Misplaced Pages

Van Beethoven

Overview
Service type	Trans Europ Express (TEE) (1972–1979) InterCity(IC) (1979– 2002)
Locale	Germany Netherlands
Predecessor	TEE Rhein - Main
First service	28 May 1972 (1972-05-28)
Last service	14 December 2002 (2002-12-14)
Current operator(s)	Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bahn
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC (Netherlands) 15 kV 16,7 Hz (Germany)
Route map

The Van Beethoven was an international train linking the Dutch capital Amsterdam and the West German capital Bonn. The train was named after the Bonn-born composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

The Van Beethoven was the successor of the TEE Rhein–Main on the same route and schedule. The route of the Rhein–Main was shortened to Amsterdam - Bonn in the autumn of 1971, thus ending the relation with the Main eventually resulting in renaming the TEE to Van Beethoven. Travellers wanting to go to Frankfurt am Main in the evening could proceed from Bonn using the TEE Saphir arriving in Frankfurt eight minutes later than the former Rhein-Main. On request of German members of parliament the route was extended to Nürnberg in 1976, resulting in an arrival around 1:30 a.m.

In 1978, the Deutsche Bundesbahn decided to reinstate the Amsterdam Frankfurt service with timed connections to Nürnberg arriving at a decent time (23:58). On 26 May 1979, the Van Beethoven was converted in a two-class InterCity. The Van Beethoven was continued as international service until 1983 and afterwards served several different routes in Germany until the end of 2002.

References

1. La Légende des TEE p. 326.
2. Das grosse TEE Buch p. 74
3. TEE Züge in Deutschland p. 79.
4. TEE Züge in Deutschland p. 81.
5. La Légende des TEE p. 328.

Works cited

• Hajt, Jörg (2001). Das grosse TEE Buch (in German). Bonn/Königswinter: Heel Verlag. ISBN 3-89365-948-X.
• Mertens, Maurice; Malaspina, Jean-Pierre (2007). La Légende des Trans Europ Express (in French). Vannes: LR Presse. ISBN 978-29-036514-5-9.
• Goette, Peter (2008). TEE-Züge in Deutschland (in German). Freiburg: EK-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-88255-698-8.

v t e  Trans Europ Express trains
International	Albert Schweitzer Arbalète Bavaria Blauer Enzian Brabant Catalan Talgo Cisalpin Diamant Edelweiss Erasmus Étendard Étoile du Nord Goethe Gottardo Helvetia Île de France Iris Lemano Ligure Mediolanum Memling Merkur Molière Mont Cenis L'Oiseau Bleu Paris–Ruhr Parsifal Prinz Eugen Rembrandt Rheingold Rhein–Main Roland Rubens Saphir Ticino Van Beethoven Watteau
Domestic	France Aquitaine Le Capitole Étendard Faidherbe Gayant Jules Verne Kléber Le Lyonnais Le Mistral Le Rhodanien Stanislas Watteau Germany Bacchus Diamant Friedrich Schiller Gambrinus Goethe Heinrich Heine Rheinpfeil Roland Italy Adriatico Ambrosiano Aurora Cycnus Colosseum Settebello Vesuvio

• International named passenger trains
• Named passenger trains of Germany
• Named passenger trains of the Netherlands
• Trans Europ Express
• Railway services introduced in 1973