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Düsseldorf has 570,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the German Bundesland North-Rhine Westphalia. Extending on both sides of the river Rhine, Düsseldorf was included in the general 1970 Stadtbahn network designed for the Rhine-Ruhr area. For the city of Düsseldorf this project included mainly one 4-track east-west tunnel through the city centre which would split into two branches east of the central station (Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof). One branch continues east towards Düsseldorf-Eller and the second (2 km) runs southeast to Düsseldorf-Oberbilk and further south along the existing route to Holthausen. North of Heinrich-Heine-Allee the central trunk route also splits into two branches, one crosses the river Rhine on the Oberkassel Bridge towards Neuss and Krefeld, and the other one continues underground to Victoriaplatz/Klever Straße and then on the surface along the upgraded route of interurban tram line D towards Duisburg. Now there are 11 underground stations in Düsseldorf.

Apart from the Stadtbahn, Düsseldorf maintains a large network of tram lines. Along some sections on outer branches, trams and Stadtbahn trains share tracks.

Photos © Thomas Schunk

4 Oct 1981 - Nordstraße - Klever Straße (1.6 km)
7 May / 6 Aug 1988 - Nordstraße - Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof and branch to Tonhalle and Rhine bridge (6.2 km)
26 Sept 1993 - Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof - Kettwiger Straße - ramp - Ronsdorfer Straße (1.7 km)
16 June 2002 - Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof - Oberbilk S - ramp - Kaiserslauterner Straße (2.1 km)

 Projects

In spring 2001 two important Stadtbahn extensions were approved:
(1) The so-called "Wehrhahn"-Line will be the second cross-city tunnel, for the existing low floor tram lines 703, 712, 713, between S-Bahn stations Wehrhahn and Bilk (3.4 km with 6 underground stations). At Heinrich-Heine-Allee a 300 m stretch was already built together with the first city tunnel. Construction finally started in Dec. 2007.
(2) U80 - a branch off today's U78/U79 route from Reeser Platz towards the fairgrounds, 2.4 km, partly underground with one underground station, Messe Süd. There will be a joint terminus for U78 and U80 at Europaplatz.

Within the city of Düsseldorf there is a daytime 10-minute interval along all Stadtbahn routes (every few minutes between Heinrich-Heine-Allee and Hauptbahnhof), outside the city bounderies U79 runs to Duisburg and U75 to Neuss also every 10 minutes, U76 runs to Krefeld every 20 minutes. Frequencies are reduced after 20:00. The Stadtbahn operates from 4:15 until midnight (until 2:30 on Fridays and Saturdays).

For Fares see UrbanRail.Net's VRR page.

Rheinbahn (Official Page)

Stadtbahn Rhein-Ruhr by Jochen Schönfisch

Schwandl, Robert: Schnellbahnen in Deutschland / Metros in Germany. U-Bahn - Stadtbahn - S-Bahn. - April 2007, Berlin, ISBN 978 3 836573 18 3

- Anything you want to know about German metro and light rail systems, with detailed maps and hundreds of colour photos; 192 pages; Text German and English - More details