How can Bergkamen be meaningfully connected to the rail-based public transport system? This was the question that nine Master's students from the Transport Engineering and Management programme tackled last winter semester. "The topic is interesting not only because of its political relevance, but also because of the complexity of the problem," explains Prof Dr Michael Häßler, who offered the "Railway Practice" seminar together with his research assistant Jan Heidenreich.

The city in the Ruhr region has always had a railway line that runs right through the city. "However, passenger transport was discontinued on this line in 1983, not least due to the fact that it is some distance from the main centres of population and was not very attractive for passenger transport," continues Häßler.

The students worked in small groups to find solutions to this problem. A green-field approach was deliberately chosen for the seminar, meaning that the students approached the topic from a completely new angle - regardless of previous planning specifications. The aim was to find innovative solutions. "The four groups managed to use very creative approaches to develop four different proposals for how Bergkamen could be developed in the future," says Jan Heidenreich.

An intensive dialogue with the city of Bergkamen began during the seminar. Norman Raupach, Head of the City of Bergkamen's Climate Protection and Mobility Department, provided valuable input at the seminar on the current status of the discussion surrounding the reactivation of local rail transport and important urban development projects.

This exchange ultimately led to a joint closing event last March, at which the Wuppertal students presented their ideas to the city administration. The event was organised by Norman Raupach, supported by Dirk Brewedell (Mobility and Climate Protection section, Unna district) and Carina Steffens (Mobility Manager, City of Bergkamen).

They were grateful for the results. "Even though the responsible local transport authority, Nahverkehr Westfalen Lippe, is already working on a feasibility study, there is great interest in innovative 'out-of-the-box' approaches that go beyond what has been thought and planned so far," adds Prof Häßler.

The ideas at a glance:

• Reactivation of the "northern line" to open up Bergkamen for local rail transport
• Connecting the city of Bergkamen from the direction of the "Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn" from Kamen station
• Extension of the Dortmund urban railway to provide access to Bergkamen by local rail transport
• Construction of a RegioTram system to provide access to Bergkamen and the surrounding area by local rail transport