Münster–Hamm railway

The Münster–Hamm railway is an almost 36 kilometre-long, continuous double-track and electrified main line railway from Münster to Hamm in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was one of Germany's oldest railways, built by the Munster Hamm Railway Company, which was established for this purpose, and opened on 26 May 1848.

Münster–Hamm railway
Overview
Line number	2931
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number	410, 455 (long distance)
Technical
Line length	36 km (22 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Operating speed	160 km/h (99.4 mph) (maximum)
Route map Legend line from Rheine trunk line from Hamburg Warendorf Railway from Rheda-Wiedenbrück 170.3 Münster Hbf line to Lippstadt 169.4 Münster freight yard Baumberge Railway to Coesfeld line to Haltern, line to Lünen Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg freight bypass 165.7 Lechtenberg junction 163.8 Münster-Hiltrup Dortmund-Ems Canal Dicke Wief 161.4 Steinersee 156.7 Rinkerode 150.8 Drensteinfurt 146.6 Mersch (Westf) 139.2 Hamm-Bockum-Hövel line to Werne 138.0 (0.0) Feldmark junction (1.1) Hamm Radbod siding trunk line from Minden Lippe and Datteln-Hamm Canal (2.9) Hamm Rbf Hvn 134.8 Hamm (Westf) Hbf line to Warburg line to Hagen Freight line from Hamm Gallberg Hamm marshalling yard line to Oberhausen Selmig junction Freight line to Bönen Autobahn trunk line to Dortmund Source: German railway atlas[1]

History

The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German: Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME) built its trunk line directly across Westphalia, bypassing the region around the town of Münster. The Munster Hamm Railway Company (Münster-Hammer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, MHE) was established to build a branch line to connect with the CME line. This line was opened on 26 May 1848 for passengers and on 8 July 1848 for freight traffic.^[2][3]

The company and line were taken over in 1855 by the Prussian government-funded Royal Westphalian Railway Company (KWE). The line was extended in the following year to Rheine as the Münster–Rheine line.

Operations

Although, formerly individual^[4] InterCity services ran on the line, it is now mainly used by regional (Regional-Express and regionalbahn) services running through western Westphalia and southern Münsterland. It is served by:

• the hourly Rhein-Münsterland-Express (RE7) with stops in Hamm, Drensteinfurt, Münster-Hiltrup and Münster Hauptbahnhof.
• every half-hour during the day Monday to Friday, otherwise hourly, the Ems-Börde-Bahn (RB69/89) with stops at all stations.