Neuss-Viersen railway

Neuss–Viersen
Route number:	450.28 (Neuss – Kaarst)
Line length:	22
Track gauge:	1435
Maximum speed:	110
State:	North Rhine-Westphalia
Lower Left Rhine Railway from Krefeld Line from Düsseldorf S 11S 28 (former line via Neußer Weyhe) Former line from Düsseldorf 0.0 Neuss Hbf Lower Left Rhine Railway to Cologne S 11 Line to Mönchengladbach 2.1 Weissenberg (former line via Neußer Weyhe) A 57 4.4 Kaarst IKEA(formerly Holzbüttgen) 5.4 Kaarst Mitte/Holzbüttgen(formerly Kaarst Erftstr.) 6.2 Kaarster Bahnhof 7.1 Kaarster Seeterminus of S 28 11.7 Schiefbahn Former line from Krefeld 15.3 0.0 Neersen Former line to Mönchengladbach 4.6 Line from Mönchengladbach Viersen freight yard 6.5 Viersen(formerly Viersen RhE) Former line from Mönchengladbach Viersen BME Line to Venlo Line to Duisburg

The Neuss–Viersen railway is a mostly disused railway line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It formerly ran from Neuss via Kaarst and Neersen to Viersen, but now ends in Kaarst.

Most of the line still in operation is a single track and non-electrified branch line. A shorter section, however, is operated as part of the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach line and is a two-track, electrified mainline railway.

The Rhenish Railway Company (German: Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RhE) built a line from its Lower Left Rhine Railway at Neuss station to Viersen largely parallel with the Mönchengladbach–Düsseldorf and the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach lines of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME), which had taken over the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company (Königliche Direction der Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn), which built the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach line. On 15 November 1877, the section from Neuss to Neersen was completed on the same day as the Krefeld–Rheydt line. The remaining section to Viersen RhE station was opened on 1 November 1878.

As with many of the RhE’s other projects, the route was built as directly as possible in order to provide a shorter travel time than the already established lines in order to gain market share. Only limited traffic was attracted to the new line, especially passenger traffic, because the line did not connect with Mönchengladbach BME station (now Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof), which was very important for rail traffic. The low passenger traffic, in particular, meant that the line could not be operated economically, even after the opening of a connecting line between the Krefeld–Rheydt line at Mönchengladbach-Neuwerk and Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof in 1909. Passenger services were closed from Kaarst on 29 September 1968 and freight operations ended in 1984.

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