German Line - Buffer Block

The Boxtel-Wesel railway line, also known as the German line (in Germany: Boxteler Bahn), is a former railway line of the North Brabant German Railway Company (NBDS). The line connected Wesel in Germany with Boxtel in the Netherlands via Goch, Gennep, Uden, Veghel and Schijndel. After 1925 the management of the Dutch part of the line came into the hands of the State Railways and the German part of the line (as DB 2515) came under the management of the DRG.

The line was opened in 1878 so that it could become part of the fastest connection London – Berlin – Saint Petersburg. From 15 May 1881, D-trains (international express trains) ran on this line, which allowed people to travel from London via Vlissingen to Berlin without having to change trains. Because of this comfort, many diplomats and monarchs, including the Russian tsars, used this route on their European travels. The German border station was Goch station, the Dutch one was Gennep station.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the German section was closed and broken up in stages. Before that, the section between Xanten and Uedem had been damaged so many times by sabotage in the Second World War that it was not repaired. A traffic road was built on the route between Goch and Uedem.

In 1950, the NS terminated the last piece of passenger traffic on the Boxtel – Uden line. In 1972 the transport of goods on the Mill – Gennep section was discontinued. In the meantime, a road bridge had been built next to the railway bridge at Gennep. The last train was the so-called leutexpres during the carnival of 1971, after which the railway bridge was dismantled. On 1 May 1982, a railway monument was unveiled near the former station of Gennep, Loc 94, a restored Prussian steam locomotive from 1924.

In 1978 the freight traffic between Uden and Mill also disappeared and in 1983 between Veghel and Uden, after which the tracks were dismantled.

This buffer block is the end of the still existing rails from Boxtel to Veghel.

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