GERMANY: Work to electrify the 164 km line through the Eifel region between Hürth-Kalscheuren near Köln and Trier-Ehrang was launched with a ceremony in Kyllburg on October 28.
The €500m project is being funded by the federal government and the Länder of Rheinland-Pfalz and Nordrhein-Westfalen.
The installation of 300 km of 15 kV 16·7 Hz overhead electrification and 10 substations will require the modification of 56 bridges and 10 tunnels. Track renewals will also be undertaken.
The first sections are scheduled to be completed in 2026, and the full route in 2028.
‘We are ensuring that diesel trains between Hürth-Kalscheuren and Trier-Ehrang will soon be a thing of the past’, said DB board member for infrastructure Berthold Huber. ‘With a more environmentally friendly and reliable service, we want to convince more people to switch to rail.’
The line was badly damaged by flooding in 2021, with some of the rebuilding works being similar to a new build project. Reinstatement was accelerated by close co-operation between stakeholders and a simplified process for planning and awarding contracts in flood-damaged areas.
Nordrhein-Westfalen’s Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation & Transport Oliver Krischer said ‘electrification, together with the reconstruction after the flood, is by far the largest railway investment in the region since the Eifel line was built more than 150 years ago’.
