Reactivation of Railway Line Bad Bentheim - Coevorden

Specialist Planning: Technical Equipment

The railway line between Bad Bentheim station and Neuenhaus station, owned by BE Netz GmbH, was only used for freight transport at a speed of 50 km/h (approved track speed 60 km/h) and should be reactivated for regional passenger rail transport (SPNV) in future.

For this purpose, the existing railway infrastructure was upgraded for passenger transport at a speed of 80 km/h. In addition to the three existing stations “Bad Bentheim”, “Nordhorn” and “Neuenhaus”, three new stops “Quendorf”, “Nordhorn-Blanke” and “Neuenhaus South” have been built.
In addition to the three stations, two crossing areas on the single-track line were created at “Hestrup” junction and at “Nordhorn South” station for the scheduled encounter traffic of freight trains with passenger trains.

A new electronic interlocking system for regional railway lines (ESTW-R in the KS signalling system) was built to ensure smooth train traffic.

Based on the operating concept of BE Netz GmbH, 21 remote-controlled switching systems, the locations of 43 signals and distant signals as well as block signals were determined in the area of the stations along the route between Bad Bentheim and Neuenhaus.

The 21 technically secured level crossings on the track section had to be adapted to the new maximum speed (80 km/h) and the new braking distance (700 m). Some level crossings get under the influence of the entrance and exit signals of the stations and are therefore dependent on the stopping points. Furthermore, 24 non-technically secured level crossings had to be technically secured now.

ZPP was commissioned by BE Netz GmbH on the basis of HOAI §§ 51 - 54 with the planning of the technical equipment for the reactivation of the railway line in the service phases 1 (basic evaluation), 2 (preliminary planning), 3 (conceptual planning), 4 (approval planning), 5 (execution planning), 6 (preparation for awarding contracts), 7 (participation in the award) and 8 (object monitoring – construction supervision).