Überwaldbahn
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| Route number : | 3579 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book section (DB) : | 559 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 16.5 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Überwaldbahn is a now partially dismantled branch line in the Odenwald , which originally ran from Mörlenbach to Wahlen . There has been a tourist trolley service between Mörlenbach and Wald-Michelbach since summer 2013 .
history
construction
The first efforts to connect the Überwald to the railway network were made as early as 1867. Of various variants, the construction of a railway with a connection to the Weschnitz Valley Railway in Mörlenbach was ultimately chosen. Construction work began in the spring of 1898. The route was built by the Prussian-Hessian Railway Community . Three larger viaducts and two tunnels were necessary between the pond and Wald-Michelbach to lead the route in the mountainous landscape over the ascent of the Kreidacher Höhe .
business
The line was opened on March 1, 1901, and the construction department of the Mainz Railway Directorate , which had carried out the work, was dissolved on March 31. The route was assigned to the Darmstadt workshop and a railway maintenance office was set up in Waldmichelbach . Since the operation of the Weschnitztalbahn , from which the Überwaldbahn branches off, was carried out by the condominally operated Main-Neckar-Eisenbahn , the operation on the Überwaldbahn represented an isolated operation for the state railway . Therefore there was an agreement between the railway directorate Mainz and the Main -Neckar-Bahn that the latter provide administrative assistance in the event of an accident and, if necessary, also provide a rescue train .
Only with the dissolution of the condominium of the Main-Neckar-Bahn in 1902 and its integration into the Mainz Railway Directorate (as far as the infrastructure was on the territories of Prussia and Hesse ) did the Überwaldbahn infrastructure have a direct connection to the "normal" state railway. On February 10, 1914, new “double light pre-signals ” were put into operation on the route “ when it got dark” , which corresponded to the shape signal model that is still in use today .
Decline
After 1950, the route was operated with the Uerdinger rail buses , the last decade before it was closed with the red speedsters of the VT 98 .
Since the mid-1960s, the Coronet factory's freight traffic had risen sharply, and passenger traffic had declined, so that the last rail bus ran on September 24, 1983 . After the Coronet works were relocated from Affolterbach to Wald-Michelbach, freight traffic on the Unter-Wald-Michelbach-Wahlen section also declined and was stopped on March 1, 1984. In 1985 the tracks between Unter-Wald-Michelbach and Wahlen were dismantled.
Since 1985, only the Coronet works have operated freight traffic on the remaining section between Mörlenbach and Wald-Michelbach. However, since the tracks were not maintained, the condition of the line deteriorated noticeably. The last freight train ran on March 31, 1994. In Mörlenbach, the switch for the siding to the Weschnitz Valley Railway was expanded. The station buildings on the route have been sold to private individuals.
On the dismantled section of the route between Unter-Waldmichelbach and Wahlen, a railway cycle path was opened in 2000 .
Monument protection
The route between Mörlenbach and Wald-Michelbach is a cultural monument according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act .
Projected reactivation
1. Project: resumption of passenger traffic
At the end of 2005, an initiative consisting of individual politicians and the Überwaldbahn e. V, an association that stood up for the reactivation of the line, which had set itself the goal of reopening the line between Mörlenbach and Wald-Michelbach for local rail passenger transport by 2007 .
According to this proposal, the terminus in Wald-Michelbach should be located on the Wetzkeil in order to optimally connect the city center and the shops with the region.
According to a route study by Deutsche Bahn AG , from 2008 it should theoretically be possible to connect individual commuter trains to Mannheim or Heidelberg. According to this concept, four direct journeys daily from Wald-Michelbach to Mannheim and Heidelberg were planned . The Überwaldbahn was to be integrated into the Baden-Württemberg cycle and to receive connections to the RheinNeckar S-Bahn in Weinheim .
Since the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (VRN) was not ready to get involved financially, the goal could not be achieved. In particular, the Pro Bahn passenger association advocated revitalization as a public railroad when the line was renovated. A study on this was published by Pro Bahn in 2010.
2. Project: Museum railway traffic
In November 2005 the Überwaldbahn e. V. presented the representatives of the communities of Mörlenbach and Wald-Michelbach with a concept for museum railway operation on the Überwaldbahn. The plan was to have a museum train run from Easter to the end of October on Saturdays and Sundays under the name “Nibelungen Express” from the beginning of the 2008 spring season in cooperation with the Bergstrasse district . The only possible island operation at present would be sufficient for this. After the Überwaldbahn e. V, according to his own statement, in protest against the district council resolution on the draisinenbahn, dissolved on January 30, 2008, this project will not be pursued any further.
Partial reactivation as a handcar
From a usage study presented in 2006, a possible usage of tourist trolley transport emerged. This use ensures that the route is maintained without the substantial investments that a "real" railway operation would require. However, additional investments of 5.4 million euros are necessary B. necessary to secure the five viaducts and two tunnels. The Association of Taxpayers included the draisine project in the 2008 Black Book.
