Kempen–Venlo railway

The railway line Kempen -Venlo is a former railway line from the Lower Rhine Kempen in Germany to Venlo in the Netherlands. It was built by the Rhenish Railway Company and commissioned on 23 December 1867 and to freight on January 1, 1868 for passenger transport in operation.

History

Mid-1860s there were three different routes of the later railway line for consideration. The variant A should be guided past the Krickenbecker lakes. In variant B was planned a route to the Grefrather Dorenburg past direction Hinsbeck and southeast of Leuth over after Kaldenkirchen. The realized railway line corresponded to the proposal C. It was also for a short time considerations to build a stretch of Lobberich about Boisheim after Waldniel.

From Kaldenkirchen the route ran parallel to the railway line Viersen -Venlo the Bergisch- Märkischen Railway Company on the same alignment, so that both routes appeared together as a double-track line. Today, the still existing on this section of track route Viersen -Venlo is attributed.

After the end of the operation between Kempen and Grefrath a bike path there was built. Also, the section Grefrath -Kaldenkirchen to be converted into a cycle path.

Operation

At first drove here drawn by locomotives trains, but they were replaced from the early 1960s due to the increasing motorization by the so-called savior of branch lines, the Uerdinger Schienenbus (VT 95) and finally by battery railcars of Class 515. The railway tracks in Grefrath and Lobberich was built back as far as possible. The station building was demolished in Lobberich 1976, the railway station in Grefrath now houses a youth club and the Mulhouse train station is now used by restaurants. After setting the passenger train service on the entire route on 22 May 1982, the setting of freight between Kempen and Grefrath on May 28, 1983, was still a thriving freight traffic on the remaining section Grefrath -Kaldenkirchen (also in Lobberich has been allocated), the However at the beginning of the 1990s severely restricted and all set on 31 December 1999.

Most diesel locomotives operated Series 290 weekdays, two private ports on Lobbericher freight station and behind the Grefrather station. These activities ended on the railway line, which was the main track once and was able to keep up with the competition route Viersen -Venlo, until the final route decommissioning on 31 December 1999. The last passenger train that drove on the tracks between Lobberich and Kaldenkirchen was a special train of about film shooting was used in 1991. Following closure of the millennium, the route was announced in Europe. In early 2004, although there were prospects for route acquisition, the rails on the old railway line removed as soon as possible. Only the gravel and a few pieces of track on former railroad crossings on rural roads reminiscent of the former railway line.

The passenger trains stopped at stations Kaldenkirchen Wittsee, Lobberich, Grefrath, Mulhouse Oedt, Kamp Easterlings and Kempen. The breakpoint Mulhouse Oedt was built in 1896 by an initiative of the monastery in Mulhouse. The breakpoint Kamp Erling was built in 1956 shortly after a train accident. At the old railway stations in Lobberich and Mulhouse today only remember the names of the bus stops. The old station building, except for the start and end point of the route, are present only in Grefrath and in Mulhouse.

On March 6, 1956, was a serious train accident between Kempen and Mulhouse: A traveling by Kaldenkirchen fully occupied rail bus collided with a truck at a railway crossing together.