Global InformationRheinpfeil information
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| Overview | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service type | Fernzug (F) (1952–1953) (1958–1965) Trans Europ Express (TEE) (1965–1971) InterCity (IC) (1971–1987) EuroCity (EC) (1987–1991) | ||||
| Status | Replaced by an ICE | ||||
| Locale | Netherlands Germany Switzerland | ||||
| First service | 18 May 1952 | ||||
| Last service | 2 June 1991 | ||||
| Former operator(s) | Deutsche Bundesbahn / Deutsche Bahn (DB) SBB-CFF-FFS | ||||
| Route | |||||
| Termini | Hook of Holland / Dortmund Hbf / Hannover Hbf / Hamburg-Altona München Hbf / Basel SBB / Zürich HB / Chur | ||||
| Service frequency | Daily | ||||
| Technical | |||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||||
| Electrification | 15 kV AC, 16.7 Hz (Germany, Switzerland) | ||||
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The word Rheinpfeil was used to name a number of express trains that ran in Germany between the 1950s and 1991. For much of that period, a train carrying the name Rheinpfeil also linked Germany with at least one neighbouring country.
Rheinpfeil is a German word meaning "Rhine arrow", and alludes to the Rhine valley, which always formed part of the route of the train carrying that name.
During its time as a first-class-only Trans Europe Express (TEE), the Rheinpfeil's formation (consist) included a "vista-dome car",[1] a rarity on European railways. Seating in the dome car was unreserved.[1]
The Rheinpfeil operated as a TEE for the last time on 25 September 1971, then becoming a two-class InterCity train.[2] Its dome cars were transferred to the TEE Erasmus in 1973.[2]
With the summer 1987 timetable change, on 31 May, Rheinpfeil became EuroCity train number 8/9, running Hannover–Cologne–Basel–Chur.[3] The train carried two through DB second-class carriages Hannover to Rome, conveyed south of Basel by an ordinary express train, running via Bern and the Lötschberg railway line.[3][2]
- ^ a b "Table 19: Rheinpfeil (Rhine Arrow)", Cooks Continental Timetable (February 1967 edition), p. 63; also p. 61. London: Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd.
- ^ a b c Mertens, Maurice; Malaspina, Jean-Pierre (2009). TEE: Die Geschichte des Trans Europ Express [TEE: The History of the Trans Europ Express] (in German). Düsseldorf: Alba Publikation. pp. 103, 190–192. ISBN 978-3-87094-199-4.
- ^ a b Thomas Cook Continental Timetable (May 1–30, 1987 edition), p. 474. Thomas Cook Publishing.