Bad Dürkheim – Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim railway line

map

Bad Dürkheim – Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim
Route number (DB) :	9340
Course book section (DB) :	668 (up to 1970: 274k)
Route length:	16.4 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	750 volts  =
Top speed:	70 km / h
Dual track :	continuously, except in Ellerstadt Ost station
Legend 0.0 Bad Dürkheim RHB   transition to the state train station 1.2 Bad Dürkheim Ost Palatinate Northern Railway 2.3 Neuberg 3.6 Fire mountain 4.3 Friedelsheim 4.9 Gönnheim 6.6 Ellerstadt West 7.3 Ellerstadt East 9.0 Fußgönheim A 650 10.2 Maxdorf South 10.8 Maxdorf A 61 A 650 13.3 Ruchheim Römerweg siding (until 1964) A 650 15.3 West B 9 B 9 16.4 Ludwigshafen - Oggersheim RHB ( Üst ) 16.5 Goetheplatz (until 1964) 17.2 Schillerplatz (until 1964) Mannheim / Ludwigshafen tram

Railcar 1109 in September 1957 in Bad Dürkheim, at that time still with the line designation D

Historic railcar 1122

Düwag articulated railcar 1019 of the RHB in Mannheim (1971)

GT6 1017 with six-axle articulated sidecar 1057 (2004)

Twelve-axle articulated railcar 1020 (2004)

Route west of Ellerstadt

Ruchheim stop

The Bad Dürkheim – Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim line is a meter-gauge , electrified narrow-gauge railway in Rhineland-Palatinate . Since it connects the Haardt , the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest, with the Rhine , it is also called the Rhein-Haardtbahn .

The railway line is 16.4 kilometers long and leads from Bad Dürkheim via Friedelsheim , Gönnheim , Ellerstadt , Fußgönheim , Maxdorf and Ruchheim to the Ludwigshafen district of Oggersheim . For a long time, the responsible railway infrastructure company was Rhein-Haardtbahn GmbH , abbreviated RHB, and since March 1, 2005, Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (RNV) has been the railway company and is now also the responsible RIU. Since October 1, 2009, RNV GmbH has also been responsible for maintaining the route. In terms of tariffs, it is integrated into the Rhein-Neckar transport association (VRN).

History and shortcuts

The route begins on the forecourt of Bad Dürkheim train station , where there is a turning loop . There is a transition option from and to the Palatinate Northern Railway . With Bad Dürkheim Ost there is another station in the spa town. Ellerstadt is traversed on a single track, all other localities on the route are affected outside of the built-up area. In Oggersheim, the line joins the Ludwigshafen tram network.

The Bad Dürkheim – Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim line is operationally closely linked to the Mannheim / Ludwigshafen tram . Trains from Bad Dürkheim run from Oggersheim according to the tram construction and operating regulations , while the main RHB route is operated in a similar way to an intercity tram , but is licensed for narrow-gauge railways according to the railway construction and operating regulations .

Today the route is served by RNV line  4, which used to go to Heddesheim and has been on the new line to Gartenstadt since June 2016. Initially, however, the trains to and from Bad Dürkheim had no line designation at all, before the line letter D for Dürkheim was introduced in the interwar period. With the switch to articulated wagons, this no longer applied to the vehicles; from then on, the company abbreviation RHB was to be found as the line designation in the timetable documents and route network maps . Between December 2006 and December 2008, the Bad Dürkheimer line was then temporarily referred to as line 14, before it was given its current number as part of the extension to Heddesheim. Previously, the connection to Heddesheim was already practiced in evening traffic.

history

Planning, construction and opening (1853-1912)

Connecting the wine-growing region around Bad Dürkheim, until 1904 Dürkheim, to the rail network was an early wish. As early as 1853, plans were forged for a branch line from Dürkheim to Oggersheim. In 1865 a Neustadt – Dürkheim railway line went into operation, which was later extended to Monsheim and Frankenthal. This connection with a detour brought the connected communities a good connection to the next larger cities Frankenthal , Grünstadt , Dürkheim and Neustadt , but there was no direct connection between Dürkheim and Ludwigshafen.

Only after the turn of the century did the planning move forward. Contrary to what was originally planned, the route is not straight today because Friedelsheim, Gönnheim and Maxdorf were connected.

In 1911 a tram line was built from the southern end of Ludwigsplatz in Ludwigshafen through the (today's street names) Bahnhofstraße, Berliner Straße, Jaegerstraße and Frankenthaler Straße to Oggersheim to Hans-Warsch-Platz (then: Schillerplatz ). At the time, Frankenthaler Strasse ran straight from the city center to Oggersheim, passing under the feeder lines of the railway terminus at the time. With the opening of this line, the "Friedhofslinie" built in 1904 (from the northern head of the viaduct to the main cemetery) between Marienkirche and Schlachthofstraße with the dangerous, identical crossing of the railway line from the direction of Worms was shut down.

