Bützow – Szczecin railway line
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The Bützow – Szczecin railway is a nearly 200-kilometer-long, mostly non-electrified, single-track main line that runs mostly through Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania .
history
Prehistory and construction
In 1850, the Mecklenburg Railway Company opened the Bützow - Güstrow railway line , which had been laid out as a branch of the Bad Kleinen – Rostock railway line that was being built at the same time .
However, an extension to the east was still missing, which should also open up the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz . In the absence of financially strong investors, the Güstrow – Neubrandenburg line was built as a state property on the initiative of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . The line was opened on November 11, 1864 at Teterow train station in the presence of both Mecklenburg Grand Dukes, Friedrich Franz II and Friedrich Wilhelm . The Friedrich-Franz-Eisenbahn was founded as the operating company and later took over other routes in the country. The original seat of the company was Malchin. Not least because of this, the place got a representative station building.
In 1866/67 the line with the section Neubrandenburg - Strasburg (Uckermark) was extended over the Prussian border, from the Prussian side the construction of Pasewalk took place at the same time . There, the railway tied in with the line to Stettin opened by the Berlin-Stettin Railway Company in 1863 .
1875-1945
The Friedrich-Franz-Eisenbahn was privatized in 1875 and nationalized again in 1890. In Strasburg, the section operated by it bordered on that of the Berlin-Stettiner-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, which was incorporated into the Prussian State Railways in 1880 .
In 1890, on the occasion of the construction of the Bützow-Güstrow Canal, the route near Bützow was moved north. The track layout in the Bützow station also changed . While the line previously branched off south of the Bad Kleinen – Rostock railway line, it has been heading north since then. This made direct journeys from the direction of Bad Kleinen possible without changing direction. A bridge over the Nebel in Bützow has been preserved on the old route .
In 1905, depending on the section, five to seven pairs of trains ran over the route; Among them were a pair of express trains and a pair of passenger trains from Hamburg to Stettin and one that commuted between Hamburg and Neubrandenburg. At the operator border in Strasburg, the trains generally continued after only a short stop.
After the end of the First World War, both railway companies went into the Deutsche Reichsbahn ; in Strasburg the sections of the Reichsbahndirections Schwerin and Stettin met.
The main features of the offer changed little. In addition to a continuous express train and a Hamburg – Stettin express train, four pairs of passenger trains (five between Bützow and Güstrow) ran, one of which also ran from Hamburg to Stettin. In sections there were some reinforcement trains. Between Pasewalk and Stettin, the offer was much closer.
A short interlude were stops in Remplin (only for two excursion trains on Sunday) and Nienhagen (only introduced in the early 1940s). Both stations disappeared from the timetables after the end of the war.
1945–1990
After the Second World War, most of the route was in the GDR and remained with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. The Grambow (border) –Szczecin section went to the Polish State Railways (PKP). The former continuous route Hamburg – Stettin became practically meaningless due to the border to Poland and the inner-German border. The second track, which existed west of Teterow, was dismantled after the end of the war; it has remained with the single-track condition of the line to this day.
Because of the dismantling of the Lloydbahn to Neustrelitz, the Rostock – Berlin trains ran from 1945 to 1961 via Güstrow – Neubrandenburg. The Güstrow – Lalendorf section was then used by many trains between Rostock and Berlin (as it has been since the end of the 19th century and until today) that served the stop in Güstrow.
In the first few years after the end of the war there was still sparse travel to Poland, and between 1950 and 1952 there was even a through coach connection between Berlin and Szczecin via Pasewalk. After that, the route across the border was only used for freight traffic for a long time. Only in May 1972, with the introduction of the visa-free regime between the GDR and Poland, was travel resumed.
In the course book tables, the sections Bützow – Pasewalk and Pasewalk – Grambow were contained in two different tables (since 1968 it was the course book sections 930 and 927, respectively). Most trains from both directions also ended in Pasewalk.
Around 1980 six to eight pairs of passenger trains ran, depending on the route section, and five between Malchin and Teterow. There was also a pair of express trains from Rostock – Pasewalk and another from Bützow. The Bützow – Güstrow section was heavily traveled (approx. 15 pairs of trains per day), as long-distance connections to Güstrow were established in Bützow. In international traffic, three to four pairs of trains continued to run to Szczecin, and there was also a pair of express trains on Saturdays in the summer season, which enabled day trips from Schwerin. With the strengthening of Solidarność , the GDR severely restricted travel to Poland in 1981. As a result, cross-border passenger traffic was discontinued from June 1981.
There was a direct connection to the Federal Republic of Germany until 1979 with through coaches from Neubrandenburg to the Rostock – Hamburg interzone train . From 1988 at least Güstrow could be reached again directly from there; Initially, the Rostock – Cologne train ran via Güstrow for a year, then a Güstrow – Hamburg express train was introduced.
The importance of the route for freight traffic can be seen in the large number of crossings, including several depots that were not used for passenger train traffic. There were also connecting curves at Priemerburg in the direction of Plaaz – Rostock and at Charlottenhof to bypass the Pasewalk station .
Since 1990
In 1991 the passenger train service to Poland was resumed. As a result, three to four pairs of trains ran to Szczecin, the rest ended in Grambow. In 1995 the two-hour service was introduced to Grambow and 2001 to Szczecin.
The offer has also been gradually expanded on the Bützow – Pasewalk section. In 1995 regional express trains (with stops in Güstrow, Teterow, Malchin, Stavenhagen, Neubrandenburg and Strasburg) ran every two hours and took about 130 minutes for the route, supplemented by regional trains stopping everywhere. In 1996 the timetable was fundamentally changed. A number of stops on the way have been closed. Since then, regional express trains have been running every hour, stopping at almost all of the remaining stations. Since 1998 the trains of DB Regio and a private provider, the Ostmecklenburgischen Eisenbahn (today Ostseeland Verkehr ), have been running alternately every two hours, so that overall there is an approximate hourly service between Bützow and Pasewalk.
Since 2002 the trains from Szczecin have been running continuously on the entire route to Bützow. First they drove on to Hagenow , since 2006 to Lübeck . For the first time since the end of the war, there are continuous trains from Lübeck to Szczecin. The cruising speed is not particularly attractive, however. The trains between Bützow and Pasewalk currently take up to 160 minutes, significantly longer than in 1995. The journey between Lübeck and Szczecin takes 4 hours and 52 minutes, in the opposite direction 4 hours and 57 minutes (as of 2017).
Since December 15, 2013, the Bützow – Pasewalk trains (and on to Ueckermünde) have been running under DB Regio instead of Ostseeland Verkehr .
On September 1, 2014, after more than 60 years, the stop in Stobno Szczecińskie (Stöven) between the border and the Szczecin Gumieńce railway station was reopened to passenger traffic. On March 15, 2015, however, the stop was given up again due to limited travel time and low passenger numbers.
Series 623 (LINT41) diesel multiple units have been in service since October 2015 .
Since December 13, 2015, the trains no longer stop at Kleeth station.
References
literature
- Rudi Buchweitz : The branch lines of the Berlin-Szczecin Railway . VBN Verlag Bernd Neddermeyer, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-941712-26-3 .
- Bernd Kuhlmann: Railways across the Oder-Neisse border . Ritzau, Pürgen 2004, ISBN 3-935101-06-6 .
- Lothar Schultz: Railways in Mecklenburg . 3. Edition. transpress, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-344-70732-9 .
Web links
- The history of the Mecklenburg Railways (PDF; 577 kB)