page_title: Heinsberg–Lindern railway
section_title: Sale, refurbishment of the infrastructure and the restoration of rail services
hierarchical_section_title: Heinsberg–Lindern railway / History and operations / Sale, refurbishment of the infrastructure and the restoration of rail services
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Streckenreaktivierung Lindern-Heinsberg, Bahnübergang Honsdorf, 2013
context_page_description: The Lindern–Heinsberg railway, also called the Heinsberger Bahn or Wurmtalbahn is a single-track branch line from Lindern on the Aachen–Mönchengladbach railway to Heinsberg in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was opened in 1890.
context_section_description: Large parts of the line were renovated in 2005, level crossings were modernised and a new track body was laid with concrete sleepers.
  The first new reconstruction took place with a view to the upcoming reactivation in February 2010. Hans Joachim Sistenich, then managing director of Aachener Verkehrsverbund (Aachen public transport) and the Zweckverband Nahverkehr Rheinland (Rhineland local transport), explained on 9 March 2010 in the Heinsberg District Office that he had the goal to restore rail services towards Heinsberg from December 2012, initially on part of the line. The financing and all contractual questions were clarified. WestEnergie und Verkehr GmbH (the district-owned utility company) was named as the owner of the rail infrastructure and Rurtalbahn GmbH as the operator of the infrastructure. In addition, the line would be electrified. With effect from 31 December 2010, the ownership of the line passed from DB Netz to WestEnergie und Verkehr, which purchased the line in order to lease it to Rurtalbahn. In the list of railway infrastructure companies of the Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt), the railway infrastructure company responsible for the line is listed as Rurtalbahn GmbH.
  Since the end of passenger services in 1980, the only freight transport, traffic to Chemiepark Oberbuch, ended at the timetable change in December 2013 and the superstructure between Oberbruch and Heinsberg and the stations were then rebuilt. In addition, the line was electrified with overhead line. The reactivation of the line with operations by Euregiobahn was originally planned to be implemented in 2008, but was then put delayed by a reduction of federal funding.
  Until the middle of December 2013, Heinsberg was the only district in the North Rhine-Westphalia (and one of the few districts in the whole of Germany) that could not be reached by rail passenger services.
  Reactivation was demanded by the passenger associations Pro Bahn and Verkehrsclub Deutschland. In addition, the Industrie- und Handelskammern Aachen ("Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Aachen") assessed the reactivation of the line as a "measure of high urgency for passenger traffic, freight transport and local transport" in 2009. Despite the initially negative attitude of the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Transport, the Aachener Verkehrsverbund (Aachen transport association, AVV) and the local politicians supported the reactivation plans. Once the realisation date 2008 could not be met due to the reduction of federal funding, a reactivation of the line by June 2013 was targeted. Due to delays in the completion of the electronic interlocking, the resumption of the passenger traffic took place only at the timetable change on 15 December 2013. Two days before, on 13 December 2013, the line had been officially put back into operation in a public celebration. The costs of the rehabilitation and adaptation of the infrastructure amounted to around €18 million.
caption: Reactivation of the  Lindern–Heinsberg line, Honsdorf level crossing in March 2013
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