The Spaghetti Bowl of Railways in the Rhine-Ruhr
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Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr region is one of the world’s most interesting urban areas. Let’s take a look at its unique mix of trams, U-Bahns, hanging monorails, and trains!
Special thanks to Neal and Laura as well as all the footage contributors for their help with this video!
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29 Comments
To learn all about the Rhein-Ruhr Express system, check out the Nebula Plus video now: https://nebula.tv/videos/rmtransit-faster-than-the-sbahn-rheinruhr-express
And check out The Tim Traveller's videos on the hanging monorails of the Rhine-Ruhr region:
– Wuppertal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFh6wFTJiQ
– Düsseldorf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeYTtlXywUI
– Dortmund: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kwpj1UOrhs
So nice to see this nerdy guy from Canada that I've watched a couple of videos of talk about the public transport structures of the cities I grew up in^^
One interesting thing you could've mentioned: Bochum shares it's U35 with the city of Herne, splitting it 50/50 (or something like that)
Can you make a documentaion abouttheeoie😮😮ei aha?
when traveling from Hamburg to Munich, it is essential to pay attention when booking your ICE, or you might accidentally end up with one that travels through this region, inevitably picking up hours of delays in the progress
Oberhausen has one of my favourite bits of contemporary transport architecture – the Neue Mitte Oberhausen station for buses/trams, built to a deconstructivism design in the mid 1990s. Looks like a game of "pick up sticks" – worth a google!
Always fun when other channels you follow get a mention… or it's a sign you spend too much time on YouTube. One or the other.
I think it would've made more sense to have a video focused only on the heav rail network, at least that was my expectation when I saw a video covering the Rhine-Ruhr.
As many are pointing out the S-bahn network works in tandem with regional services (RB and RE) and of course the RRX. This video skimmed too fast through the S-bahn lines, left the important regional rail behind and then the RRX comes as an exclusive. It's a bit disjointed and doesn't really provide that "explainer" picture we're used to.
A lot of the video was consumed by the Stadbahns/trams systems which is in itself a lot of information to bundle up in a single video and that went by quite fast too.
Perhaps it would've made more sense to have the extra video on Nebula be the video about the Stadbahns and other transit modes. And there's all the bits about the VRR and the other smaller transit agencies that it owns or are involved.
There's so much to talk about, from history and economy of the region, history and development of rail, structure, future extensions, etc, that even with a video only on heavy rail you could probably have a longer version of the video for Nebula users.
Totally understand monetizing content or offering premium extras for paid subscribers, but in my opinion the structure here could've been better, including for paid subscribers.
The Rhine-Ruhr region is comparable with the Randstad region in our country, the Netherlands.
+ Just as the RRR has cities like Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf, ours has Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht.
+ the Rhine-Ruhr Express is named "Intercity" with us
+ our version of the S-Bahn is the "Sprinter"
+ tram networks here have a regional component as well (serving surrounding places like Amstelveen, Delft, Schiedam and Nieuwegein)
Big difference is that we do not know something like a Stadtbahn (although Randstadrail between The Hague and Rotterdam comes close).
But for that, the Randstad region has the R-NET brand for all public transport that is interconnected. This also includes about 100 express bus routes not served by rail vehicles (best known example is line 300 connecting Haarlem and Amsterdam Bijlmer with Schiphol Airport).
Both regions are also each other's main business partners.
However, the public transport between those regions? An expensive ICE service only running every 2 hours (on a track often closed for construction works) and an hourly but slow regional service Arnhem-Düsseldorf.
Too close for long distance trains, too far apart for regional trains? Or is it all because of the language barrier?
Another reason to hate Duisburg:Wanted Rheinhausen so badly but did not care about trams and so on
Same to Herne with Wanne-Eickel
Both still have their singular names: Rheinhausen and Wanne-Eickel for trains.
Köln ist nicht Ruhrgebiet.
