Today’s Mülheimer Brücke (bridge) in Cologne was opened in 1951. It is the successor to the first Mülheimer Brücke, opened on 13 October 1929 by Lord Mayor Konrad Adenauer, which was destroyed in the Second World War on 14 October 1944, almost exactly 15 years to the day after its opening.
The “new” Mülheimer Brücke – which, incidentally, looks very much like its predecessor – is now 73 years old. Which is why the city of Cologne emphasises: “a complete overhaul of the bridge is unavoidable.” The work has been underway for some time, and now comes the phase in which the bridge has to be completely closed for almost exactly seven months. This is planned for the period from 2 April to 7 November 2024.
It is no easy task for Cologne, a city of millions, to have to do without one of its eight Rhine bridges for such a long time. Especially as the Mülheimer Brücke is also crossed by the two light rail lines 13 and 18, which will not be possible for seven months due to the complete closure. Both lines run on both banks of the Rhine up to and from the last station before the bridge: on the left bank of the Rhine up to and from Slabystraße. On the right bank of the Rhine, line 18 will run to and from Wiener Platz to Thielenbruch and will be supplemented here by line 3. There will also be additional journeys on line 18 via the rings between Klettenbergpark and Ebertplatz.
Other adjustments to the light rail system
Light rail line 4 is to be reinforced by an additional line 14 between Keupstraße (in Mülheim) and Ebertplatz via Deutz, Severinsbrücke and Neumarkt. According to the KVB, line 14 thus offers attractive connections to light rail lines 1, 3, 4, 7, 9 16, 17, und 18 as well as bus lines 106 and 132 (KVB route map at: https://www.urbanrail.net/eu/de/k/koeln-map.png ).
The bus replacement line 118
The light rail replacement bus service line 118 will run between the left and right-hand ends of the tram lines 13 and 18. It starts at Wiener Platz, crosses the Rhine on the Zoobrücke bridge and reaches the Zoo / Flora stop. Here it makes the connection to line 18 coming from Bonn. It then begins a longer loop via Amsterdamer Straße, Xantener Straße, Blücherstraße and Neusser Straße, arriving at the Neusser Straße/Gürtel light rail station, where it makes a connection to line 13. It continues via Friedrich-Karl-Straße to the Amsterdamer Straße / Gürtel stop on line 13 and then to the Boltensternstraße stop on line 18, completing the circle at the Zoo and Flora, and the SEV buses return to Wiener Platz.
The KVB give two reasons why they do not want to operate this rail replacement service line 118 themselves. Firstly, they do not want to increase their own bus fleet with additional coaches that will only be needed for seven months. However, the argument that KVB is suffering from an acute shortage of staff is probably more serious. Would they even have enough bus drivers to operate the rail replacement service themselves?
So the transport on the bus line 118 has been tendered and afterwards awarded to private bus company based in nearby Bonn.
Closure of the S-Bahn between the Messe/Deutz and Mülheim stations in October / November
Unfortunately, DB also wants to close the S-Bahn line between the Messe/Deutz and Mülheim stations in October and November in order to renew the rails here. This of course coincides rather unhappily with the bridge closure. The KVB has therefore asked “go.Rheinland”, the local transport organisation responsible, to postpone the construction work on the S-Bahn.
About the costs
The modifications to light rail services for the duration of the construction work on the Mülheimer Brücke will incur costs totalling 590,000 euros – without any additional revenue being expected. Rail replacement service line 118 will be considerably more expensive, with costs of 1.6 million euros expected. The entire Mülheimer Brücke project will therefore cost KVB 2.19 million euros. This will have a negative impact on KVB’s result. KVB’s parent company, Stadtwerke Köln, will have to compensate for this, and will transfer correspondingly less profit to its owner, the City of Cologne.
24.01.2024
