Cologne–Lindlar railway

Cologne–Lindlar railway
Overview
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia
Termini	Köln-Mülheim Lindlar
Line number	2663 (Köln-Mülheim–Bergisch Gladbach) 2682 (Gronau junction–Lindlar)
Technical
Line length	447 km (278 mi)
Number of tracks	2 (Köln-Mülheim–Köln-Dellbrück)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Route number	450.11
Route map  Operating points and lines  Trunk line from Köln-Deutz Bypass line from Köln-Deutz Freight line from Troisdorf 0.0 Köln-Mülheim Line to Düsseldorf, line to Wuppertal Freight line to Düsseldorf 3.2 Köln-Holweide 5.7 Köln-Dellbrück 7.7 Duckterath 8.3 Gronau junction(western curve 1912–1960) 9.5 Bergisch Gladbach(until 1912 and since 1965) 10.8 Bergisch Gladbach(1912–1965) 11.8 Bensberg Stadt(siding) Now siding to BGE logistics centre Cologne Stadtbahn line 1 (Cologne–Bensberg) 13.8 Largely intact to this point 14.1 Bensberg Königsforst munitions railway 17.6 Forsbach Agger Valley Railway from Köln-Kalk 23.1 Rösrath 24.7 Hoffnungsthal Agger Valley Railway to Overath Hoffnungsthal(until 1910) 26.9 Lehmbach 29.5 Unter Eschbach 31.0 Immekeppel 33.4 Obersteeg 37.0 Georgshausen 38.7 Hommerich 42.1 Linde (Bz Köln) 46.5 Lindlar

The Cologne–Lindlar railway (also formerly known as the Sülztalbahn: "Sülz Valley Railway") is a formerly 45 km long, partly disused railway line from Mülheim via Bergisch Gladbach, Bensberg, Rösrath, Hoffnungsthal and Immekeppel to Lindlar in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

S-Bahn services operate on the section between Cologne and Bergisch Gladbach, which is electrified. The remaining section was never electrified and is now largely closed, although some of it is used for freight. The section between Rösrath and Hoffnungsthal is now part of the Köln-Kalk–Overath railway.

The initial plans of 1863 were to build a line from Mülheim am Rhine (now Köln-Mülheim station) to Bergisch Gladbach and on to Wipperfürth. However, on December 1, 1868 the initial section was completed by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company to Bergisch Gladbach only.

In 1870, the track was extended to Bensberg. This section was built as a double-track line. Trains continuing from Bergisch Gladbach needed to reverse in Bergisch Gladbach station.

In 1912, a connecting curve was built in Bergisch Gladbach before the terminal station. A second station was built in Bergisch Gladbach as a through station. The second station was only used for passengers and passenger trains ran to it directly by the new curve. Freight trains ran to the terminal station, where there were several sidings connecting to surrounding factories. The Zanders paper mill was and still is connected to the curve from the freight yard to Bensberg, and not directly to the freight yard.

Since the opening of the new terminal station in central Bergisch Gladbach in the early 1950s, passenger trains have run there. For this reason, the connecting curve is no longer used and it was dismantled in the early 1960s. Nevertheless, there have been plans for some time to restore it so that container trains from the zinc works container terminal can avoid reversing in the old freight yard.

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Wikipedia