Castrop-Rauxel, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

🇩🇪 Castrop-Rauxel, often simply referred to as Castrop, is a former coal mining city in the eastern part of the Ruhr Area in Germany.

Castrop-Rauxel is located in Germany between Dortmund to the south-east, Bochum to the south-west, Herne to the west, Recklinghausen to the north-west, Datteln to the north and Waltrop to the northeast.

The city covers an area of 51.67 km² (19.95 sq mi). The Halde Schwerin (slag heap in the Schwerin district) is marked as the point of highest elevation at 147 m (482.3 ft) above sea level. The lowest point is located on Pöppinghauser Straße (Poppinghausen Street), besides house number 264, with an elevation of 50.2 m (164.7 ft) above sea level.

The city is divided into 15 districts, from north to south and within one line from west (southwest) to east (northeast): • Henrichenburg (Becklem) • Pöppinghausen, Habinghorst, Ickern • Bladenhorst, Rauxel, Deininghausen • Behringhausen, Castrop, Dingen • Obercastrop, Schwerin • Bövinghausen, Merklinde, Frohlinde.

Economy Castrop-Rauxel has been attempting to change from a former mining city to a city with a modern lifestyle, high recreational value, new economy companies, a 27-hole golf course, and various cultural events. Despite those efforts, the town has one of the lowest median incomes per capita in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Metalworking and electronics are the key manufacturing sectors.

Transport Castrop-Rauxel has access to three major highways, the Emscherschnellweg A 42,the Sauerlandlinie A 45 and the A 2. 
There are 3 railway stations within the city. The central station (Castrop-Rauxel Hauptbahnhof) on the Cologne-Minden Railway is located in the suburb of Rauxel. Connecting Castrop-Rauxel to the western Ruhr cities like Duisburg, Oberhausen, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne and in the east to Dortmund and Hamm. The unmanned stations of Castrop-Rauxel South (Castrop-Rauxel Süd) and Castrop-Rauxel Merklinde on the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund railway have hourly services with trains to Dortmund, Herne and Dorsten. Located in the city centre is the central bus station Muensterplatz. From here passengers can travel to almost all suburbs and to neighbouring cities like Herne, Dortmund and Bochum. 
The Rhine-Herne Canal runs right through Castrop-Rauxel; Castrop-Rauxel also has a small Yacht club on this body of water.