DB renews Elleringhauser Tunnel at Brilon-Wald by 2029

The report of 8 October 2025 was prompted by the start of work on the rescue gallery: DB is renewing the Elleringhauser Tunnel, opened in 1872 and about 1,400 m long, on the Obere Ruhrtalbahn after ten years of planning using the tunnel-in-tunnel method, so that trains can mostly keep running, and it is the first tunnel over one kilometre in Germany whose inner lining is renewed entirely with prefabricated segments. Since early October 2025 DB has been blasting the roughly 475 m rescue gallery with a turning area, which runs parallel to the tunnel; since work began in autumn 2022 the tracks in front of and behind the tunnel have been renewed and all 14,750 tunnel anchors installed. During a closure of several months in 2028 the inner lining and track will be completed, commissioning follows in 2029, and the tunnel stays single-track. The date is a placeholder: only the year 2029 is given. (LOK Report, 8 Oct 2025)