Schwetzingen repair shop
The Schwetzingen railway repair shop existed from 1918 to 1989. It was built on the Schwetzingen / Plankstadt district boundary and was initially called the railway workshop. In the Schwetzingen repair shop, steam locomotives (until 1930) and freight cars were serviced and repaired.
Emergence
At the turn of the century, the railways in the German Empire had a route length of over 51,000 km. The expansion of the main lines was thus largely completed. The workshops that had existed up to that point were no longer sufficient for the existing vehicle inventory, so that the construction of a railway repair shop in the Mannheim / Heidelberg area was suggested. The choice for such a work fell on Schwetzingen. In a meeting of the citizens' committee of Schwetzingen on October 14, 1912, the establishment of a railway workshop was decided unanimously. The plant was built between 1913 and 1917 and commissioned in 1918. As a result of the First World War, there was a high need for repair work on the vehicle fleet, which meant that the plant had around 1,100 employees in 1919/1920. From this point on, the Schwetzingen railway repair workshop was the largest employer in the Schwetzingen / Plankstadt area for decades.
The factory in World War II
At the time of the Second World War , several bunkers were built on the factory premises . In the southern part a high bunker ( angle tower ) was built, at another place four underground bunkers were built that still exist today. The bunker was blown up after the end of the war. Observation towers against air attacks were built on the roofs of the wagon hangars. The towers were clad with 20 mm thick armor plates as splinter protection. There has been a shooting range on the factory premises since the end of 1943 . On March 19, 1945, the repair shop was damaged by air raids by the Royal Air Force , killing 22 workers.
post war period
In the 1960s the number of employees fell as the workforce migrated to private industry due to better earning opportunities. The need for new workers was met by recruiting guest workers . From 1965, many of the guest workers were transferred to shunting and loading services because of the low workload. From 1974, a steady reduction in work performance began with the aim of closing the factory.
closure
Due to the low volume of freight wagons, the workload at the Schwetzingen repair shop continued to decline from the 1970s onwards. The plant was threatened with closure; the staff representatives and the plant management made great efforts to avert this. Politicians from the German Bundestag and the Landtag , the Federal Minister of Transport and the Main Staff Council of the Deutsche Bundesbahn were included. There were protests in Schwetzingen, mainly by those affected and their relatives.
On October 11, 1983, the closure of the Schwetzingen repair shop was approved by a decree of the Federal Minister of Transport. In 1985 the factory was again included in the performance planning for freight wagon repairs. In April 1987 more workers were transferred to the AW Karlsruhe . In September 1987, the central office in Mainz ordered the further reduction of workforce until it was completely closed on December 31, 1989. Over 70 years of railway history in Schwetzingen came to an end.
Reuse
Most of the buildings on the factory premises were preserved for a long time, but they fell into disrepair. The administration building served as a temporary home for resettlers and asylum seekers . For this purpose, additional smaller buildings were erected on the factory premises. The owner initially remained Deutsche Bahn , then Aurelis , originally founded as a subsidiary . In May 2011, work began on demolishing the parts that are not under monument protection.
The French sporting goods manufacturer Decathlon opened a logistics center in 2013 on the northern part of the site . Mixed use is planned for the smaller southern part, which was given to the city of Schwetzingen free of charge and which also houses the listed buildings of the former wagon repair hall II, the gatehouse and another residential building.
Workshops and facilities
In the course of the more than 70-year history of the Schwetzingen repair shop, numerous facilities were built on the factory premises. Some of them were shut down again, especially in the 1930s when the reconditioning of steam locomotives was no longer necessary. From then on, only freight wagons and calibration equipment vehicles or special vehicles were repaired.
workshops
- Electrical workshop
- Mechanical carpenter's workshop
- Brake valve workshop
- Factory locksmith
- Training workshop
- Calibration workshop
Halls
- Wagenricht-Halle I
- 2 cranes with 20 t lifting capacity each
- 2 cranes with 16 t lifting capacity each
- 6 cranes with 12 t lifting capacity each
- Wagenricht-Halle II
- 2 cranes with 20 t lifting capacity each
- Wheelset turning shop
- Dismantling hall
Other facilities
- Bogie cooking
- Blacksmiths / feather smiths
- Suspension spring reconditioning
- Warehouse foundry
- Welding shop
- Reclaimed wood processing
- paint shop
- saddlery
- Color stock
- Plant fire brigade
- Boiler house
- Trafostation
- Sewage treatment plant
- Transfer platforms
- A - 60 t load capacity
- B - 50 t load capacity
- C - 25 t load capacity
- D - 60 t load capacity
- E - 90 t load capacity
- F - 90 t load capacity
Others
The work has had several names in its history.
- Railway workshop (at the opening)
- Railway repair shop (EAW) (in the 20s)
- Reichsbahn repair shop (RAW) (in the 1930s)
- Federal Railway Repair Shop (BAW) (from 1949)
- Federal Railroad Repair Workshop (BAWst) (from 1986)
The last repaired freight wagon left the Schwetzingen repair shop on October 10, 1988.
swell
- Siegfried Born: The Schwetzingen railway repair shop . Ed .: Mayor's Office Schwetzingen. First edition. 1995.
Web links
- Former Schwetzingen railway repair shop on the website of the Rhein-Neckar-Industriekultur association
Individual evidence
- ↑ Decathlon: EUR 40 million logistics center opened - 180 jobs in Schwetzingen
- ↑ Have never lost sight of the goal . Article by Harald Berlinghoff, RNZ , May 4, 2012, accessed April 17, 2017.
- ↑ Bringing the old hall back to life . Article by Jürgen Gruler, Schwetzinger Zeitung , May 5, 2012, accessed on the same day.
- ↑ Schwetzingen was the first choice. Real estate report of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region , 3rd year, issue 36, p. 10f. dated September 6, 2011. Digitized version, PDF, 3.3MB, accessed on May 5, 2012.
- ↑ Logistics - yes, but: How Decathlon changed the mind. The Schwetzinger, issue 2/2011, s. 6ff. Digital version ( 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. on the website of the city of Schwetzingen, PDF, 10.3MB, accessed on May 5, 2012 (no longer available online as of Sep. 7, 2017)
Coordinates: 49 ° 23 ′ 33 " N , 8 ° 34 ′ 36" E