The Bonn City Council approved the new light rail network at its meeting on December 12, 2024. In doing so, it followed a proposal drawn up and coordinated between the cities of Bonn and Cologne, the Rhein-Sieg district, Stadtwerke Bonn and Kölner Verkehrsbetriebe. The paper provides for key changes to the light rail lines and timetables. Implementation of the proposed concept is planned for the timetable change in December 2026 at the earliest.
"Thanks to the new concept, the streetcars will run more reliably and more frequently. There will be a train every five minutes on the three most popular routes during peak times," says Bonn's Mayor Katja Dörner. "This is an attractive offer for commuters and will further relieve Bonn of motor vehicle traffic. It also creates space on the roads for trade, logistics and care."
"We are now offering passengers an attractive prospect for a noticeably improved local transport service in Bonn. We owe this to the intensive planning of recent years and important investments such as the purchase of new light rail vehicles and streetcars," explains city planning officer Helmut Wiesner. "And this is just the beginning: with projects such as the light rail extension to Buschdorf or the construction of the cable car, we are creating completely new connections in the urban area."
An overview of the future routes
- Line 16: Cologne - Bonn main station: Line 16 currently runs between Cologne and Bad Godesberg. The route will be shortened to Bonn Hbf. to reduce delays and thus negative effects on the Bonn network.
- Line 66 (new route): Tannenbusch - Bonn Hbf. - Ramersdorf - Königswinter - Bad Honnef: Line 66 currently runs between Siegburg, Bonn Hbf. and Königswinter/Bad Honnef. In future, it will run from Bonn main station to Tannenbusch and back again. In the future, it will be possible to extend it to Buschdorf thanks to the planned light rail extension.
- Line 67: Siegburg Bf. - Bonn Hbf. - Bad Godesberg Stadthalle: This line will be the new main connection between Siegburg and Bad Godesberg. It currently only runs twice in the morning.
- Line 18: Cologne - Bonn main station: This line remains unchanged.
- Line 68: Bornheim - Bonn main station - Ramersdorf. This line will also retain its route.
The bars
A five-minute interval is to be offered on the three busiest routes to Siegburg, Bad Godesberg and Tannenbusch in limited periods during peak times. The exact time periods are still being defined based on current passenger counts so that as many passengers as possible can benefit from the increased frequency. A ten-minute interval is planned as standard during off-peak hours. On the branch to Ramersdorf and Königswinter, a 10-minute interval is planned during rush hour. In addition, line 16 coming from Cologne will continue to serve the Tannenbusch - Bonn Hbf branch every 20 minutes.
Expansion of the infrastructure
In order to fully implement the future concept and offer more frequent services throughout the entire rush hour, investments in the expansion of the infrastructure are necessary.
- Expansion of the turning facility at Hauptbahnhof/Kaiserplatz
- Realization of the Hauptbahnhof/Maximilianstraße turning facility
- Expansion and conversion of the Bad Godesberg Stadthalle parking facility
- Additional turning facilities on the Siegburg branch line
- Additional measures are also required to increase operational stability:
- Expansion of the junction at Bonn district court
- Expansion of the B56 in the Combahnstraße/Friedhof Beuel area
- Optimization of the turning procedure for line 66 at Olof-Palme-Allee
- Prioritization of the light rail at the traffic lights between Adelheidisstraße and City Hall
- Prioritization of the light rail at the traffic lights between Olof-Palme-Allee and Hochkreuz
- Additional switch connections to increase operational stability in regular, construction site and disruption situations