Viersen–Venlo railway
| Viersen–Venlo railway | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Overview | |||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Locale | The Netherlands and Germany | ||
| Termini |
Viersen station Venlo railway station |
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| Operation | |||
| Opened | 1866 | ||
| Operator(s) | eurobahn | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 23 km (14 mi) | ||
| Number of tracks |
double track (Viersen–Dülken), single track (Dülken–Kaldenkirchen), double track (Kaldenkirchen–Venlo) |
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| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
| Electrification | 15 kV AC | ||
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The Viersen–Venlo railway is a railway line running from Viersen in Germany to Venlo in the Netherlands. The line was opened in 1866 by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company. Formerly used by international passenger trains between The Hague and Cologne, it is now only used by the Maas-Wupper-Express service from Venlo to Hamm via Düsseldorf and Hagen. It is also an important link for freight transport.
The line was built by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (German: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME), following its acquisition of the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach railway as part of its takeover of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company on 1 January 1866.
The first section from Viersen to Kaldenkirchen was opened on 29 January 1866 and this was followed by the opening of the second section from Kaldenkirchen to Venlo on 29 October 1866.
In parallel with the building of this line, the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RHE) built its own line from Kempen via Kaldenkirchen to Venlo, which it opened on 23 December 1867.
The route was previously used by international long-distance traffic, including some “D-trains” (D-Züge: long-distance expresses) to Hoek van Holland and the Rheingold.
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