Hamm–Minden railway

The first Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (1973) identified the Dortmund–Hannover–Brunswick line as one of eight railway development projects.[2] Already in the same year a 28 km long section of track between Gütersloh and Neubeckum was made available for high-speed trials for speeds up to 250 km/h. Locomotive 103 118 with special gear ratios achieved a maximum speed of 252.9 km/h in September 1973.[3] Vehicles were also built to test catenary for high-speed operations. The minimum curve radius was 3,300 metres and maximum cant was 120 mm. Experiments were carried out on different types of track (including slab track), catenary and turnouts.[4]

In 1980, it became one of the first lines in Germany upgraded for high speeds lines when a 58.0 kilometre long section between Hamm and Brackwede (near Bielefeld) was upgraded for scheduled services at 200 km/h.[5]

In mid-1985, a test train hauled by locomotive103 003 with special gear ratios between Brackwede and Neubeckum reached a speed of 283 km/h, a rail speed record in Germany.[6] On 26 November 1985, at 11:29, an InterCityExperimental train fully occupied with passengers on the line between Gutersloh and Hamm reached a speed of 317 km/h. This was a new German record for rail vehicles and a world record for rail vehicles using three-phase power.[7][8]

Schildesche Viaduct

A remarkable bridge on the trunk line is the viaduct in the Bielefeld suburb of Schildesche. The original viaduct as completed in 1847 was double track with 28 spans, and in 1917 a largely identical viaduct was built next to it. During World War II it was badly damaged on 14 March 1945 by a Grand Slam bomb dropped by an Avro Lancaster of No. 617 Squadron RAF, after 54 attacks using smaller bombs failed to destroy it.[9] After the war, one line was reopened with a temporary steel strut for freight traffic, while passenger trains used a winding bypass built as a diversionary route prior to the bombing, known as the "rubber railway". In 1965 the viaduct was reopened, the two-track viaduct for the “passenger route” having been repaired with concrete spans replacing the destroyed masonry spans, and the other using a provisional steel-frame construction built from old Wehrmacht pioneer materials. In 1983, the “freight route” viaduct was fully repaired, featuring the same concrete architecture used for the passenger route’s bridge.

The Weser bridge in Rehme (Bad Oeynhausen) suburb was destroyed by an air raid on 23 March 1945.[10] The bridge was rebuilt after the war with only two tracks, creating a two-track bottleneck between Bad Oeynhausen station and the Neesen yard (in Porta Westfalica). This situation ended only with the construction of a new Weser bridge in December 1984.