Weinheim – Heidelberg railway line

map

Weinheim – Heidelberg
Route number (DB) :	9401
Course book section (DB) :	669 (up to 1970: 300g; up to 1992: 568)
Route length:	16.3 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	750 volts  =
Minimum radius :	23 m
Top speed:	80 km / h
Dual track :	continuously, except in the train stations Greater Saxony, Schriesheim and Dossenheim
Legend from Mannheim from the Weinheim freight yard (goods transfer) 0.0 Weinheim Old OEG train station to Mannheim 0.8 Rose fountain 1.8 Pilgrim house 2.1 Lützelsachsen North 2.5 Lützelsachsen Bergstrasse (formerly Bf) 3.2 Hohensachsen 4.0 Greater Saxony OEG 4.5 Greater Saxony South 5.8 Leutershausen OEG (formerly Bf) 8.0 Zentgrafenstrasse 8.6 Schriesheim OEG 24 9.6 Edelstein factory (quarry) 9.6 Schriesheim South 10.6 Vatter plant (quarry) 10.9 Dossenheim North 11.4 Dossenheim (Bergstrasse) 4.4 Leferenz plant (quarry) Dossenheim South 13.0 Handschuhsheim Nord System change between ESBO / BOStrab 13.5 Handschuhsheim Nord (tram terminal) 23 Burgstrasse Biethsstrasse 2.3 Handschuhsheim freight yard 14.0 Handschuhsheim Hans-Thoma-Platz 21 (formerly Handschuhsheim OEG-Bf) Tram through Berliner Strasse 21 24 Kapellenweg former tram from the Tiefburg Blumenthalstrasse 15.3 Kussmaulstrasse Brueckenstrasse Theodor Heuss Bridge over the Neckar former tram through the main street 16.3 Bismarckplatz 9 22 26 Tram through Rohrbacher Str. (To the Kurfürstenanlage) Tram through Bergheimer Strasse Black bridge over the Neckar to Heidelberg Gbf OEG Swell:

The Weinheim – Heidelberg railway line was formerly owned by Oberrheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG (OEG), later MVV OEG AG , today by MVV Verkehr GmbH ( EIU ) and RNV ( operational management , at the same time EVU ) according to the railway building and operating regulations for Narrow gauge railways (ESBO) operated, meter-gauge railway line between Weinheim and Heidelberg . A small three-rail section between Heidelberg and Schriesheim was previously operated as a standard-gauge, pure freight line. It is a branch line , the operating procedure used is electronically signaled train control.

history

Construction and opening

Although Weinheim and Heidelberg had already been connected by the Main-Neckar Railway since 1846 , efforts were made in the 1880s to build a narrow-gauge railway between these cities in order to also connect the smaller towns along the Bergstrasse with a railway. The operators of the quarries in Schriesheim and Dossenheim in particular wanted a rail connection, as the Main-Neckar Railway passed there far away.

In 1883 the Leferenz brothers, who were entrepreneurs in the region, were granted the concession for the route from Heidelberg to Schriesheim with continuation to Weinheim. For financial reasons, however, this could not be realized for the time being.

The first years of operation

The Consortium Centralverwaltung für Secundairbahnen Herrmann Bachstein acquired the license of the Leferenz brothers after the opening of the Mannheim – Weinheim railway line and opened the line from Weinheim along the Bergstrasse via Lützelsachsen , Hohensachsen , Großsachsen , Leutershausen , Schriesheim, Dossenheim and Handschuhsheim to Heidelberg in 1890 .

In 1895 Bachstein founded the Süddeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG (SEG) , which also owned the Mannheim-Weinheim-Heidelberg-Mannheimer Eisenbahn (MWHME) in 1897.

In order to enable a direct connection to the Schriesheim and Dossenheim quarries, the construction of a pure freight railway line from the Heidelberg SEG freight yard over its own Neckar bridge and through the Neuenheimer Feld to Dossenheim and on to Schriesheim was approved on August 14, 1903 . In July 1904, the construction of the 230 m long three-arched Neckar Bridge, known as the Black Bridge , was started by the Humboldt mechanical engineering institute . After the completion was delayed due to an accident, the line was opened on July 16, 1906, so that the freight trains no longer had to drive through Heidelberg city center. This route was passable with a three- rail track in meter gauge and standard gauge , although some stations and company sidings were only built in standard gauge. The section over the Neckar Bridge had four tracks around 1924, as it was also used by a construction site railway with a gauge of 900 mm to build the Neckar Canal and to convert Mannheimer Straße. The Neckar bridge was extended by a fourth arch and raised by 2.40 m. After that, the bridge also reached over the country road to Wieblingen, which was previously crossed by means of a level crossing. Immediately south of the Neckar Bridge, standard-gauge and meter-gauge tracks shared. The bridge was blown up on March 27, 1945 due to the war.

