Duisburg lies on the confluence of the Ruhr and the Rhine rivers and has 525,000 inhabitants but quite a small Stadtbahn network compared to its neighbouring cities Essen or Dortmund, which are all intergrated in the VRR tariff system (Verkehrsverbund Rhein Ruhr). The general Rhein-Ruhr Stadtbahn network designed in 1970 included two routes for the Duisburg area, one east-west linked to Mülheim and another one north-south linked to Düsseldorf.

In the early 1970's, the former interurban tramway D between Duisburg and Düsseldorf was upgraded to Stadtbahn standard with high platforms and mainly separate right-of-way. In the city centre of Duisburg trams remained on streets for another 20 years as construction of the underground section was delayed due to financial problems.

The inner-city stations König-Heinrich-Platz and Duisburg Hauptbahnhof finally opened on 11 July 1992 and were designed for more underground traffic in the future: both stations have two platform levels with tram line 901 on the lower level at König-Heinrich-Platz and cross-platform interchange in each direction at Duisburg Hauptbahnhof. Platforms used by U79 and tram 903 have a low section for the tram. A 3.6 km extension of the Stadtbahn tunnel from Duissern north under the river Ruhr to Meiderich opened on 23 Sept 2000. This route is served by tram 903 and by every other U79 train from Düsseldorf Hbf. During peak hours tram line 903 is reinforced by line 902 between Watereck in the north and the city centre.

STADTBAHN (U79)
- Line length on Duisburg territory: 17 km
- Rolling stock: DUEWAG B cars (high floor; 1983-85)

TRAM (901, 903 - 1435 mm gauge)
- Route length on Duisburg & Dinslaken territory - 43.7 km (of which 7.5 km are shared with Stadtbahn line U79)
- Rolling stock: GT10NC-DU (low-floor middle section; 1986-93)

11 July 1992: [Ramp] - Steinsche Gasse / [Ramp] Rathaus - Duissern

23 Sept 2000: Duissern - Meiderich Bahnhof

 Projects

The northern tunnel may be extended another 1.8 km from Meiderich Bhf to Nordpark (2 stations). From there the existing tram route to Dinslaken will be upgraded to Stadtbahn standard.

For Fares see UrbanRail.Net's VRR page.

DVG - Duisburger Verkehrsgesellschaft (Official Page) incl. Map

Duisburger Stadtbahnbauamt (Stadtbahn Construction)

Stadtbahn Rhein-Ruhr by Jochen Schönfisch

Straßenbahn Duisburg

All photographs © R. Schwandl

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