHR.2010'', when Essen was a

European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...

), the RE 3 had an additional stop at Essen-Zollverein Nord (formerly ''Essen-Katernberg Süd'') to improve access to the

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

at the

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (German Zeche Zollverein) is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, and mining activities took pl ...

. On 7 January 2010, the station was officially renamed ''Essen-Zollverein Nord'', but since the timetable change in December 2010, ''Rhein-Emscher-Express'' services again skip the station.

Operator

Two North Rhine-Westphalian municipal transport associations, the

Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (), abbreviated VRR, is a public transport association (Verkehrsverbund) in the Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It covers large parts of the Ruhr, Ruhr area, the Lower Rhine region including Düsse ...

("Rhine-Ruhr Transport Association", VRR) and the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe ("transport community of Westphalia-Lippe", ZRL) are involved in the operation of the service. The franchise for operating the service together with the ''Maas-Wupper-Express'' from the timetable change on 13 December 2009 was put out to tender. The winner was ''Rhenus Keolis GmbH'', beating Abellio Rail NRW, ''DB Regio NRW GmbH'' and other railway companies.

Notes

External links