Cologne freight railway bypass

Cologne freight bypass railway Güterumgehungsbahn Köln
Towers at the eastern end of the South Bridge
Route number:	- (bypass of the Hohenzollern bridge)
Line length:	7.7 + 7.1
Track gauge:	1435
Voltage:	15 kV 16.7 Hz AC
Maximum speed:	60
German states:	North Rhine-Westphalia
Operating points and lines
West Rhine Railway from Cologne Hbf 0.0 0.0 Cologne South / Cologne South junction Vorgebirge Railway (Stadtbahn line 18) Cöln-Pantaleonformerly Cöln BCE West Rhine Railway to Köln Eifeltor Connecting line from Köln Eifeltor 1.3 1.3 Köln Bonntor Bnf 2.1 Köln Bonntor Köln Hafen(siding) Rhine Shore Railway (Stadtbahn line 16) Cologne South Bridge 0.0 3.6 Cologne South(junction) Sieg Railway from Köln Messe/Deutz 6.6 Köln-Kalk(former station) 7.7 Köln-Kalk Nord Freight line from Köln-Kalk Nord 3.0 0.0 Gremberg Nord(junction) 5.5 0.0 Gremberg Köln Steinstr. *(junction) 7.1 0.0 Gremberg Süd(junction) East Rhine Railway, HSL, Sieg Railway
* beginning of the HSL

The Cologne freight bypass railway (German: Güterumgehungsbahn Köln) is a main line railway in southern Cologne in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is fully duplicated and electrified.

The railway crosses the Cologne South Bridge, connecting the West Rhine Railway (Linke Rheinstrecke), Cologne South station and the Cologne Eifeltor freight yard on the left (western) side of the Rhine with the Sieg Railway, the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway, the East Rhine Railway (Rechte Rheinstrecke), and the marshalling yards of Cologne-Kalk Nord and Gremberg on the right (eastern) side of the Rhine. It was opened on 5 April 1910, disrupted by the bombing of the South Bridge on 6 January 1945, reopened with one track on 3 May 1946 and two tracks in 1950 and electrified on 27 May 1962.

The line is mainly used by freight trains in order not to have to run through Cologne Central Station (Hauptbahnhof).

Along the line, there are no passenger stations. During the development of the Western Ring (Westring) project as part of the Rhine-Sieg S-Bahn (operated as part of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn), consideration is being given to running over the South Bridge.

Currently, the bypass line is used by Intercity-Express trains from Düsseldorf and Wuppertal running towards the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway avoiding, on the one hand, a change of direction in Cologne station and, on the other hand, twice using the chronically overloaded Hohenzollern Bridge, which can only be operated at 30 km/h. This does not preclude the use of the airport loop for connecting to Cologne/Bonn Airport station.

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Wikipedia