The Weser-Leine-Express (RE 70) is the name used in

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) for 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 that connects the east Westphalian regional centre of

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

and

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

and the

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

regional centres of

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

and

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

. The NRW government found that there was sufficient state interest for it to support operations on the section in that state. The service alternates with the

Ems-Leine-Express The Ems-Leine-Express (RE 60) is the name of a German Regional-Express service in North Rhine-Westphalia that has connected the Emsland (region), Emsland city of Rheine, Lower Saxony, the regional centre of Osnabrück, the Ostwestfalen-Lippe, east ...

, which connects

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt (district), Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems (river), Ems, about north of Münster ...

with Minden and Braunschweig. The border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony Between is crossed between Minden and

Bückeburg Bückeburg (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Bückeburg ha ...

History and future

Since the introduction of the integrated regular-interval timetable in the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia (''NRW-Takt'') in 1998, the connection between Bielefeld and Braunschweig has been operated as the RE 70 under the name of the ''Weser-Leine Express'', after the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

and

Leine The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long. The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver ...

rivers. It is being 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 ...

Nord until December 2015. The new tender process carried out in 2012 was won by

WestfalenBahn WestfalenBahn is a railway company operating regional train service in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, Northern Germany. It was founded in 2005 by Essener Versorgungs & Verkehrsgesellschaft, Minden Museum Railway, moBiel and Verkehrsb ...

, which will operate the so-called ''Mittellandlinie'' (midland line) from December 2015 until December 2030. According to a press statement, the number of seats will be increased by up to 60 per bi-level car.

Rail services

The service runs every two hours. Together with the service designated as the

in NRW, which also runs every two hours to

, an hourly service is provided between Braunschweig and

Löhne Löhne (; , ) is a town in the district of Herford, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Löhne is situated on the river Werre, approx. 8 km north of Herford and 20 km south-west of Minden Minden () is a middle-sized to ...

. The Bielefeld-Löhne-Minden section is operated together with 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 ...

and the Porta-Express (to Nienburg) RE services every half-hour from Monday to Friday (with small deviations from a strictly 30-minute service). Line S1 of the S-Bahn Hannover operates every hour between Minden and Hanover, so that is a scheduled half-hourly connections between Bielefeld and Hanover (on weekdays), but there are few connections in Minden, as delays to trains often prevent connections with the Westfalen-Express. In addition, the total route is served by

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 ...

services. A dining service with a minibar is provided on services to Hanover. The service is operated with trains of five double-deck coaches hauled mostly by class 111 or occasionally class 146 locomotives. Since the line is operated with a double-deck

driving trailer A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK, Ireland, Australia and India) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or t ...

–pushed towards Bielefeld–the locomotive does not have to be switched around at the terminus.

Fares

The Weser-Leine-Express passes through the passes through the territory of three regional transport associations with different fare systems. Between Bielefeld and Minden, ''Der Sechser'' ("the six") fare of the ''Verkehrsverbund OstWestfalenLippe'' (transport association of OstWestfalenLippe) applies. Between Haste and Hämelerwald the fares of the

Großraum-Verkehr Hannover Großraum-Verkehr Hannover (GVH; English: Greater Hanover Transport) is a transport association in Germany, operating in the Region Hannover metropolitan area in the state of Lower Saxony. It is the second oldest transport association in German ...

(transport association of greater Hannover, GVH) apply. Between Hämelerwald and Braunschweig the fares of the ''Verbundtarif Region Braunschweig'' (Braunschweig region fare alliance, VRB) apply. The statewide fares of Lower Saxony (e.g. the ''Niedersachsen-Ticket'') also apply between Löhne and Braunschweig.

Railways

From west to east the Ems-Leine-Express uses the following lines: *the

Hamm–Minden railway The Hamm–Minden Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany. It is completely quadruple track. It is a major axis for long distance passenger and freight trains between the Ruhr and the north and east of Germany. ...

between Bielefeld and Minden, * the Hanover–Minden railway for its whole length, *the

Hanover–Brunswick railway The Hanover–Brunswick Railway is a Rail transport in Germany, German main line railway in Lower Saxony and is one of List of the first German railways to 1870, the oldest lines in Germany, opened in 1843 and 1844. It was the first railway line ...

for its whole length. File:NRW-RE70.png, Southwesterly route of the Weser-Leine-Express (RE 70) near Hämelerwald File:Braunschweig, Weser-Leine-Express 2009-Nov (1).jpg, RE 70 departing to Bielefeld in Braunschweig File:Porta Westfalica, 146 124-3 mit Weser-Leine-Express, 2009-Nov 026.jpg, Pushing locomotive in Porta Westfalica station

References

{{coord, 52.2388, N, 8.9140, E, source:wikidata, display=title Rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia Named DB Regio services

History and future

Rail services

Fares

Railways

See also

References