The Wupper-Lippe-Express is an hourly

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 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 ...

, which forms part of the

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 ...

. It connects

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

with

Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof (German language, German for Wuppertal central station) is a railway station in the city of Wuppertal, just south of the Ruhr Area, in the Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on Elberfeld–Dortmund rail ...

via

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 ...

and

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

. The line is operated by

DB Regio NRW 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 ...

on behalf of 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 ...

(VRR).

History

The RE 49 service was introduced with the timetable change on 15 December 2019. It was introduced together with changes to the S-Bahn network at the 2019 timetable. The service is based on the observation that interchange between the S 3 service from Essen and the RE 5, RE 19 and RB 35 services towards Wesel in Oberhausen was the busiest at any station in the VRR network and this route had no direct service before the introduction of the Wupper-Lippe-Express. In addition, a study found that thinning out the S-Bahn frequencies on the partially parallel S 3 and S 9 services while introducing an express service would result in higher demand. Even before the Wuppertal–Essen line was upgraded to an S-Bahn line, the ''Initiative S9-Plus'' lobby group advocated a fast local service between Wuppertal and Essen along with comfortable rolling stock. Originally, the long-planned upgrade of the network would have meant that all cities in the

Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region () is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers an area of , entirely within the feder ...

were served by S-Bahn trains. However, this idea was rejected in the planning phase. The RE 49 service replaces 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) on the Wesel–Oberhausen section and connects the northern section of the S 3 with the southern section of the S 9 in Essen Hauptbahnhof.

replaced

Abellio Rail NRW Abellio Deutschland is a public transit operator in Germany operating bus and rail networks. Headquartered in Berlin, it is a subsidiary of the Dutch state-owned Abellio. History Abellio Deutschland was formed by the Essen public transit com ...

as the operator in 2022.

Services

The service only runs from Monday to Friday between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. An extension of the operating times is planned at a later date. A 20-minute frequency is offered from Monday to Friday on the Wesel–Oberhausen section in combination with 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 (RRX)) and the

Rhein-IJssel-Express The Rhein-IJssel-Express () is a Regional-Express service in German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Dutch province of Gelderland. It runs from Düsseldorf to Arnhem, with a section splitting at to serve Bocholt. VIAS operates the servic ...

(RE 19) services. There will be three trains an hour on the section from Oberhausen to Essen, taking into account the S 3 services. The same applies to the S 9 service between Essen and Wuppertal. The hourly service is added to 30-minute interval services of S 3 and S 9 on these sections, but the RE 49 services do not stop at all stations.

Rolling stock

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 ...

3 sets, which are built to a standard VRR design, are used on the line. The VRR acquired a total of 41 railcars of this type for the following lines: S 2, S 3, S 9, RB 32, RB 40 and RE 49. The VRR commissioned the manufacturer Stadler to maintain the rolling stock. The stock are serviced in a workshop on the site of the former Shamrock colliery in Herne.

Route

The Regional-Express runs on the following lines: *

Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway The Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway is a 27 km long main line railway in Germany, originally built by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company, connecting Düsseldorf and Elberfeld (now Wuppertal) via Erkrath, Hochdahl and Vohwinkel. It ...

from Wuppertal Hbf to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel *

Wuppertal-Vohwinkel–Essen-Überruhr railway The Wuppertal-Vohwinkel-Essen Überruhr Railway is a long, continuous two-track electrified main line. It is known as the ''Prince William Railway'', the first railway linking the valleys of the Wupper and the Ruhr. The first line on the route w ...

from Wuppertal-Vohwinkel to Essen *

Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg railway The Witten/Dortmund, Oberhausen/Duisburg railway is one of the most important railways in Germany. It is the main axis of long distance and regional rail transport on the east–west axis of the Ruhr and is served by Intercity-Express, InterCi ...

from Essen to Oberhausen *

Oberhausen–Arnhem railway The Oberhausen–Arnhem railway (also known in German as the ''Hollandstrecke'', meaning "Holland line") is a two-track, electrified main line railway running close to the lower Rhine from Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof, Oberhausen via Wesel railway stat ...

from Oberhausen to Wesel

Notes

{{reflist Rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia 2019 establishments in Germany

History

Services

Rolling stock

Route

See also

Notes