Hagen–Hamm railway

The Hagen–Hamm railway is a continuous two-track, electrified main line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, connecting Hagen via Schwerte, Holzwickede and Unna to Hamm.

Hagen–Hamm railway
Overview
Line number	2550 (Hagen–Schwerte) 2840 (Schwerte–Holzwickede) 2103 (Holzwickede–Unna) 2932 (Unna–Hamm)
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number	455
Technical
Line length	48 km (30 mi)
Number of tracks	2 (throughout)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	160 km/h (99.4 mph) (maximum)
Route map Legend Line from Münster Trunk line from Minden 207.3 Hamm (Westf) Line to Warburg Trunk line to Dortmund 202.4 Wiescherhöfen 197.6 Bönen former Unna-Königsborn–Welver line Line from Soest Line from Fröndenberg 188.9 Unna, terminus of S4 S-Bahn line to Unna-Königsborn S4 182.0 164.7 Holzwickede Line to Dortmund Ostberger Tunnel (854 m) Ardey Railway from Dortmund 158.6 Schwerte Heide junction Connecting line from/to Schwerte Ost Upper Ruhr Valley Railway from Warburg 155.6 Schwerte (Ruhr) Ardey Railway to Iserlohn 154.5 Schwerte (Ruhr) West 151.5 Westhofen (Westf) Ruhr 149.3 Hohensyburg junction Ruhr-Sieg line from Siegen Connecting line to Hagen-Kabel Freight line from Hagen-Kabel 148.4 Hohensyburg 147.8 Hagen-Hengstey junction (former station) Hagen RWE siding Freight line to Hagen-Vorhalle 145.6 Einhaus, line no change (former junction) former Freight line to Hagen-Eckesey Line from Herdecke/Dortmund Trunk line from Witten/Dortmund S5 Freight line from Hagen-Vorhalle former Freight line from Hagen-Eckesey 143.2 Hagen freight yard 141.7 Hagen Hbf Termini of S5S8 Trunk line to Wuppertal S8 Source: German railway atlas[1]

History

The railway line from Hagen to Hamm was built by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (German: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME) to link its existing Elberfeld–Dortmund and Dortmund–Soest lines as well as Hamm station.

The section between Holzwickede and Unna was opened by the BME on 9 July 1855 as part of its Dortmund–Soest line.^[2] Ten years later, on 18 January 1866, the section from Unna to Hamm was made available for passenger traffic,^[3] while the section from Hagen to Holzwickede opened a year later on 1 April 1867.^[4][5]

Current situation

Schwerte station

The whole length of the line is served hourly by Regional-Express services on lines RE 7, the Rhein-Münsterland-Express (Rheine–Krefeld), and RE 13, the Maas-Wupper-Express (Hamm–Venlo). The section between Hagen and Schwerte is also served by RE 17, the Sauerland-Express (Hagen–Warburg), every hour. The section between Holzwickede and Unna is also served by Regionalbahn service RB 59, Hellweg-Bahn.

Long distance Intercity-Express and InterCity trains operate on the line between Cologne and Hamm (continuing to Berlin) stopping only at Hagen and Hamm.