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The three cities of Bochum (400,000 inh.), Herne (175,000 inh.) and Gelsenkirchen (280,000 inh.) served by BOGESTRA lie in the eastern Ruhr valley, between Essen and Dortmund. The general Rhein-Ruhr Stadtbahn network designed in the early 1970's included three routes for this area, all meeting at Bochum Hauptbahnhof: (1) a north-south route from Recklinghausen to Bochum and Witten via Herne, (2) a route from Hattingen in the southwest to Castrop-Rauxel in the northeast, and (3) a route from Gelsenkirchen in the northwest to the southeastern parts of Bochum.

So far, only an essential part of the first north-south route is in service. Stadtbahn line U35 runs underground for most of its route through Herne and Bochum. The southern section to Ruhr University runs on the surface in the middle strip of a major road with only two level crossings.

The second route is finished through the centre of Bochum and is currently served by low floor tram lines 308 and 318 with 4 underground stations.

The third route is mainly built through the centre of Gelsenkirchen. This a tram tunnel with 7 underground stations, only used by line 301 (Gelsenkirchen Hbf - Buer - GE-Horst). Lines 107 to Essen and line 302 coming from Bochum leave the tunnel on a ramp near Musiktheater.

In the centre of Bochum, the third route (initially referred to as U21) was eventually completed in 2006 with four underground stations, Bochumer Verein/Jahrhunderthalle, Rathaus Süd, Hauptbahnhof and Lohring. This tunnel is currently used by trams 302, 305 and 310. At the same time a short tunnel for tram line 306 was opened, with the peculiar feature of running perpendicularly through the new Rathaus Süd station on a glass-covered bridge, i.e. passengers waiting for a 302, 305 or 310 tram can see tram 306 crossing above their platform. Tram 306 stops just outside the tunnel section.

Bochum Hauptbahnhof was fully prepared for the 3 cross-city routes right from the start, the upper level is for the southeast-northwest tram route (308/318) and line 306 (which terminates here), and the lower level (two separate tunnels) for two routes providing cross-platform interchange in the same direction, the inner tracks being used by U35 and the outer tracks by tram lines 302 and 310.

Bochum:
26 May 1979: Bochum Hauptbahnhof - Schauspielhaus - ramp (1.6 km - tram tunnel 308/318)
28 Nov 1981: Bochum Hauptbahnhof - Planetarium - ramp (1.7 km - tram tunnel 308/318)
02 Sept 1989: U35 Schloss Strünkede (Herne) - Bochum Hauptbahnhof (9.7 km)
27 Nov 1993: U35 Bochum Hauptbahnhof - Waldring - ramp (1.5 km)
29 Jan 2006: ramp - Bochumer Verein/Jahrhunderthalle - Lohring - ramp (tram tunnel 302/310)
29 Jan 2006: Rathaus - ramp - Hauptbahnhof (tram tunnel 306)
07 Oct 2017: Unterstraße - Langendreer S
18 Nov 2017: U35 Gesundheitscampus station
14 Dec 2019: last regular tram on line 310 between Unterstraße and Papenholz via Am Honnengraben
01 Nov 2020: Langendreer Markt - Papenholz
09 Jan 2023: Laer Mitte - O-Werk (0.6 km)

Gelsenkirchen:
01 Sept 1984: ramp - Gelsenkirchen Hbf - Neumarkt (now Heinrich-König-Platz) - ramp (1.6 km - tram tunnel)
29 May 1994: Gelsenkirchen Neumarkt - Trinenkamp - ramp (2.1 km - tram tunnel)

BOGESTRA - Official Page

BOGESTRA at Wikipedia.de

Stadtbahn Rhein-Ruhr by Jochen Schönfisch

Bochum Tram Track Map at gleisplanweb.de