With some 600,000 inhabitants, Essen is among Germany's ten largest cities and the geographical heart of the Rhein-Ruhr-Area. Construction of a Stadtbahn network started in the early 1960's and included regauging of many routes from former 1000 mm to standard 1435 mm and the construction of underground sections in the city centre. The first 600 m underground section opened in 1967 along Huysenallee with one station, Saalbau. In the early 1970's a Stadtbahn network was planned for the whole Rhein-Ruhr area and the fast tram link between Essen and Mülheim was chosen as the first to be upgraded. It opened in 1977, partly underground and partly on the surface in the middle strip of the A40 motorway. Subsequently a small underground network was realised.

U11 and U18 can be considered real metro lines as they run independent from road traffic all along their routes. U11 is almost entirely underground. Ex-Docklands Light Rail vehicles, many of them repainted yellow, are in use in Essen. The section between Hauptbahnhof and Martinstraße is also used by some 1000 mm tramway lines (3-rail-tracks), which stop at high-level platforms here. Since the mid-1990's the northern route was extended in two stages, first to Altenessen Bahnhof (1998) and further on to II.Schichtstraße from where U17 trains continue on the surface to Buerer Straße in Gelsenkirchen. U11 trains terminate at Karlsplatz. The surface on-street section of U17 to Margarethenhöhe was upgraded in 2002 with high platforms at all stops, which will allow the use of ex-Docklands P89 rolling stock.

In the neighbouring city of Mülheim an der Ruhr there is a tram tunnel (1998) with four underground stations and the western section of line U18 coming from Essen. At the moment no joint operation is possible between the two routes. The tram tunnel has 4-rail tracks, as it is used by meter-gauge line 102 and the Duisburg standard gauge line 901. U18 is mainly underground within the Mülheim municipality although short stretches are above ground between Von-Bock-Str. and Christianstraße and the section east of Eichbaum station, which runs in the middle strip of the A40 motorway.

Photos 2005 © Robert Schwandl (UrbanRail.Net)

ESSEN:

5 Oct. 1967 - Saalbau (now Philharmonie/Saalbau)
28 May 1977 - U18 - Wiener Platz (now Hirschlandplatz) - Heißen (8.2 km, 2 km underground)
28 May 1977 - Saalbau - Hauptbahnhof - Porscheplatz (2 km)
27 Nov 1981 - U17 - Universität - Planckstr. - Margarethenhöhe (3.6 km underground)
27 Sept 1985 - Porscheplatz - Viehofer Platz - Schützenbahn ramp
31 May 1986 - U11 Saalbau - Gruga and Florastr. (3-rail-section)
9 Nov 1991 - Porscheplatz - Berliner Platz
May 1998 - Universität - Altenessen (2.5 km)
29 Sept 2001 - U11/U17 Altenessen - Karlsplatz - ramp - GE-Fischerstraße
27 Jun 2004 - U17 GE-Fischerstraße - GE-Buerer Straße

MÜLHEIM:

3 Nov 1979 - U18 Heißen Kirche - Mülheim Hauptbahnhof (3.3 km)
27 April 1985 - Mülheim Hauptbahnhof - Aktienstraße - ramp (1.5 km)
1998 - Mülheim Hauptbahnhof - Schloss Broich (2 km)

 Projects

U17 may be extended on the surface 3 stations towards the south from Margarethenhöhe to Hatzper Straße.

Stadtbahn lines (U11, U17 and U18) start operating between 4:00 and 5:00 and run until around midnight, every 10 minutes during daytime and every 20-30 minutes early morning and evening, Saturday afternoon and Sundays every 15 minutes daytime.

See fares on Rhein-Ruhr page

EVAG (Essen Transport - official)

VRR (Tariff System Rhein-Ruhr) incl. maps and timetables

NRW-Nahverkehr

Essen - City Server - Metro Construction

Stadtbahn Rhein-Ruhr by Jochen Schönfisch

Trambilderbuch incl. many photos

Straßenbahn in Mülheim an der Ruhr (incl. many U18 photos) by Horst Spieker

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