Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord–Marl Lippe railway

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The Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord–Marl Lippe railway is a roughly 17-kilometre electrified line in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It runs from Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord station on the Hamm line to Marl Lippe junction on the Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line. The line is mostly single-track, with a potential for a second track, and is designated as route line 2252 in the railway atlas. It is sometimes called V9, after the Ruhr coal district’s traffic axis.

The line crosses several other routes and has a grade-separated junction at Marl Lippe. The A43, A52, and L612 highways are nearby. A freight siding at Marl CWH serves the Chemiepark Marl, connecting to the RBH Logistics rail network.

History and development were shaped by early 20th-century planning debates. Construction began in the 1960s, and the line opened on 27 September 1968. New stations and halts were added over time, including Marl Mitte in 1974. In 1998, passenger services were integrated into the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn as S-Bahn line S9. The passenger stops today are Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord Hp (new halt from 1998), Gelsenkirchen-Hassel, Marl Mitte, Marl Hamm, and Marl Lippe junction. Marl-Drewer was abandoned when the line converted to S-Bahn operations.

The line starts at Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord, runs alongside the Hamm-Osterfeld railway, and passes through Gelsenkirchen-Hassel to Marl. Marl Mitte sits near the Marler Stern shopping centre, connected by a pedestrian bridge and an adjacent bus station. Marl-Drewer was kept for a time but closed for the S-Bahn conversion. The Marl CWH siding near Marl Lippe junction connects to the Chemiepark Marl, with an alternate connection from Marl-Sinsen.

Signalling and operations were modernised in the 1980s and 1990s, with control moved to electronic interlockings in the 2000s. The line uses bidirectional signalling south of Haltern am See to allow trains to operate on the available tracks without crossing at grade.

S-Bahn services run roughly once per hour, under the S9 designation, with routes from Haltern am See to Essen Hbf and on to Velbert-Langenberg and Wuppertal Hbf. The service has evolved from early locomotive-hauled trains to modern electric multiple units, and since 2009 has been operated by DB Regio with newer trainsets (currently 422/432). Freight traffic on the line mainly serves the Chemiepark Marl.