Aš – Adorf railway line

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Aš – Adorf (Vogtl)
Route number :	sä. AAd
Course book series (SŽDC) :	148
Route length:	25.69 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Top speed:	45 km / h
Legend Connecting track of the Cheb – Oberkotzau railway line 0.056 Aš 645 m 2.023 Aš město 670 m 3.900 Aš předměstí 6.300 Štítary 665 m 8.300 Podhradí 11.793 Studánka 610 m 14.050 (Re-alignment in 1906) Roßbach (until 1906) 15.655 Hranice v Čechách 590 m 16.870 State border between the Czech Republic and Germany 18,540 Arnsgrün 514 m 21.604 Freiberg (Vogtl) 451 m 23,328 Leubetha 432 m 23,535 White magpie from Plauen (Vogtl) ob Bf 25.690 Adorf (Vogtl) 444 m after Cheb to Chemnitz Hbf A list of previous names can be found in the section "Operational offices".

The Aš – Adorf railway is a branch line (“regionální dráha”) in the Czech Republic and Saxony , which was originally built as a state-guaranteed local Asch – Roßbach line . Its end point has the in Aš (Asch) starting range today in the border town of Hranice (Roßbach) between 1906 and 1945, the train went on to the Saxon Adorf . In the German-Bohemian vernacular, the route was previously known as the Roßbacher Mockel .

history

After the construction of the railway line from Hof to Eger via Asch , the textile industry in Roßbacher Zipfel also requested a railway connection. On April 21, 1876, the preliminary technical work was approved by the Austrian state, but for financial reasons there was no operator for such a route for the time being. In 1883 the Austrian Local Railway Company (ÖLEG) applied for the concession to build, but did not receive it. On April 8, 1884, the Austrian state finally granted a total of 280,000 guilders a.w. in order to participate in the share capital of the joint stock company to be founded. This financial contribution was linked to the completion of the route within one and a half years. For a possible extension of the route across the state border to Saxony, further financial resources were also in prospect.

On July 15, 1884, " Wilhelm Rzizek in Vienna received the right to build and operate a standard-gauge local train from the Asch station of the royal Bavarian state railway to Roßbach ". Part of the concession was the obligation to start construction of the line immediately and to complete it by October 31, 1885. The duration of the concession was set at 90 years. The share capital of the local railway company Asch – Rossbach , founded in 1885, was 600,000 guilders in 4000 ordinary shares of 100 guilders each and 2000 priority shares of 100 guilders each.

On October 6, 1884, construction work began on the new local railway. Since no major engineering structures, such as dams or bridges, had to be built along the course of the railway, the first train to Roßbach was able to run on July 27, 1885. On September 26, 1885, the new local railway was inaugurated. The operation was carried out by the kk Staatsbahnen (kkStB) on behalf of the owners. In 1900 the timetable of the local railway indicated two mixed pairs of 2nd and 3rd class trains over the entire route. They needed a little more than an hour for the 15-kilometer route. Other trains only ran between Asch and Asch Stadt.

The Roßbach industrialists continued to strive to continue the railway to Adorf in Saxony. A corresponding project was already in place in June 1889. The basis for the extension of the line to Saxony was a state treaty between Austria-Hungary and Saxony of November 27, 1898. It came into force in Vienna on January 25, 1899 when the ratification documents were exchanged. He determined that the Saxon section may also be built and operated by the imperial-royal Austrian railway administration . When a license was granted to a private company, the Saxon government assured that it would also grant it the license in Saxony. Roßbach was designated as the seat of the border customs office.

The law of December 21, 1898 concerning the lower-order railways to be seized in 1898 also included the extension of the Asch-Roßbach local railroad to Adorf. The Austrian state granted a guaranteed return of four percent of the investment capital for the route extension over a concession period of 76 years. However, this amount was limited to a maximum of 45,900 guilders a.w. limited. The law authorized the Austrian state to acquire all of the shares in the Asch-Roßbach local railway that were still in free float. Should that not be possible, the state was entitled to redeem the railway in accordance with the concession provisions of September 15, 1885 and thereby nationalize it. The line was scheduled to go into operation within two years.