Also in 2008, the Bergstrasse district and the three neighboring communities decided to buy the route for € 300,000 and implement the draisine project. The main reason for this decision was that Deutsche Bahn AG wanted to sell the route, and this variant is currently the only one that can currently be financed in order to maintain the route as a whole. Another important reason given is the expected tourism. On August 26, 2010 the “first groundbreaking” for the project took place. The route will be driven by solar trolleys. Completion - originally planned for summer 2011 - was delayed. The reasons given were a delayed plan approval procedure and the time required for the Europe-wide tendering of the vehicles. The renovation work was completed on July 8, 2012. The pure construction costs (excluding architectural and engineering services and the costs for the vehicles) were around 3.6 million euros. On June 8, 2013 the first solar trolley was presented. The Bergstrasse district and the neighboring communities have set up a non-profit GmbH for the operation . The official start of operations was on August 18, 2013 as part of a public celebration. Since then, trolley rides can be booked at Überwaldbahn gGmbH. The maximum speed of the solar and muscle powered vehicles is 15 kilometers per hour. Thanks to the electric drive, the solar trolley is not only very popular with families with children and company outings, but also with seniors to go on a trip to the Odenwald. 10% of the electricity required for the drive comes from the solar modules mounted on the car and 20% is fed in through the recovery of energy when braking and when driving downhill.
The one-way trip on the 9.6 km long route takes about an hour. The most popular tour is the round trip from Mörlenbach to Wald-Michelbach with a stop in Wald-Michelbach. The route leads over three large viaducts, through two railway tunnels and is a popular experience in the Odenwald, which is also often combined with a visit to the summer toboggan run, which is within walking distance, and the climbing forest, guided tours with Geopark rangers and gastronomic offers.
The solar trolley had over 200,000 visitors from 2013 to 2019 and carries out around 5,000 trolley trips per year.
In addition, there has been a 13-kilometer-long solar trolley hiking trail since May 2015, which connects the Mörlenbach and Wald-Michelbach trolley stations and provides views of the Überwald railway line and the Odenwald landscape. The path marker is a yellow "S" on a white background.
literature
- Volker Rödel, Heinz Schomann: Railway in Hessen. Cultural monuments in Hessen. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Vol. 2.2. Edited by the State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen. Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 , pp. 839ff. (Route 0079).
- Hans-Günther Morr: Full steam through the Odenwald. The history of the Weschnitz Valley and Überwald Railway through the ages . Edition Diesbach, Weinheim 2002, ISBN 3-936468-11-7 .
- mam: Solar trolley : Grave of millions or attraction? ( Memento from March 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Echo Online from August 20, 2011
Web links
- www.solardraisine-ueberwaldbahn.de - official website of the solar train
- www.solardraisine-odenwald.de - Website of the project developer for the solar train
- Tunnel portals of the Überwaldbahn
- Information about the Unter-Waldmichelbach – Wahlen cycle path
- Überwaldbahn on Koethur.de
- Überwaldbahn 1982 - VT 98 rail bus in the Odenwald , video on youtube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the published official gazettes from March 2, 1901. Volume 5, No. 9, Announcement No. 81, p. 51.
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the published official gazettes of March 30, 1901. Volume 5, No. 14, Nachrichten, p. 91.
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the published official gazettes from March 16, 1901. Volume 5, No. 12, Announcement No. 122, p. 74.
- ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the published official gazettes from August 3, 1901. Volume 5, No. 36, Announcement No. 354, p. 270.
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the published official gazettes from April 27, 1901. Volume 5, No. 18, Announcement No. 200, p. 123.
- ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (ed.): Official Journal of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of January 24, 1914, No. 5. Announcement No. 50, p. 33.
- ^ Railway in Hesse. Vol. 2.2, p. 839.
- ^ Public waste 2008. (PDF; 3.9 MB) 36. Black Book of the Federation of Taxpayers, pp. 76–77.
- ↑ khe, red: Route 3579 Mörlenbach-Wahlen . In: IBSE Telegram 238 (September 2010), p. 4; NN: With muscle power and solar energy . In: Hessen @ tiv 06/2011, p. 10.
- ↑ khe: Route 3579 Mörlenbach-Waldmichelbach . In: IBSE-Telegram 248 (July 2011), p. 3 u. ibid. 260 (July 2012), p. 2.
- ↑ red: Überwaldbahn shines in old splendor. In: Lampertheimer Zeitung from July 5, 2012
- ↑ IBSE telegram 271 (June 2013), p. 3.
- ↑ Minimal effort thanks to solar energy At: solardraisine-ueberwaldbahn.de, accessed on July 29, 2015
- ↑ New hiking trail connects the solar trolley train stations. In: nibelungenland.net. Retrieved July 29, 2015 .