The OEG time

In 1913 the OEG freight yard in Heidelberg was relocated from the southern end of Karl-Metz-Straße to the long-term location at the end of the freight route through Neuenheimer Feld .

Joint operation with HSB began in 1929. The last scheduled steam trains between Heidelberg and Handschuhsheim left on October 5th.

In 1941 the line between Handschuhsheim and Dossenheim was relocated to a separate track.

The Black Bridge , which was blown up at the end of the Second World War in 1945, was rebuilt as a provisional and makeshift bridge and operation of the freight railroad was resumed in April 1947.

After the planned electrical expansion of further routes was delayed by the war, the Weinheim – Heidelberg route was electrified in several sections between 1949 and 1956 as the last section. Instead of in Handschuhsheim, a change had to be made in Dossenheim from December 18, 1949, for which the freight line through Neuenheimer Feld was electrified to supply power from Seckenheim. On December 15, 1950, electrical operations began on the Dossenheim – Schriesheim section. On September 1, 1956, the section from Schriesheim was able to begin continuous round-trip traffic with electric railcars.

After the end of the Second World War, the route network was partially no longer up to date. The not yet electrified, single-track route along the mountain road from Handschuhsheim to Weinheim was still in its original state. It ran on the side in the subgrade of Bundesstrasse 3 and was therefore very accident-prone. Therefore, a separate track was laid from 1952 to 1955. An exception to this day is the narrow thoroughfare in Greater Saxony . In 1952 the vehicle hall in Schriesheim was completed, which at that time housed both buses and rail vehicles (until 1969).

In 1959 the license for rail operations was extended. Due to objections, continued operation was only approved provisionally. Only in 1964 was the concession granted for passenger traffic until 2009 and for freight traffic until 1989.

By June 30, 1963, the line from the junction of the HSB line at the Handschuhsheimer Steubenstraße to the city limits to Dossenheim was expanded to double tracks and was also used by HSB line 6 until there .

In 1967 the local signal boxes were replaced by an automatic route block on the Schriesheim – Handschuhsheim route. In 1969 the entire route from Weinheim to Heidelberg was equipped with it. In the next few years the line was controlled from the MCDS signal box in Schriesheim.

single-track line in Greater Saxony

In the 1960s, the rails began to be welded continuously. The existing shape signals were also replaced by light signals, which made maintenance easier.

The growing competition from road traffic also made freight traffic steadily less profitable in the 1960s, so that on December 12, 1969, the closure of the three -rail line Heidelberg – Schriesheim was applied for, approved on January 19 and completed on July 1, 1970. before the public rail freight traffic was completely stopped in 1971. The Black Bridge was demolished from October to June 1971. An exception was the annual transport of sugar beet using trolleys , which was carried out until 1983.

Until the beginning of the 1990s, the OEG itself carried out freight traffic on the road.

Further modernizations

In 1980 the OEG train station in Schriesheim was also adapted to the requirements of the time and the local vehicle hall was expanded into a central bus depot.

In 1995 the MVG 2000 concept was implemented, which also brought major changes for the OEG. While the trains from the direction of Weinheim previously ended at the forecourt of Mannheim main station and from Heidelberg in the Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke station, the ring has now been closed with the trains running through Mannheim city center. In order to achieve this, a short connecting route was built, which branches off in front of the Collini-Center , bypassing the Kurpfalzbrücke train station and joins the tram route in Friedrichsring. This re-established a connection that had already existed in a similar form until 1928 and 1974. The OEG was integrated into the Mannheim tram line network and now carried the line designation 5R (or only 5 for journeys on the Käfertal – Mannheim Hbf – Edingen section).

In the 1990s, the Heidelberg - Schriesheim section was expanded to two tracks in order to enable a denser cycle sequence. Since February 28, 1999, the section Handschuhsheim Nord - Dossenheim has two tracks. The second track was completed in spring 1999 and was the only one used to replace the old track. On June 12, 1999, double-track operation began and the two new stops at Dossenheim North and Schriesheim South went into operation. The two-track expansion of the remaining Schriesheim - Weinheim section was carried out from March 2011 in a seven-month full closure with replacement rail traffic .

ESBO expires in front of the Burgstraße stop

As a result of the expansion, the OEG was also integrated into the tram network in Heidelberg as a full line from June 1999. Until now, only the Burgstraße , Handschuhsheim OEG-Bahnhof and Kussmaulstraße stops were served between Bismarckplatz and Handschuhsheim Nord , but since then the OEG trains have stopped at all stops (except for the Froschäckerweg stop , which has since been generally abandoned) and have replaced the ones on this section of the route HSB Line 1 previously used there.

