Köln Hbf

[iknowyeah]

I'm on the ICE to Frankfurt, and was making good time until Köln, where we lost around 15 minutes sat in the platform and crawling over the Hohenzollerbrücke. This seems to happen on any train I'm on through the area, is it just air is there a more technical reason why this seems to consistently happen?

 

[paul_munich]

Hohenzollern bridge is in my opinion the biggest bottleneck in the German network. It has six tracks only, two of them are for S-Bahns only, so local and longdistance services can use four tracks only to serve a city with more then 1m inhabitants. Worst part is nearly all ICEs (except the ones to Aachen and Belgium) change direction in Cologne, so have to use the bridge twice…

 

[30907]

Hohenzollern bridge is in my opinion

I think in DB's too?

the biggest bottleneck in the German network. It has six tracks only, two of them are for S-Bahns only, so local and longdistance services can use four tracks only to serve a city with more then 1m inhabitants. Worst part is nearly all ICEs (except the ones to Aachen and Belgium) change direction in Cologne, so have to use the bridge twice…

.... and the Hbf is horrendously busy with only 9 main-line platforms, not particularly wide and pretty crowded. I presume they cannot slew the track into the space once taken up by luggage platforms, because of the viaduct the whole thing is on?

 

[AlbertBeale]

I think in DB's too?

.... and the Hbf is horrendously busy with only 9 main-line platforms, not particularly wide and pretty crowded. I presume they cannot slew the track into the space once taken up by luggage platforms, because of the viaduct the whole thing is on?

Would there be any way of getting the S-Bahn down underground in the centre of Cologne, to free up extra space for mainline trains on the bridge and in the station? (Or even run some through mainline services in a new underground cross-town link??)

Hohenzollern bridge is in my opinion the biggest bottleneck in the German network. It has six tracks only, two of them are for S-Bahns only, so local and longdistance services can use four tracks only to serve a city with more then 1m inhabitants. Worst part is nearly all ICEs (except the ones to Aachen and Belgium) change direction in Cologne, so have to use the bridge twice…

But surely there are enough lines looping round the centre to allow scope for that to be avoided? It might add a few minutes to the overall journey time (having a reversal in the station must itself cause a time penalty), but it would be worth it if it increased overall capacity on the bridge/station route.

 

[rvdborgt]

Would there be any way of getting the S-Bahn down underground in the centre of Cologne, to free up extra space for mainline trains on the bridge and in the station? (Or even run some through mainline services in a new underground cross-town link??)

IIRC an extra platform for the S-Bahn will be put in on the Breslauer Platz side, to allow more S-Bahn trains (some RB services will become S-Bahn), which will free up some space for the other platforms.

 

[duesselmartin]

I'm on the ICE to Frankfurt, and was making good time until Köln, where we lost around 15 minutes sat in the platform and crawling over the Hohenzollerbrücke. This seems to happen on any train I'm on through the area, is it just air is there a more technical reason why this seems to consistently happen?

As mentioned Cologne is one of the biggest bottle necks in Germany. It is run beyond capacity. There are plans to expand but the curve radius makes that difficult and DB seem reluctant to run more ICE via Köln Messe/Deutz only.

 

[Kasiano]

Köln Messe/Deutz has only two platforms on the lower level (numbers 11 und 12, one for each direction) that don't lead to or come from Hohenzollernbrücke. So the capacity for trains staying on the right side of the Rhine is somewhat limited.

 

[30907]

But surely there are enough lines looping round the centre to allow scope for that to be avoided? It might add a few minutes to the overall journey time (having a reversal in the station must itself cause a time penalty), but it would be worth it if it increased overall capacity on the bridge/station route.

DB seem reluctant to run more ICE via Köln Messe/Deutz only.

There is only one ICE "Takt" (hourly to Mannheim then Munich/Basel) that consistently reverses at Hbf and could use Deutz or the Suedbruecke. Even a few Amsterdam-Frankfurts (which alternate with Brussels-Frankfurt) seem to use Deutz now, which must be confusing!
The line round the West of the city is also IIRC pretty congested with all the freight avoiding Hbf, plus the left bank traffic via Bonn.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Some of the ICEs to Duesseldorf and beyond could run via Moenchengladbach though, presumably (although loads of trains from the latter to Duesseldorf these days)? I seem to recall that some took that route in the 80s?

Otherwise, it's much like the GB network: if all worked as per timetable, Koeln Hbf would be fine but there is only a little ability to handle out of course running. One day in June 22, the service seemed to completely meltdown with trains stuck in all directions.... that was a sight to behold! Took about 1.5 hours to unblock...

In realtime, Northbound ICEs can be routed via the West of the City and then from the Northwest end of the Hbf. en route to Duesseldorf. I would guess this takes about 10 mins longer, but avoids the delays associated with reversing moves when all tracks are busy....

Btw, the S-Bahn lines on the branch are non-exclusive and are used by some RB and I think RE trains as well.

 

[duesselmartin]

Köln Messe/Deutz has only two platforms on the lower level (numbers 11 und 12, one for each direction) that don't lead to or come from Hohenzollernbrücke. So the capacity for trains staying on the right side of the Rhine is somewhat limited.

But neither is intensly used esp when you consider a 3-5 minute stop is all that is needed. In the Hbf, you have a Turn around binding more capacity.

 

[30907]

Some of the ICEs to Duesseldorf and beyond could run via Moenchengladbach though, presumably (although loads of trains from the latter to Duesseldorf these days)? I seem to recall that some took that route in the 80s?

I think you mean Neuss? MGB is well off-route except for Aachen-Ruhr (which became part of the IR network for a few years). It would be slower than the South Bridge option which, as you say, would add about 10min.