The first train at the new Oberbilk underground station. |
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Festive opening ceremony:
services commended in the tunnel to Oberbilk
When the new underground railway tunnel between the central station and Oberbilk opened, a big street festival was held to celebrate it at Koelner Strasse on Saturday, 15th June and Sunday 16th June.
The new section of tunnel reduced the travelling time on Lines U74 and U77 by a whole five minutes. The underground trains stops at the new underground stations of "Oberbilker Markt / Warschauer Strasse" – "Ellerstrasse" and "Oberbilk S / Philipshalle". The previous station of "Oberbilker Markt" still exists as an overground stop for Lines 706 and 716. |
The last tram halts in
Oberbilk on its way to
central station |
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Residents waved goodbye to the last train
On Friday evening, when the last tram rolled along Koelner Strasse at 7:45 p.m., the residents of the street waved through their windows, from the pavements and from balconies as they listened for the last time to the typical sounds of the tram and watched the familiar sight of it travelling along their residential street. The noise of many tons of metal moving along the track, with numerous passengers on board was "heavy metal" in the truest sense of the word: iron wheels on steel rails. The tram braked, stopped, rang its bell and drove off again for one last time. The Rheinbahn provided the "sound" by arranging for the Rheinbahn Orchestra to play at the street festival on Saturday and Sunday.
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