Transition to the RNV and modernization from 2005

Since the standardization of the line designations in the RNV area on December 10, 2006, the OEG has been designated 5 on its entire route.

The switch to electronic interlocking technology took place , and since April 10, 2008, the Weinheim - Schriesheim - Handschuhsheim Nord section has been remote-controlled. Since then, the Schriesheim dispatcher has been working from the central RNV control center in the Mannheim-Möhlstrasse depot.

The long-planned modernization of the nine-kilometer single-track line between Weinheim and Schriesheim began on March 10, 2010 with a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony. The line was expanded to two tracks in order to enable a 10-minute cycle and a 15% reduction in travel times. The modernization cost around 60 M €, of which 42 M € were financed by GVFG funds.

The main route renovation was carried out during a full closure. From March 21, 2011 to November 5, 2011, all train journeys on the section between Weinheim OEG train station and Schriesheim train station were replaced by buses, which in most cases led to significant increases in travel times. The Weinheim OEG train station was also renovated during the summer school holidays. During this time, the trains only ran to the Handelstrasse stop, which was equipped with a provisional switch connection for this purpose. Since November 6, 2011, scheduled trains have been running again on the now double-track line.

Only two short sections in the thoroughfares of Großsachsen and Schriesheim have remained single-track. As part of the renovation, the entire Weinheim - Heidelberg route was equipped with a new electronic signal box. When the timetable changed on December 11, 2011, the newly built Großsachsen Süd stop also went into operation. The renovation of Schriesheim station followed and was completed by mid-2012. Nine months after the completion of the construction work - in August 2012 - the travel time for the entire Mannheim - Heidelberg - Weinheim - Mannheim ring was reduced from 140 to 130 minutes, which is roughly the same as ten years earlier. As early as December 2012, however, the journey time was extended to 140 minutes to reduce delays.

Between 2010 and 2014, the entire signaling systems and interlocking technology (see above) were renewed. Since spring 2014, the entire route has been equipped with the Ks signal system.

Operating points

Renaming

before	later	when
Handschuhsheim breakpoint	?	?
Schroderstrasse	Brueckenstrasse	2002
Handschuhsheim OEG train station	Hans-Thoma-Platz	June 2010
Weinheim OEG train station	Weinheim Old OEG train station	June 12, 2016
Lützelsachsen OEG train station	Lützelsachsen Bergstrasse	June 12, 2016

Weinheim OEG train station

See also : "Weinheim OEG-Bahnhof" in the article Mannheim – Weinheim railway line

Lützelsachsen OEG train station

Since the renovation in 2010, Lützelsachsen has only been a stopping point , previously there was a double-track crossing station with a short track on a loading ramp.

Großsachsen OEG train station

In the 1960s, Großsachsen OEG-Bahnhof, at that time Großsachsen Ort, was a three-track train station, with track 3 (at the reception building) only being connected to the Weinheim side.

Today, the two points of the single-track section of the through-town are the only points of the station.

Schriesheim OEG train station

Schriesheim station today consists of three platform tracks, one siding accessible from track 3, and the single-track through town. The buses stopping here circle the platforms once: you cross the route to the north, stop at the combined platform with track 3, and cross the route again south, although you can only turn north onto the main road ( B 3 ).

In the past, in addition to the three platform tracks, there was a four-track wagon hall with an adjacent car hall and a locomotive shed. The standard gauge began at the nearby fruit market hall. At the Edelstein junction further south, the narrow-gauge siding crossed the standard gauge line. There was a three-rail track east of the freight hall and another, regular-gauge loading track between this and the regular-gauge line.

The wagon hall was no longer used from June 1, 1969.

Dossenheim OEG train station

At the time of the three-rail line, the lines in the southern part of the station were divided according to gauge: the standard gauge line crossed the line from Neuenheim and passed east of the reception building, the meter-gauge lines led to two platform tracks west of the reception building. The standard gauge ran about 100 m east of the meter gauge line through the town to the Vatter plant junction, where the gauges were also separated from one another.

Today, the two points of the single-track section of the through-town are the only points of the station.

Handschuhsheim freight yard

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Handschuhsheim freight station consisted of the three-rail, continuous main track, only of side tracks: a standard-lane northeast of the “Mühlingstrasse - Wieblinger Weg” level crossing, a southwest at the fruit market hall and a meter-lane stump track at the consumer association to the southeast. The station was not a train registration office.

Handschuhsheim OEG train station

From 1929 the electrified section of the route ended here.

In 1958 the Handschuhsheim station was rebuilt. After that, it consisted of the two continuous main tracks, two track changes and loading track 3. The latter was demolished in the 1970s and a butt track was installed again at a similar point at the end of 2002, but this time as a platform track for line 1, which ends here.

