Westerland(Sylt)

It's a sunny day in Lübeck, and today I'm taking a tour around Schleswig-Holstein state with key destination - Westerland(Sylt).

 On the way to Lübeck train station in the park of the Linde square is the monument of former Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

 Lübeck Hbf

Most of the railway lines in Schleswig-Holstein are non-electrified, so there are many DMU's of type Alstom Coradia Lint here. However, it seems that non-electrified railways will not be a problem for using electric trains in the future according to this article: "German state of Schleswig-Holstein looks to bring electric trains to non-electrified lines"

 Inside Coradia Lint

I'm taking RE83 to Kiel. The Kiel–Lübeck railway is a non-electrified

Two Lints are being attached to each other before the journey

To the left is Lübeck-Travemünde Strand railway, one of the stations is Lübeck-Travemünde Skandinavienkai (Scandinavia Quay) station where passengers can connect with one of the ferries to Sweden or Finland.

Bad Schwartau

Eutin

Großer Plöner See immediately next to Plön station.

Plön

Preetz

Approaching Kiel

Last stop for this train is Kiel

SH-Express (Schleswig-Holstein-Express) here used for RB77 Kiel Hbf–Neumünster. Originally SH-Express was operating Flensburg-Hamburg line, but the older coaches has been replaced by double-deck Twindexx coaches.

RB77 is hauled by DB Class 143 which as DDR locomotive from 80's

Kiel is operated with ICE service to Zürich and München.

Kiel Hbf is a terminus station

Station was rebuilt in 1950's

Eagle over the eastern entrance of the former imperial waiting rooms

Kiel Hbf is located next to the ferry terminal with services to Oslo and Gothenburg 

Color Line is operating line Kiel-Oslo (M/S Color Magic), the journey takes 20h.

Stena Line is operating Kiel-Gothenburg (M/S Stena Scandinavica), the journey takes 14,5h

I'm back to Kiel Hbf, my next journey will continue further north west to Husum

And it will be another Coradia Lint DMU

RE70 Kiel-Hamburg is operated with double-deck coaches 4th generation. NAH.SH (Nahverkehrsverbund Schleswig-Holstein) is operating 

In this region the coaches are painted with green compared to the usually red.

Husum–Kiel railway is a non-electrified line except for the central section which is shared with the Neumünster–Flensburg line. Here we are attaching to that railway.

Approaching Rendsburg High Bridge over Nord-Ostsee-Kanal

The steel viaduct has a length of 2,5km while the elevated embankments and access bridges are about 5,5km at each side

Another Lint is climbing up

To serve Rendsburg station, situated at ground level only a couple of hundred metres from the main bridge, the railway line is routed through a large 360-degree loop on the north bank of the canal

Rendsburg Loop

RE7 Flensburg-Hamburg

Wind power

Bundesautobahn 7 is the longest German Autobahn and the longest national motorway in Europe at 963km starting at the border with Denmark and ending at the Austrian border.

Jübek, the last part of the railway is Husum-Jübek and it is non-electrified

Last stop for RE74 is Husum

The station is a railway hub, connecting the Westerland–Hamburg line (Marsh Railway)

My last train to Westerland is NOB service Westerland(Sylt)–Hamburg-Altona

Nord-Ostsee-Bahn or NOB is a railway company owned by Transdev.

Married-Pair-Wagen coach from Bombardier

Bredstedt

Langenhorn

The island of Sylt is connected to the mainland by railway only. NOB and DB are operating this service. DB Class 628 is operating express train service Bredstedt – Westerland(Sylt), being coupled between Niebüll and Westerland with a car shuttle train

Sylt Shuttle station for cars

The car transport is hauled by DB Class 245 (Bombardier TRAXX DE ME- Multi-Engine)

Niebüll station. Here there is a possibility to take train to Denmark, service RB66 Niebüll–Esbjerg

Klanxbüll

Between Klanxbüll and Morsum stations the line runs across the Hindenburgdamm (causeway) through the North Frisian mudflats.

First stop at Sylt island - Morsum

Last stop Westerland (Sylt) is a terminus railway station]in the town of Westerland

Westerland is a very popular seaside resort in Germany

Reisende Riesen im Wind

Monument to Sylter Inselbahn narrow gauge railway which was operating in Sylt between 1888 to 1970

Dicke Wilhelmine

Main pedestrian street Friedrichstraße is leading from the station to the sea

The northernmost island of Germany has a 40-kilometre-long sandy beach.

People are sharing the beach with seagulls.

Back to the train station

DB Class 218

DB Intercity service is also operating Sylt. Even though it is an Intercity and has less stops than Regional train (5 stops vs 12 stops), the journey is taking more time between Westerland(Sylt)-Hamburg (3h14min vs 2h59min) due to two 15min stops in Niebüll and Itzehoe. The explanation is coming later in this post.

Sylt Shuttle

Thanks to the window in the last Intercity coach, I could make some nice photos from the back of the train.

The only way to get to Sylt by car is by taking this Shuttle train, and a distance of 39km.

The travel time for Car shuttle is about 45min included loading and unloading.

Back to Niebüll - junction railway station on mainland.

In Niebüll, 3 other Intercity coaches are being attached to our train. The coaches are coming from Dagebüll Mole

The process is taking about 15min, hence the reason to one of the longer stops along the way to Hamburg

The railway Niebüll-Dagebüll is also operated by NEG (Norddeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft Niebüll GmbH )

T4 DMU was delivered in 1996 to the NVAG. It comes from the Jenbacher works and is identical to the series ÖBB Class 5047 .

We have to cross Nord-Ostsee-Kanal once again, this time at Hochdonn High Bridge built in 1920.

The high bridge Brunsbüttel for Bundesstraße 5 is with 2831m the longest bridge over the Kiel Canal and thus belongs to the longest bridges in Germany.

Alternative to bridges

The Kiel Canal (German: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, formerly known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal) is a 98km long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The canal was finished in 1895, and links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of 250 nautical miles (460 km) is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula. This not only saves time but also avoids storm-prone seas.

2nd class Intercity coach

The Elmshorn-Itzehoe section of Marschbahn is electrified since 1998. For the Intercity service a change of locomotives in Itzehoe is made between the diesel and electric powered ones.

Itzehoe is the end station for the Nordbahn RB61 line Hamburg-Itzehoe operated with Stadler Flirt

Flirt 3 trains are operating here since 2014

Intercity service

Intercity train is operated with double traction DB Class 218, in order to provide the electric power supply to the air conditioning.

Diesel locomotive is disconnected

And replaced with standard electrical locomotive DB Class 101

All paperwork is set, time to move on

This process took another 15min extra, thus the time we saved on less stops than Regional train, was eaten up by locomotive changing and coach connection

Since the journey is long, it is time for a drink

After 3h journey from Sylt, we are approaching Hamburg. S-Bahn is viewed here

Passing by Hamburg-Eidelstedt depot

The new ICE4 is being tested

Getting off at Hamburg Dammtor station which is one of four long distance train stations in Hamburg. The other stations are Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, Hamburg-Altona and Hamburg-Harburg.

Going back to Lübeck from Hamburg Hbf