The construction of the line was delayed for several years. This was mainly due to the difficulties in acquiring land. By February 26, 1905, a total of 14 offers had been submitted to the tender for the construction work. The Prague company Zdeněk Kruliš was awarded the contract. In April 1905, construction work began to relocate the Roßbach station in order to create the conditions for continuation. On July 7, 1905, the Asch-Roßbach local railway was finally nationalized in accordance with the law of December 21, 1898 and incorporated into the Imperial and Royal State Railways. In August 1906, the line was completed to the point that the first construction trains could run on the newly laid track. In an accident in which two draisines collided near the national border, the site manager Prokupek had a fatal accident. On September 14, 1906, the police-technical inspection took place, during which no defects were found.

Roßbach station (around 1910)

On September 17, 1906, the new cross-border connection was opened with a pageant. The scheduled train service began one day later, on September 18, 1906. The first timetable recorded three continuous pairs of trains between Asch and Adorf.

With the beginning of World War I in August 1914, cross-border traffic between Roßbach and Adorf was suspended until October 18, 1914. The same was repeated in November 1918 for a few days after the end of the war.

After the collapse of Austria-Hungary in October 1918, the line came to the newly founded Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD) without having a direct connection to their rest of the network. This was problematic in that the now Deutsche Reichsbahn charged high fees for the possible transfer of vehicles on their Hof – Eger route. ČSD therefore continued to carry out almost all repairs on the vehicles used in Asch Stadt in order to be able to limit these journeys to a minimum.

In 1930 a total of 800 freight wagons were handed over to the DR in Adorf. The transport performance of the Roßbach – Adorf line was the last of all 32 cross-border railway lines between Czechoslovakia and Germany.

On July 25, 1931, Germany and Czechoslovakia signed a treaty that reorganized the conditions of all cross-border railway lines. For the Roßbach – Adorf connection, the contract stipulated that the route from the state border to Adorf, including all fixed installations, would be transferred to the German Reich on December 31, 1998 free of charge. At the same time, the German Reich was granted the right to run the business between Roßbach and the state border for an indefinite period.

From 1933, the ČSD used modern motor trains between Asch and Adorf , which on the one hand enabled a significant reduction in travel times and a significant consolidation of the timetable. The winter timetable of 1937 recorded eight pairs of passenger trains between Asch and Roßbach, two of which continued to Adorf. Except for a single pair of trains in the early morning, all of them were motorized. The travel time on the Asch – Roßbach route was now only 30 minutes.

After the Sudetenland became part of Germany on October 1, 1938, the line came to the Deutsche Reichsbahn , Reichsbahndirektion Regensburg . In the Reich course book , the connection was now initially included as course book route 422h and later as 422e Asch Hbf – Adorf (Vogtl) . From then on, the RBD Regensburg allowed almost all trains to run to Adorf, which led to a significant consolidation of the timetable in the Saxon section. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the motor trains taken over by the ČSD had to be shut down due to the allocation of liquid fuels. All passenger trains were now again driven as wagon trains with steam locomotives. On April 15, 1945, when American troops marched in, rail traffic ended. The bridge over the White Elster near Adorf was also destroyed. Cross-border traffic was not resumed. The section from the state border to Adorf was dismantled in sections between 1946 and 1951.

After the end of the Second World War in May 1945, the route from Asch to the national border came back to the ČSD. From July 11, 1945, ČSD passenger trains ran to Rossbach again. Their first timetable from 1945 recorded four pairs of trains, some of which were again driven as motorized trains. A turning point was the expulsion of the German-Bohemian population in the railway area in 1945 and 46. Since resettlement with Czechs was only possible to a limited extent, the transport performance sank to a fraction of the pre-war value. As a result of the closure of industrial plants, freight traffic also declined.

From the 1950s onwards, most trains to and from Cheb were tied through. The number of pairs of passenger trains rose over the years to pre-war levels despite the low demand. In the 1990/91 annual timetable, eight pairs of passenger trains were finally recorded, all of which were connected to and from Cheb. There were also others that only ran to Aš město.

On January 1, 1993, the line was transferred to the newly founded České dráhy (ČD) in the course of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia . Since 2003 it has been part of the network of the state infrastructure operator Správa železniční dopravní cesty (SŽDC).