Bismarckplatz

See also : "Bismarckplatz" in the article Railway line Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke – Edingen – Heidelberg

traffic

Originally, passenger traffic on the route was one of four independently operated OEG lines and was designated as Line C. The carriage hall was in Schriesheim.

From March 26 to June 18, 1945 operations were stopped due to the war.

From January 8, 1954, the steam locomotives on the last non-electrified section between Weinheim and Schriesheim were replaced by combustion locomotives.

From June 2, 1957, the trains ran every 24 minutes.

After the complete electrification of the OEG triangle Mannheim-Heidelberg-Weinheim-Mannheim in 1956, the trains in Weinheim were tied through, every second train continued in Heidelberg, so that so-called "round trip" trains were created. As of May 30, 1965, the general connection also took place in Heidelberg, so that since that time all trains have been round trips on Line A, except for compression trains. This means that block trains also ran on this route . A round trip lasted 122 minutes.

On September 25, 1966, the half-hourly service was introduced. The train crossings were relocated from Schriesheim to Schriesheim Süd. On September 25th, the crossing was moved back to Schriesheim and the siding in Schriesheim Süd was then given up.

From July 1, 1971 to June 31, 1973, there was an economy schedule with a worsened frequency. After that, the trains ran again every half hour, in rush hour every 20 minutes, in the morning normal traffic time between Weinheim and Schriesheim until May 27, 1979 only every hour. The round trip in Schriesheim (which had been interrupted in Mannheim since 1943) was interrupted until September 28, 1974, in the northern part only Duewag GT8 were used, in the southern part only trains with B4 sidecars and half and block trains .

On May 23, 1993, a half-hourly service was again introduced, with additional trains running between Schriesheim and Heidelberg. The top speed was increased from 60 km / h to 80 km / h.

In 1995 the Weinheim and Heidelberg trains were also tied through in Mannheim. Since then, the OEG trains have been running in circles, unless they turn around in Edingen / Schriesheim or Käfertal / Weinheim. In 1995, 62 was initially used as the route number for the entire tour, as envisaged by the VRN in its network-wide concept. However, since the MVV used the designation 5 within Mannheim to insert the OEG into their light rail network, after some time the system switched to 5R for the entire circuit. In the VRN timetable book, however, the timetable could be found under the table number "R 65". The distinction between 5 (for trains only running between Käfertal and Edingen) and 5R was finally abandoned at the end of 2006 and since then only the designation 5 has been used, which is now also used in the timetable book.

See also

• Heidelberg tram
• Local transport in Heidelberg

literature

• Dieter Höltge: Oberrheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , Kleinbahnhefte 6, Verlag Zeunert, Gifhorn 1972 and 1976
• 75 years of the OEG - 1911–1986 . Upper Rhine Railway Company, 1986
• Bernhard König: The Oberrheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG - 100 years of meter-gauge railroad in Heidelberg , in: BDEF-Jahrbuch 1990, pp. 137–172, ISBN 3-922657-82-6
• Gerd Wolff and Hans-Dieter Menges: German small and private railways . Volume 2: Bathing. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1992, pp. 104-149, ISBN 3-88255-653-6

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ^ ^{A b} Stefan Klein: Weinheim – Schriesheim – Heidelberg. In: Rhein-Neckar-Laber parliamentary group. Retrieved August 3, 2020 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} http://www.s197410804.online.de/Zeiten/1900.htm
5. ↑ http://www.wsa-hd.wsv.de/gallery.php.html?file=galerie/alte_Fotos/alt_wieblingen/bau/Kreuzung_24.07.1924.jpg#inhalt
6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ http://www.s197410804.online.de/Zeiten/1933.htm
8. ↑ ^{a b c} http://www.s197410804.online.de/Zeiten/1945.htm
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e} http://www.s197410804.online.de/Zeiten/1965.htm
10. ↑ RNV website: RNV flyer on the two-track expansion Weinheim – Schriesheim, accessed on December 24, 2012  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 208 kB)  
11. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wolfgang Brauer: No shorter travel time despite route expansion. (PDF; 531.5 KiB) In: ProBahn Hessen Fahrgastzeitung, No. 101 (January 2014). April 22, 2014, pp. 23-24 , accessed October 21, 2016 . 
12. ↑ Line reopened: Line 5 runs for the first time on two tracks between Weinheim and Schriesheim. Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH, November 7, 2011, accessed on February 17, 2015 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Summer timetable change: Significant service improvements and new lines. (No longer available online.) June 12, 2016, archived from the original on August 19, 2016 ; accessed on August 19, 2016 (traffic report). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.