| Münster–Hamm railway | |
| Routenumber: | 410, 455 (long distance) |
| Linenumber: | 2931 |
| Linelength Km: | 36 |
| Electrification: | 15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary |
| Speed: | 1601NaN1 (maximum) |
| Locale: | North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
The Münster–Hamm railway is an almost 36 kilometre-long, continuous double-track and electrified main line railway from Münster to Hamm in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was one of Germany's oldest railways, built by the Munster Hamm Railway Company, which was established for this purpose, and opened on 26 May 1848.
The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German: Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME) built its trunk line directly across Westphalia, bypassing the region around the town of Münster. The Munster Hamm Railway Company (Münster-Hammer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, MHE) was established to build a branch line to connect with the CME line. This line was opened on 26 May 1848 for passengers and on 8 July 1848 for freight traffic.[1] [2]
The company and line were taken over in 1855 by the Prussian government-funded Royal Westphalian Railway Company (KWE). The line was extended in the following year to Rheine as the Münster–Rheine line.
Although, formerly individual[3] InterCity services ran on the line, it is now mainly used by regional (Regional-Express and regionalbahn) services running through western Westphalia and southern Münsterland. It is served by:
NRW rail archive of André Joost: