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Temporarily suspended: tracks at Essen main station

Photo: Oliver Berg/dpa

Train travelers between the western Ruhr area and the Rhineland will have to improvise again from Friday evening (9 p.m.): The railway is closing the important Duisburg junction again.

In local transport, many trains will be canceled completely for two weeks and will be replaced by buses; in long-distance trains, ICEs will be rerouted over a wide area.

This has an impact on many cities in the Ruhr area.

The company said the closure during the Easter holidays was necessary to advance numerous construction projects.

No long-distance trains will stop in Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen, Mülheim and Düsseldorf Airport during the closure until April 8th.

In local transport, most commuters have to change to replacement buses between Essen, Oberhausen, Duisburg and sometimes as far as Düsseldorf.

The construction work also had an impact on ICE connections in Cologne, Düsseldorf main station, Essen and Dortmund.

The important route in the Ruhr area was already closed once during the last autumn holidays - and the company has already announced a two-week closure there for the coming summer holidays (July 22nd to August 2nd).

Avoiding the S6 after a landslide is impossible

During the upcoming closure during the Easter holidays, the railway wants to modernize bridges, build noise barriers and replace overhead lines.

In addition, additional switches would be installed in order to be able to route trains more flexibly over the route.

The company said the work was scheduled to take place during the holiday season because there were fewer passengers on the road then.

There are cancellations and diversions on a dozen lines in local transport alone.

The lines RE1, RE2, RE3, RE5, RE6, RE11, RE19, RE42, RE44, RB32, RB33, RB35 and the S1 are affected.

In addition, unlike last time, commuters cannot use the S6 line between Essen and Düsseldorf - the route has been closed for weeks due to a landslide.

There are replacement buses on the Oberhausen-Duisburg, Essen-Mülheim-Duisburg and Essen-Düsseldorf routes.

If you search for your connection in the railway's information systems, you can see how you can get to your destination despite the closures and diversions, the railway said.

ahh/dpa