The Deister Railway () is a railway line in the German state of Lower Saxony between Weetzen and Haste. It is now a section of the Hanover S-Bahn network.
History
The concession for the main line to Altenbeken as well as the branch to Haste was granted to the Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company (Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) on 25 November 1868. The railway line was built mainly for the transport of bulk goods (Deister coal, stones and sugar beets from the Calenberg Land). The Weetzen–Barsinghausen section was opened on 1 May 1872 and the remaining part to Haste on 15 August 1872. At this time the halts of Winninghausen, Lemmie, Kirchdorf and Bantorf did not yet exist. The line to Barsinghausen was initially served by two train pairs daily and after the extension to Haste the entire line had three pairs of trains. The line was also immediately used for the delivery of mail to the stations of Barsinghausen and Wennigsen.
The halt of Winninghausen was opened on 1 October 1901. Since 1902, at the latest, there were efforts by the farmers of Lemmie and Sorsum for the establishment of a halt at Lemmie. They were also supported by the farmers at Bönnigsen. Although the road for them to Wennigsen station was much shorter, it was more laborious for horse-drawn carts because of a steep slope. Finally, the halt of Lemmie was opened on land of the municipal council of Ditfurth on 15 December 1904. This was next to the manor of Lemmie, which had made it available free of charge. The halts of Kirchdorf (opened in 1955 in the Egestorf municipality) and Bantorf (1975) followed much later.
A steam locomotive hauled a regular passenger train over the line for the last time on 22 March 1969 and train operations were switched to diesel haulage. According to recruitment plans of Deutsche Bundesbahn at the end of the 1960s, the line was electrified with financial support from the municipal association of Greater Hanover (Großraumverband, GVH), a legal predecessor of today’s Hanover Region, and was opened with the first operation with an electric locomotive on 31 May 1970. The line was operated at first by push–pull locomotives with Silberling coaches; from 1989 it was operated with City-Bahn wagons, mainly using class 141 electric locomotives in push-pull mode. The locomotive usually ran at the Haste end of the trains.
At the end of 1990s, the stations were modernised or rebuilt or relocated (Egestorf) and double track was installed on the section from Weetzen to Egestorf during the establishment of Hanover S-Bahn for the upcoming Expo 2000. Y-shaped sleepers were used. Only a short section directly west of the station of Weetzen is still single track, as duplication would have caused a significant increase in costs with only a small benefit. Prior to the duplication, the only passing places on the section between Weetzen and Barsinghausen were in the stations of Wennigsen and Egestorf. The scheduled train crossings took place in Egestorf.
The stations of Wennigsen, Egestorf, and Barsinghausen had additional sidings for freight operations. These operations ceased in Egestorf in the 1970s, in Wennigsen in the 1980s. The sidings have been removed when the line was converted to a S-Bahn line, as well as the local operated mechanical signal boxes in these stations. Bad Nenndorf was the station where the line to Bad Münder started. After that line was closed all sidings, signals and the signal box were removed, and the station was reclassified as a halt.
Barsinghausen had sidings east of the station, too. To the south the mine of Klosterstollen was reached and its Schacht IV (shaft 4) lay to the north. The remainder of the latter track is still in use for some industrial customers.
In 2014 and 2015, a road flyover was built in Haste and the pedestrian tunnel in the area of the station was extended. The level crossing on Waldstraße directly south of the station was subsequently lifted.
Route
The line runs on the north-eastern side of the Deister hills. It branches from the Hanover–Altenbeken line in Weetzen, which is in the municipality of Ronnenberg, and extends from there through Gehrden, Wennigsen, Barsinghausen, Bad Nenndorf and Haste to the Hanover–Minden line. In the area of Egestorf (Deister) station, the line runs directly on the edge of the Deister range. The route is largely flat and has no tunnels. Near Weetzen junction the line passes over federal highway B 217. West of Wennigsen station it runs under state highway 391 in a cutting. Many other intersections with roads are level crossings, e.g. at the stations of Weetzen, Lemmie, Wennigsen, Egestorf and Kirchdorf, and in several places in the town of Barsinghausen.