Two-level services to the central station

In 1988 the regional capital celebrated its 700th anniversary. It was also an important year for the Rheinbahn and local public transport in Duesseldorf. Within the scope of the anniversary celebrations, two important line sections of the city railway were put into operation. In May, the tunnel from Kennedydamm to underneath the central station opened, followed in August by the section of track over the ramp at Ratinger Tor to the left side of the Rhine and the towns of Neuss, Loerick, Meerbusch and Krefeld. This meant that the municipal railway had finally attained the desired traffic value 15 years after building work commenced.

The operational condition for the city railway had been previously established in the form of an ultra-modern central control station on Heinrich-Heine-Allee and new storage and repair facilities at the Heerdt depot. The assumption that a fast and prompt local transport system would boost demand soon proved to be correct. The city railway generated perceptibly higher passenger frequencies compared with the previous overground services.