In the mid-1990s, the operation of the line between Aš město and Hranice was increasingly questioned due to insufficient utilization. In 1998, passenger traffic between Aš město and Hranice was even temporarily stopped for a year. Only on the initiative of Okres Cheb and the neighboring communities did ČD resume travel with a daily pair of trains. As far as Aš město, on the other hand, passenger trains run every two hours. By the time the Aš / Selb-Plößberg border crossing was reopened for tourist traffic in December 2015, all journeys to and from Cheb were tied through. Since then there has been a connection in Aš to the trains on the OPB2 line (Marktredwitz – Cheb – Hof Hbf) of the Upper Palatinate Railway .

Route description

course

The Aš – Adorf railway line begins on the north side of the Aš train station, which is located to the south, far outside the actual city center of Aš. Immediately after exiting the station, the track rises steadily and then crosses the watershed between Eger and Weißer Elster west of the town of Aš . There is also the highest point of the route. As far as Hranice, the route leads northwards without major inclines over the undulating plateaus of the Elster Mountains . From Hranice, the now abandoned route follows the Tetterweinbach with a steep slope . Shortly before the Adorf (Vogtl) train station, the line crossed the White Elster.

Operating points

Aš ⊙

Aš Railway Station (2005)

The Aš station (formerly Asch ) was opened in 1865 together with the Cheb – Oberkotzau line by the Bavarian State Railways. During the construction of the local railway, the local railway company set up a small own Asch Anschlussbahnhof station north of the state railway station . A short connecting track connected the two stations. After the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany in autumn 1939, both stations were administratively united and run as Asch Hbf.

At the end of the Second World War, the imposing station building of the state train station was damaged by looting. Blasted in December 1968, it was replaced by a representative new building by 1970. The connecting station of the local railway was rebuilt in such a way that direct train journeys to and from Cheb are now possible.

Aš město ⊙

The station Aš město (formerly Asch Stadt ) was the operational center of the local railway, here was also the locomotive station of the line. The railcars were also stationed here. After the Second World War, the line was no longer isolated and the locomotive station with a four-part boiler house was closed at the beginning of the 1950s. From then on, the Cheb depot took over the machine operation.

Podhradí ⊙

The Podhradí (formerly Neuberg ) stop was about two kilometers from the eponymous village Podhradí u Aše . In the immediate vicinity of the station, which only consists of a platform on the continuous main track, is only the small district of Elfhausen . The originally wooden waiting hall has now been replaced by a massive one.

Hranice v Čechách ⊙

Hranice v Čechách railway station (2005)

The station Hranice v Čechách (formerly Roßbach ) was next to the station Aš město the most important intermediate station on the line. The two-story customs office was attached to the one-story reception building, and the station had a goods shed with an attached ramp, a railroad workers' house and a cattle shed as additional high-rise buildings. In the station, which had nine tracks with eleven points around 1930, the turntable of the old Roßbach station had been rebuilt.

In September 2014, the empty, long-unused reception building of the SŽDC train station was demolished and replaced by a concrete bus shelter with a bicycle stand.

Arnsgrün ⊙

Former stop at Arnsgrün, reception building (2019)

Reception building (2019)

The main purpose of the Arnsgrün stop was to load wood, which is why the loading track was followed by a longer stump track with a large side loading ramp. There was no goods shed, the simple reception building was an Austrian type construction.

Freiberg (Vogtl) ⊙

former Leubetha stop (2019)

The Freiberg (Vogtl) stop was constructed similarly to the Arnsgrün stop, but there was also a goods shed here. In addition, there was a private storage shed on the loading street. As in Arnsgrün, the station building was a simple type construction.

Leubetha ⊙

Since all trains to Adorf had to stop in front of the Oelsnitz – Adorf road and the road in the opposite direction could only be crossed at reduced speed, a simple stopping point was set up for the village of Leubetha at kilometer 23.31 .

Adorf (Vogtl) ⊙

→ Main article : Adorf (Vogtl) train station

Adorf received a railway connection in 1865 with the opening of the line from Herlasgrün via Oelsnitz and Adorf to Eger (today Cheb) , ten years later the Chemnitz – Adorf line was integrated.

With the opening of the Roßbacher line hardly any extensions took place, the local railway company was allocated two tracks and was allowed to use the remaining tracks of the Royal Saxon State Railways against payment. The company built a water crane and a waiting room.

