Until the timetable revision of 2002, the NRW-Express operated with five, and sometimes up to eight, double-deck carriages from Aachen to Bielefeld. In 2002 services were extended to Minden and at the same time the service was split into two routes. The Westfalen-Express was established, taking over the Hamm–Bielefeld–Minden section and extending to Düsseldorf. This change was intended in particular to improve the timeliness of the entire service. A service called line RE 6a was put into operation as a pre-operation for the Rhein-Ruhr-Express on 13 December 2015. For the first time, Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof was regularly connected with Cologne/Bonn Airport, serving on the way Neuss Hauptbahnhof, Dormagen, Cologne Hauptbahnhof, with some services also stopping in Köln Messe/Deutz in the peak. This interim line was scheduled to be operated with double sets of class 425 EMUs. The reason for the temporary separation of RE 6 and RE 6a was the lack of emergency brake connections between the double-deck cars used on line RE 6, which were not allowed to run through the Cologne Airport loop. At the change of timetable in December 2016, the rolling stock was replaced by retrofitted double-decker trains, the RE 6 was extended to Cologne/Bonn Airport and the line RE 6a service was discontinued. The RE 6 services has been named the Rhein-Weser-Express since its extension.
Route
The Rhein-Weser-Express runs on a total of four railway lines:
Since the timetable change in December 2010, the Rhein-Weser-Express has run during the day at hourly intervals from Minden to Düsseldorf, over the whole route between 0700 and 2200. Until the timetable change in December 2010 some services in the off-peak lengths turned around in Dortmund, Bielefeld or Hamm. Frequencies are increased by other services: the NRW-Express also runs between Hamm and Cologne and the Rhein-Hellweg-Express runs between Hamm and Düsseldorf, the Ems-Börde-Bahn runs between Bielefeld and Hamm, the Weser-Leine-Express and the Porta-Express run between Bielefeld and Minden. Large sections of the RE 6 proceeds parallel with S-Bahn lines and it has some of the character of a fast S-Bahn service and is perceived by passengers accordingly. The service is operated by DB Regio NRW, using push–pull trains of five double-deck carriages, mostly hauled by class 146.0 locomotives. Class 111 electric locomotives are regularly substituted on the route. The maximum speed of 160 km/h can be reached on long sections. The average speed is 84.5 km/h. Some services are operated with class 425 electric multiple units. The Rhein-Weser-Express is linked with the rest of the transport network in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund, Hamm, Bielefeld, Herford, Löhne and Minden.
Tenders of the route
Four public transport associations are involved in the operation of the Rhein-Weser-Express: the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, Zweckverband SPNV Münsterland and Verkehrsverbund OstWestfalenLippe. The "large traffic" contract that covers the route between Dortmund and Düsseldorf was terminated by the VRR on 12 June 2008 without notice, since then DB has operated this branch under direction. On 19 December 2008 the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen ruled that the termination of the "large traffic" contract had been unlawful. The North Rhine-Westphalian authorities submitted a joint tendering schedule, according to which the RE 6 line was to be tendered together with the RE 5 Rhein-Express. Operation for the RE 6 was to commence on 11 December 2016. Within the framework of the so-called "Rhein-Ruhr-Express" interim contract, services are being provided by DB Regio from December 2016 until the start-up of the Rhine-Ruhr Express services.