Last time I holidayed in Germany we stayed in gelsenkirchen and purchased the weekly pass that encompasses the Westphalia rail and tram network, a fantastic way to get around the Ruhr area plenty of links to explore around you, why gelsenkirchen, we don’t like staying at known holiday destinations and try and stay where the locals live,
Finally Cologne´s getting mentioned🎉🎉
There are Plans to connect the S23 in Bonn to the Rest of the Network. It would be a part of the vision for the SBahn Cologne featuring multiple new Lines and Extensions of current ones.
Something like this could save the North West Region of England
If you’re ever making a video on Rio de Janeiro, hit me up
I used to live in Bonn and I've been waiting on the Bonn-Cologne video for a while. Hopefully we get it soon!
Cologne mentioned,
happiness achived.
The Deutschland Ticket has definitely helped to simplify the complex and often confusing fare system across different regions in Germany. By offering a single, nationwide ticket for public transport, it has smoothed out the "tariff jungle" that previously made traveling across different zones and states more complicated. However, it’s still quite common for the S-Bahn in this region to be delayed, making disrupted travel plans more the norm than the exception. This is especially true late at night when train frequencies decrease—after 1 am, for instance, you might even find yourself stranded. It’s advisable not to rely on the very last S-Bahn if you have a connection to catch. While you can sometimes use the ICE for certain routes, keep in mind that the costs are significantly higher.
I moved to Essen a month ago to start my University. I am in love with the public transit system. My Flat is kind of on the outskirts, next to the north of Helenenpark, i get Bus service every 10-20 mins to a minor public transport hub (multiple Bus lines with intersecting schedules, Tram and Metro service), 30 metres from my front door. If i time it right, i can be at my Uni in 17 minutes, Essen Main station in 20, Gelsenkirchen main station in 15 minutes. The affordable 49€-Ticket option is also amazing, allowing you to use all public transport except high speed rail for 49€ a month. I love it, and i will fight anyone who tries to take it away from me.
I gotta say, standing on any of the "hauptbahnhof"s in this area,
seeing the amalgamation of different lines and operators,
different floor heights,
different traction,
different levels of sanitation
the crumbling station buildings
all the delays
… I don't enjoy the transit in this region
As a Canadian living in Cologne, I always wished more 'urbanism' channels would discuss this region, I think it's a really interesting place that faces a lot of unique challenges and has a lot of unique solutions. I guess it often gets a bit overshadowed by what's happening nearby in the Netherlands, but I still think there's a lot of interesting things to explore when it comes to city and transit design here.
Also, one thing that I'd love to see discussed in the future is the Deutschland ticket, which gives residents full use of all busses, trams, stadtbahnen, S-Bahnen and regional trains country wide for 49 euros a month.
there are some missinformations:
the S9 also goes to Recklinghausen
there is a standart height on the stations of 76cm, step on step every station will be upgraded to the 76cm
its great to watch this especially when i know that ive been to these places, rode on these lines and my father works on the rail network here especialyl on the s1
Good video! Cant wait for the video about Bonn and Cologne video
Check out Olsztyn in Poland. It's a pretty small city (170k) that built a tram network from scratch in the recent years
Wait, if you consider Cologne Central Station the main station of the region, why do you not consider Köln/Bonn-Airport the main airport of the region?
Also all these areas got major Bus and Tram routes as well…
While i do applaud your Research and dedication it had to take to make this video, you have made a fatal error. The line s28 kaarster see to wuppertal hbf does not have a frequency of 20 minutes but one of 30/60 minutes or more if they feel like it.
It also terminates in mettmann stadtwald because its depot is there and they dont have enough trains to maintain their (atrocius) schedule (if you can call it that). Not to mention their trains are at least 30 years old and bought from Bavaria. To make it even worse recently one burned down in the middle of its Service. With all that said. I CANNOT stress this enough i hate regiobahn (the operator of the s28) with a burning passion.
Essen mentioned!!!!! Let's goo