The full closure begins on Friday evening and lasts until September 4. During this time, neither long-distance, regional, nor freight trains may use the track. The S-Bahn line between the two stations remains closed until December 4.
Long-distance trains between Cologne and Düsseldorf, Duisburg, or Dortmund will be rerouted. As a result, ICE stops in the Ruhr area will be canceled. Duisburg and Oberhausen are particularly affected: during the construction work, hardly any long-distance trains will stop there, with exceptions only at night or at off-peak times.
The railway had to change its replacement timetable at short notice because a bridge over the Wupper near Opladen needs repair. The damage was only discovered in July, when a six-month closure of this line ended. In regional traffic, the RE 5 and S 6 lines between Düsseldorf and Cologne-Mülheim will be canceled, with replacement buses for some connections. The RE 1 will be rerouted via Neuss, and several stops will be dropped.
During the closure, tracks, switches, and bridges will be renewed. In the Langenfeld area, the railway is replacing three switches and nearly 140 meters of track, and in Leverkusen another switch. Between Leverkusen and Cologne-Mülheim, more than 7.8 kilometers of track will be renewed, using over 8,600 sleepers and around 6,500 tons of ballast.
Source: www.spiegel.de
