The Emsland line (German: is a railway from Rheine via Salzbergen, Lingen, Meppen, Lathen, Papenburg and Leer to Emden, continuing to Norden and Norddeich-Mole in East Frisia in the German state of Lower Saxony. The line is named after the Ems river, which it follows for almost its entire length. The line opened in 1854 and 1856 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany. History The line was built as part of the Hanoverian Western Railway, which was built by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways in the 1850s to develop the western parts of the former Kingdom of Hanover. The first section of this line was opened on 24 November 1854, between Emden and Papenburg, but it had no connection with the existing rail network. On 21 November 1855 passenger operations started on the section between Löhne and Osnabrück, now part of the Löhne–Rheine line. Six months later the next section was put into operation, closing the gap from Osnabrück to Papenburg via Rheine and Salzbergen. On 23 June 1856 passenger trains ran for the first time between Minden and Emden. The central workshops for the line were opened in 1855 in Lingen, which later became the Royal Prussian Railways Central Workshop, Lingen (Königlich Preußische Eisenbahnhauptwerkstätte Lingen (Ems)). Steam locomotives and wagons were maintained here until 1985. Rheine became a major railway junction with the connection of the line to Munster of the Royal Westphalian Railway Company (Königlich-Westfälischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), opened in 1856, the Duisburg–Quakenbrück line of the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), opened in 1879, and the former line to Ochtrup of the Prussian State Railways (Preußischen Staatseisenbahnen), opened in 1905. In 1868 the line from Rheine to Emden was acquired by the Royal Westphalian Railway Company, which operated it until its nationalisation in 1880, when it became part of the Prussian State Railway. Together with the building of the East Frisian Coastal Railway (Ostfriesischen Küstenbahn), the line was extended in 1883 from Emden via Norden, Esens and Wittmund to Jever and to Norddeich. This line ran west of central Emden and had a station called Larrelter Straße. This station was later renamed Emden West and the original Hanoverian station was renamed Emden Süd (south). In September 1971, the new Emden Hauptbahnhof was opened on the site of the former West station. From then on trains from Rheine ran to the new station. For a few years the