A key German rail line near the Dutch border will close for eight weeks. The section undergoing construction work is an extension of the Dutch Betuwe Line, an important rail artery from the Rotterdam port into Germany.
As a consequence of the works, the Dutch-German border crossing of the Betuwe Line at Zevenaar will be closed for eight weeks this summer. From 27 June to 24 August 2025, Germany will work on a third track between Emmerich and Oberhausen in Germany.
These works are part of a long-term project by the German infrastructure manager DB InfraGO to increase the capacity for both freight and (international) passenger transport between the two towns.
For the duration of the closure, trains will be diverted via alternative routes. At the Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail, a team of experts has been working on this for years. “The diversions have been carefully coordinated with carriers and infrastructure managers at home and abroad. The impact on (freight) transport is continuously monitored closely.”
DB InfraGO working on the Riedbahn in 2024. Like the Emmerich – Oberhausen renovation, those works were also part of the so-called Generalsanierung overhaul. Image: Deutsche Bahn. © Oliver Lang
Diversions north and south
The temporary outage is not exactly a new situation: trains have been diverted at various moments throughout the past decade due to the phased construction of the third track in Germany. ProRail has communicated about this frequently in previous years. “We are well prepared for this period, including with simulations, improved logistical processes, ICT innovations, measures for the infrastructure and to limit inconvenience to the environment.”
The fact that the Betuwe Line cannot be used for eight weeks this summer naturally puts a lot of pressure on the diversion routes, and in particular the Brabant Line. To give you an idea: last year an average of 115 freight trains per day ran on the Betuwe Line.
For the time when the Betuwe Line is out of use, it is expected that 135 freight trains will run on the Brabant Route, 50 on the more northern diversionary Bentheim Route, and 15 via the IJssel Line between Arnhem and Zwolle. The Brabantroute runs straight through Breda, Tilburg, Eindhoven and Venlo in Limburg, cities in the south of the country. On usual days, around 20 trains per day run on this route.
The work on the third track between Emmerich and Oberhausen includes the construction of 46 kilometres of new – additional – track, 22 kilometres of replacement of old track and the construction of a third track, and over 3 kilometres the construction of a third and fourth track. Furthermore, 47 bridge structures are being constructed, 55 level crossings are being replaced by 38 bridges, and a number of passing tracks of 750 metres are being constructed for freight trains along the entire route.
A closure during the first three weeks of the German rail renovation, which will last a total of 80 weeks, led to frustration among the Dutch rail freight industry, to say the least.
This article was originally published by our sister publication SpoorPro.nl.