Former station names in the Czech section

1913	1921	1944	1946	1959
Asch connection station	Aš připojní stanice / Asch connection station	Asch Hbf	Aš v Čechách	Aš
Ash city	Aš město / Asch town	Ash city	Aš město	Aš město
Asch Hoferstrasse	Aš Hofska ulice / Asch Hoferstrasse	Asch Bayernstr	Aš nákladiště	Aš předměstí
Schönbach near Asch	Schönbach u Aše / Schönbach near Asch	Describe	Štítary	Krasná u Aše
Neuberg H.	Neuberg	Steinpöhl	Neuberg	Podhradí
Thonbrunn-Friedersreuth	Thonbrunn-Friedersreuth	Thonbrunn	Thonbrunn	Studánka
Rossbach	Rossbach	Rossbach (b Asch)	Rossbach	Hranice v Čechách

Vehicle use

Class 810 railcars in Aš město (2005)

In 1906, the kkStB, which ran the company, procured 97,243 for the newly opened Rossbach – Adorf line .

Initially, the locomotives of the kkStB series 99 (ČSD series 320.0) were used in front of all trains on the local railway. In the 1920s, the ČSD then also used the weaker type kkStB 97 (ČSD series 310.0) in front of the trains, although these locomotives were often overwhelmed with the attached train mass on the 25 per mil sections.

From 1933, trains were with the railcar of M Series 120.4 down, have been adopted by the DR as VT 136071-115 and used until autumn 1939th During the Second World War, the RBD Regensburg again used the locomotives of the Austrian class 99, which were classified as class 98.13 by the DR.

After the Second World War, the now outdated tower cars were replaced by the new M 131.1 class . More recently, the class 810 multiple units (ČSD class M 152.0) and their modernized variant class 814 “RegioNova”, which had been in service from the end of the 1970s, were used all along the route. The modern, low-floor multiple units of the ČD series 844 “Regioshark”, which previously ran to Hranice v Čechách, have also been in service since 2014 . According to the timetable, these only run between Cheb and Aš město today.

literature

• Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 2. Secondary and narrow-gauge lines, railway systems, accidents, anecdotes . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2002, ISBN 3-88255-687-0 .
• René Wölfel, Andreas W. Petrak, André Marks: Asch – Roßbach – Adorf. Local railway in the border triangle Bohemia / Saxony / Bavaria. On the way to Europe Volume 2 . edition boehemica & Bahn Brücke Verlag, Goldkronach & Zwickau 2014, ISBN 978-3-940819-03-1

Web links

Commons : Aš – Adorf railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : Railway line 148 (Czech Republic)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Cheb – Hranice v Čechách on www.zelpage.cz
• "Mockel" - The Roßbacher Bahn, private website by Thomas Schindel
• Timetable 2018 (Cheb–) Aš - Hranice v Čechách

Individual evidence

1. ^ Decision of the Czech government of December 20, 1995
2. ^ Imperial law for the kingdoms and states represented in the Imperial Council - Sent on April 25, 1884
3. ^ Imperial law for the kingdoms and countries represented in the Imperial Council - sent on October 1, 1884
4. ↑ Description on www.geerkens.at
5. ↑ 1900 timetable of the kkStB
6. ^ State treaty between Austria-Hungary and Saxony, concerning several railway connections on the Austrian-Saxon state border from November 27, 1898
7. ^ Imperial law for the kingdoms and countries represented in the Imperial Council - sent on October 1, 1884
8. ↑ Traffic handover on September 18, 1906. - See: Commerce, Industry, Traffic and Agriculture. (...) rail transport. In:  Wiener Zeitung , November 14, 1906, p. 9, bottom right. (Online at ANNO ).
9. ^ Siegfried Bufe, Heribert Schröpfer: Railways in the Sudetenland. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1991, ISBN 3-922138-42-X , p. 73
10. ↑ ČSD winter timetable 1937/38 - valid from October 3, 1937
11. ↑ Timetable summer 1939
12. ^ Deutsches Kursbuch - Annual timetable 1944/45, valid from July 3, 1944 until further notice
13. ↑ ČSD timetable 1990/91
14. ↑ ČD 2015 timetable
15. ↑ http://www.mockel-bahn.de/abriss_bf_rossbach.html
16. ↑ Artaria railway map of Austria-Hungary and the Balkans , with Station Directory; Artaria & Co., Vienna 1913
17. ^ Deutsches Kursbuch - Annual timetable 1944/45, valid from July 3, 1944 until further notice