Ruhr Valley Railway

The main line of the Ruhr Valley line was opened in 1872, from Oberbilk BME (now Düsseldorf-Oberbilk), through Düsseldorf BME (now Düsseldorf Hbf), Düsseldorf-Derendorf, Düsseldorf-Rath and Ratingen Ost, passing through a tunnel through the Hösel mountain and across a bridge over the Ruhr valley—now the site of the Kettwig Reservoir (Kettwig Stausee)—to Kettwig, running on the northern side of the Ruhr to Essen-Werden to Essen-Heisingen and crossing the river again to Kupferdreh. From there as far as Essen-Überruhr it combined with the Wuppertal-Vohwinkel–Essen-Überruhr line opened in 1847, which was extended in 1863, after its takeover by the BME, over a new bridge over the Ruhr at Steele via Steele station to connect with the Witten-Dortmund–Oberhausen-Duisburg and the Steele–Dahlhausen lines. In 1874, the Ruhr Valley line was extended on the south side of the Ruhr via Altendorf to a new bridge over the Ruhr to Dahlhausen. In 1877, a line was opened from Werden to Essen.

In 1926, the Niederberg line was opened from near Kettwig Stausee station to Wülfrath via Heiligenhaus and Velbert. The section to Heiligenhaus was closed in 1960.

In 1876 the Lower Ruhr Valley Railway (Untere Ruhrtalbahn) was opened over a new bridge over the Ruhr at Kettwig Stausee, downstream of the Ruhr Valley line bridge, connecting to the Ruhr Valley line near Kettwig station. The line branched off the main Duisburg–Essen–Witten line in Styrum and ran on the south side of the Ruhr through Broich (Mülheim), Saarn, Mintard and Kettwig to the new bridge. In Broich a connecting curve was built to Speldorf station on the Rhenish line.

At the end of the Second World War, the two adjacent railway bridges over the Ruhr in Kettwig Stausee were blown up by the German Army along with the bridge at Styrum on the Lower Ruhr Valley line. Only the upstream bridge at Kettwig Stausee was rebuilt on the Ruhr Valley line between Kettwig and Düsseldorf. Passenger trains on the Lower Ruhr Valley line coming from Mülheim initially stopped at Kettwig vor der Brück station. In 1953 a new Kettwig Stausee station was opened near Kettwig Stausee station on the Ruhr Valley line so that passenger could interchange between the two lines. The destroyed bridge was not rebuilt, and now only a pillar of it remains in Kettwig reservoir. As a result of the destruction of the bridge in Styrum, Speldorf station became the terminus of the Lower Ruhr Valley line instead of Styrum station.

The Middle Ruhr Valley Railway (Mittlere Ruhrtalbahn) was opened in 1869 from Dahlhausen via Hattingen, where it crossed to run on the south side of the Ruhr to the Henrichshütte steel works in Welper. In 1874 it was extended via Herbede and Wengern to Vorhalle.

The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway (Obere Ruhrtalbahn) was opened in 1870 via Schwerte along the river through Fröndenberg to Arnsberg. In 1871 it was extended to Meschede, in 1872 to Bestwig and in 1873 to Brilon-Wald and Warburg. It crosses the watershed between the Rhine and the Weser in Elleringhausen tunnel near Olsberg.