The Rhein-Emscher-Express has been operating since the introduction of the integrated regular interval timetable in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1998. It first ran from Mönchengladbach via Krefeld, Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund to Hamm. The Duisburg–Mönchengladbach section was dropped in exchange for an extension from Duisburg to Düsseldorf in the timetable change in December 2002. Since then the Rhein-Emscher-Express has run entirely on the trunk line of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company, which was opened in 1846 and 1847. As of 15 December 2019, in connection with a change to the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn, a new Regionalbahnservice line RB 32, the Rhein-Emscher-Bahn, was added to the timetable, which runs parallel to the RE 3 between Dortmund and Duisburg, serving the stops between Gelsenkirchen and Oberhausen that were formally served by a branch of S-Bahn line S 2, including Essen Zollverein Nord.
Route
The Rhine-Emscher-Express runs daily every hour over the tracks of three railway lines:
The whole Dortmund–Hamm railway, which is also used by three other Regional-Express services and long-distance trains,
The RE 3 runs hourly every day from Düsseldorf to Hamm. It runs parallel with Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn lines over large parts of its route and it has some of the character of a fast S-Bahn service and is perceived by passengers accordingly. RB 32, the Rhein-Emscher-Bahn, runs parallel to the RE 3 between Dortmund and Duisburg each hour, also stopping at Essen Zollverein Nord. The passenger rail transport was operated by DB Regio NRW until 12 December 2009, using class 425electric multiple units in coupled sets since the introduction of the winter timetable of 2008. Previously the service had been operated with push–pull trains of five refurbished Silberling carriages or four double-deck carriages with a class 111 electric locomotive. The average speed is only 63 km/h. The reason for this is the frequent stops between Dortmund and Hamm. The current operator of this service and the Maas-Wupper-Express is Eurobahn, a subsidiary of Keolis. Operations are carried out using 4 four-carriage and 14 five-carriage Stadler FLIRTelectrical multiple units with a top speed of 160 km/h, rented from Angel Trains. In the period from 13 December 2009 to 11 December 2010, the RE 3 had an additional stop at Essen-Zollverein Nord to improve access to the World Heritage Site at the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex. On 7 January 2010, the station was officially renamed Essen-Zollverein Nord, but since the timetable change in December 2010, Rhein-Emscher-Express services again skip the station.
