Because of bridge work: railway chaos feared around Cologne – news
People still react relaxed: “Malfunctions should always be rectified immediately, not postponed“, says a passenger at Cologne Central Station on Friday morning. A traveler from Jülich, on the other hand, says: “It’s not clever, because school starts again on Monday. What a mess! Only construction sites everywhere.”. It remains to be seen whether rail travelers in regional and long-distance transport will be relaxed in the coming days. Construction work on a bridge over Deutz-Mühlheimer Straße could demand a lot from them.
Numerous changes in local and long-distance transport
Between Friday evening at 9 p.m. and Monday morning at 5 a.m. there will be cancellations, diversions and changes on the local transport lines RE 1, RE 6, RE 8, RE 9, RE 12, RE 22, RB 24, RB 26, RB 27 and RB 38. Buses are to be used on some routes, while other lines will be canceled at the weekend without replacement. Long-distance traffic is also restricted. In some cases, there will be no stop at Cologne Central Station, the trains will be diverted via the southern bridge and the planned departure times will change. The ICE from Brussels to Frankfurt stops alternatively in Ehrenfeld.
Bridge should be higher
The reason for the impending chaos is renewal work on a bridge over Deutz-Mühlheimer Straße. Five of these bridges were built in 1913 and now have to be gradually renewed, says Dirk Pohlmann, spokesman for Deutsche Bahn. The work should be completed in 2030. The new bridges will have one significant advantage over the old ones: they will be built higher so that they will no longer be an obstacle for trucks.
“We have a lot of construction sites here in North Rhine-Westphalia. We have just finished construction work on the southern bridge in Cologne and that is why we can only start work here now“, says Pohlmann. Although there will be challenges at the weekend, scheduled S-Bahn traffic and relief trains should compensate for the numerous failures.
Passenger association with understanding
Hans-Werner Ignatowitz from the passenger association pro-Bahn Rheinland is understanding. “The date is certainly not ideal, but the question is, of course, when else should it have been done?“, he says. The big advantage of this weekend and the construction site is the ability to plan and that there is the possibility of obtaining information beforehand. According to Ignatowitz, however, train cancellations on the routes that are still to be traveled could be problematic due to a lack of personnel.
Many passengers are expected on the trains on the last holiday weekend in NRW. The first Bundesliga home game of the new general season for FC will be added to travel on Sunday evening in Cologne. The game against FC Schalke kicks off at 5.30 p.m.