Neumünster repair shop
The Neumünster railway repair shop , known as AW for short, has existed since 1861 at Kieler Strasse 119 in Neumünster . The plant belongs to the DB subsidiary DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung GmbH and publicly celebrated its 150th anniversary on June 18, 2011.
tasks
In the factory, the IC passenger cars of Deutsche Bahn, local transport cars and electric multiple units (ET) from DB Regio, as well as external, partly international railway companies are examined, revised and modernized. Furthermore, DB Fernverkehr AG and DB Regio AG have the bogies and axles of the passenger coaches reconditioned there.
DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung GmbH employs around 600 people at its Neumünster location and is one of the city's largest employers. In autumn 2003, Deutsche Bahn announced that it would cut 185 of 640 jobs in the following year. In 2011 there were again 700 employees.
history
The Altona-Kieler Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft needed an efficient workshop for the growing business . Since there was no space in Kiel and Altona and the route from Rendsburg to Flensburg was to be extended in Neumünster, Neumünster was chosen as the location. In 1861 the plant opened directly opposite the train station. First of all, all types of locomotives and wagons were examined and repaired. After the German-Danish War in 1864 the importance of the plant grew and Prussian vehicles came to Neumünster. In 1869 the plant moved to the Kieler Chaussee, a little further away from the train station, to its current location. Here it was possible to create a settlement for the workers of the plant. The plant had a transfer table with five stands on each side where locomotives or wagons could be worked on. There was also a turning shop, a large wood workshop (at that time the superstructures of the wagons were mostly made of wood) and a forge. Two wheelset lathes were available. In 1877 the hall was expanded by ten stands. In 1884 the plant was transferred to the Prussian State Railways. As the locomotives and wagons got longer and longer, the old hall was no longer sufficient. In 1893 a new hall was put into operation, which was twice the size of the previous one. The number of employees grew, for whom additional company apartments were built. In 1918 the plant had 1770 employees.
After the First World War , specialization was carried out for reasons of rationalization. Locomotive maintenance was handed over to the Glückstadt repair shop , the switch forge was closed. Even then, work was predominantly on high-quality coaches and passenger cars from the region. With increasing militarization, the preparation of wagons for troop transports and as hospital wagons was again part of the program. Freight cars were converted into makeshift passenger cars of the MCi-43 series .
In April 1945 the plant was almost completely destroyed by air raids. Since freight wagons were urgently needed, the workforce quickly set up a wheel set lathe that had survived the destruction. When the situation had normalized somewhat, the passenger coaches were the focus of the work again. The transfer platforms were adapted to the new 26.4 meter long wagons, they are still there today. Neumünster shared the maintenance of the Deutsche Bundesbahn's passenger coaches with the repair shop in Krefeld-Oppum and the repair shop in Munich-Neuaubing . Among other things, the 2nd class coaches were converted for the two-class Intercity in 1979 for a top speed of 200 km / h.
The reunification of Deutsche Bahn in 1994 brought uncertainty about the future of the plant. The Deutsche Bahn AG closed all other repair shops for passenger coaches in the west; besides Neumünster, only the Wittenberge repair shop remained for the maintenance of passenger cars. In addition to entertainment, conversions were becoming increasingly important. The factory has a good reputation abroad.
literature
- Werner Kabus (editing and design): 125 years of the Neumünster Federal Railway Repair Shop. Creation and development of the work on the occasion of its 125th anniversary on January 1st, 1986 . Ed .: Bundesbahn repair shop Neumünster. Wachholtz-Druck, Neumünster 1985.
- Uwe Weiger: 150 years of the Neumünster plant . In: railway magazine . No. 6/2011 . Alba publication, June 2011, ISSN 0342-1902 , p. 24-27 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Message Neumünster is dismantling . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 11/2003, ISSN 1421-2811 , p. 476.
- ^ Eisenbahn-magazin 6/2011, p. 27
Coordinates: 54 ° 5 ′ 16 ″ N , 9 ° 59 ′ 2 ″ E