1950–1989

During the period of the German Democratic Republic, the line was connected to many military and business sidings. In the late 1950s a branch was built to the north of the line to the north port of Rostock with a link towards Rostock and towards Bentwisch on the line to Stralsund.

The other major connection was the industrial railway to the fertilizer plant at Poppendorf. The military sidings connected from Ribnitz-Damgarten Ost to Pütnitz (airfield) and from Gelbensande to Schwarzenpfost, running for a few metres parallel and adjacent to the main line through the woods. Also the fiberboard plant in Ribnitz was connected with a works railway.

The line was progressively electrificatied in the following stages from 1985:

1. Rostock Hauptbahnhof–Rostock freight yard: 15 December 1985
2. Riekdahl–Bentwisch: 12 April 1986
3. Bentwisch–Poppendorf: 30 May 1986
4. Bentwisch–Stralsund: 2 June 1991.

The last scheduled steam train ran on this line on 29 March 1985.

1990–2010

Construction work in Gelbensande station

After Die Wende in 1989, many sidings and stations were closed and later partly dismantled (such as Rostock freight yard). The sidings for the military trains of the National People’s Army were no longer needed and have been completely dismantled, the stations of Schwarzenpfost, Altheide, Langenhanshagen, Starkov and Pantelitz have not been served since 1996. In addition the last local freight train operated in 1996.

In 1999, the section between Ribnitz-Damgarten West and Stralsund was completely renovated. The appearance of the stations on the track changed greatly. The signal boxes were replaced by a new electronic interlocking in Velgast. Consequently, all signal boxes that were no longer needed and freight sidings were demolished and the interlocking equipment that was housed in the old station buildings was removed. The remaining buildings are largely empty, and have been secured against unauthorised entry. The closed stations were completely demolished in the course of the renovation. But, after the renovation of the track, a new station was opened in Stralsund Grünhufe.

The redevelopment of the remainder of the section between Rostock and Ribnitz-Damgarten West was begun, but has been repeatedly deferred. As a result, almost all of the line on this section has not been upgraded. All stations are still staffed and the line is protected by signals controlled by relay interlocking at local signal boxes. During the line upgrade, the track in the section between Rostock and Ribnitz–Damgarten West was to be doubled because of the current high train density. A second track was also planned on the Velgast–Stralsund section. All culverts and bridges were already designed for a second track in 1999. After the outcome of the review of the demand plan for federal railway infrastructure of 11 November 2010, it was decided not to pursue the project because of its unfavourable benefit-cost ratio.^[2]

Construction

In March 2007, the first works were carried out for upgrading the Rostock–Ribnitz-Damgarten West section to be operated at 160 km/h. Substantial work was especially carried out in the stations of Bentwisch, Gelbensande and Ribnitz-Damgarten West. Further work took place in the spring of 2008. Additional platforms were restored along the line and refuge tracks and freight tracks were removed in stations. The western section was not initially connected to the electronic interlocking at Velgast.

Regional services

Class 143 with double-deck carriages near Ribnitz-Damgarten Ost

Deutschen Bahn Stadler FLIRT railcars running as the Hanse-Express

Regional services operate on the line at two-hour intervals between the two cities. Since December 2007, these have been operated using Stadler FLIRT railcars, which, because of their greater acceleration and higher speed, have reduced travel time on some sections. Before the introduction of the new railcars, trains often consisted of three double-decker cars hauled by a class 143 locomotive.

On the Rostock–Rövershagen section there is an additional hourly direct train to Graal-Müritz. For this reason, the stations of Rostock-Kassebohm, Bentwisch and Mönchhagen are not generally served by Regional-Express trains towards Stralsund. Railcars of class 642 (Siemens Desiro) or class 628 are used towards Graal-Müritz. Every two hours Usedomer Bäderbahn (UBB) trains operated between Stralsund and Velgast using class 646 railcars until 2017. They continued on the UBB network to Barth. Since they now run only between Velgast and Barth, although approximately hourly, Kummerow (b Stralsund) station is no longer served by any trains.

Long-distance services

An IC train near Ribnitz-Damgarten

The line is served several times a day by long-distance trains. The Intercity trains stop at the stations of Rostock Hauptbahnhof, Ribnitz-Damgarten West, Velgast and Stralsund Hauptbahnhof. Several trains continue from Stralsund to Ostseebad Binz on Rügen. These continue to Hamburg and the Ruhr. Until October 2007, a night train operated from Stralsund to Munich and to the Ruhr. In the summer a train regularly runs on the route from Dortmund to Sassnitz, carrying vacationers from the Ruhr to the Baltic Sea. Another Intercity train runs as the UrlaubsExpress (Holiday Express) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern from Cologne via Hamburg, Rostock and Stralsund to the seaside resort of Heringsdorf on the island of Usedom.

A special feature of the line is that all long-distance trains between Rostock and Stralsund may be used with local public transport tickets. This excludes the so-called Ländertickets and Schöne-Wochenende-Tickets.

Since the timetable change in 2005, there are no longer any strictly two-hour intervals services on the line. The reason for this was the only way to shorten the times taken by the long-distance trains to Hamburg. In order to speed up regional services and to offer the long-demanded trains from Rostock to Rügen, it was necessary for the long-distance trains to stop at crossing station to wait for regional services.

Footnotes

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rostock–Stralsund railway.

• Detlef Radke (1997). 150 Jahre Eisenbahn in Mecklenburg (in German). Schwerin: Radke. ISBN 3-932614-00-3.