A route along the Haardtrand was also planned; in autumn 1918, routes from Bad Dürkheim and Neustadt on the one hand and Weisenheim am Berg on the other hand were planned, as well as a branch line from Deidesheim to Meckenheim. A line from Oggersheim to Frankenthal turned out to be difficult, however, after the line could not be built at first due to the lack of material during the First World War and later not paid for.

At the same time, plans were made for a route from Rheingönheim to Speyer , Speyer was also interested in a continuation to Mechtersheim . Unfortunately, this project was not implemented either. The economic crisis of 1922/1923 had a somewhat unfortunate effect on all expansion plans that threatened the existence of the RHB in its first decade of operation.

After receiving the concession in 1911, the line was opened in 1913. From the beginning, the vehicle was operated electrically, initially with 1200 volts direct current , from 1965 with 750 volts. The RHB received eight four-axle railcars with maximum bogies , which were supplemented by ten similar vehicles from the Mannheim-Ludwigshafen tram. 16 two-axle sidecars completed the RHB's portfolio of passenger cars, and urban sidecars were upgraded for operation on the route. Among other things, these were given compressed air brakes.

Further development (1913-2004)

When it opened, the mostly single-track route with crossing options at the stations quickly reached its capacity limits. In addition to the commuter traffic from the surrounding area to the industrial workplaces in the city, there was also extensive excursion traffic on weekends. Since its inauguration, the railway line has also proven its capabilities on the sausage market every year . The second track between Friedelsheim and Ellerstadt West was completed in the summer of 1926, followed three years later by the double track between Ellerstadt East and Ruchheim.

The IG-Siedlung stop , later Fußgönheim Siedlung , today Maxdorf Süd , at the BASF-Siedlung , was not included in the timetable in 1939, but was then included in 1944.

In 1961 the line between Ruchheim and Oggersheim was expanded to double tracks. In 1964, with the commissioning of the new tram line to Oggersheim-West, the RHB route in Schillerstraße was abandoned, swiveled to the north and connected to the tram network in Oggersheim-West. A year earlier, the second track between Friedelsheim and Neuberg had already been laid. After a track triangle was laid out in Ellerstadt Ost in 1965, the route largely corresponded to its current state. In the meantime, there have only been slight changes to the route due to the construction of new bridges.

The already marginal freight traffic was discontinued on October 31, 1959, since then only passenger traffic has been offered on the route.

With the division of the Mannheim-Ludwigshafen tram, the railcars of the joint operation of the Mannheimer Verkehrsgesellschaft fell to. In 1967 it also procured the legendary twelve- axle tram cars, which were considered the longest tram cars in the world until the seven-part 8MGT (mostly referred to as ET8N) was commissioned. In order to be able to cope with the masses of passengers to the Wurstmarkt, up to nine railcars of the Mannheimer Verkehrsgesellschaft were permanently prepared for rail operations. For this purpose, triple headlights , sifa and horn were installed.

The line in the Bad Dürkheim urban area was relocated to a single track north of the carriageway from the road location on its own track.

Recent past (since 2004)

The RHB2010 concept presented by the RNV in 2008 to secure the future of the route aims to expand the infrastructure to improve the timetable and to increase the travel speed . In addition to increasing the maximum speed to 80 km / h, the technical security of level crossings , the improvement of the energy supply and passenger information , there is new signaling that enables the signaling systems to be operated from the RNV central interlocking in Mannheim. An improvement of the timetable is planned with the implementation of the infrastructure expansion. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate provided up to 4.7 million euros for the project . The first construction work began in spring 2014, mostly on the open road. On March 13, 2016, the ESTW- UZ Bad Dürkheim Ost, with the ESTW-A Ellerstadt Ost and Oggersheim, and remote BSTR in Ruchheim, Maxdorf and Friedelsheim was put into operation. Of these, 75 signals, 13 switches and 13 level crossing safety systems (BÜSA) are provided. The sub-center is controlled from the operations center in the Möhlstrasse depot.

In January 2016, the transport contract between ZSPNV Süd and RNV for traffic from June 2016 was signed. In addition to the previous offer, an hourly express train with stops in Ruchheim, Maxdorf and Ellerstadt and nine minutes shorter travel time will then run.

Renaming of breakpoints

old	New	year
IG settlement	BASF settlement	1945
BASF settlement	Fußgönheim settlement	1958
Fußgönheim settlement	Maxdorf South	1969
Car hall	Bad Dürkheim Ost
Oggersheim West	Oggersheim	1995

business

The operating center of the route is the Bad Dürkheim Ost depot; the connection is listed in the timetable of Deutsche Bahn AG under timetable table 668. It creates an important connection between the northern Weinstrasse and Ludwigshafen or Mannheim, and there are special transports for commuters to BASF in Ludwigshafen.

Line 4 / 4A now runs on the Bad Dürkheim - Oggersheim - Ludwigshafen - Mannheim main station - University Clinic - Hermann Gutzmann School - Waldfriedhof (Line 4) / Käfertaler Wald (Line 4A) route. Trains run between Oggersheim and Bad Dürkheim every 30 minutes during the day and every 60 minutes in the evening and on the weekend.

Express line 9, introduced in June 2016, runs hourly on the Bad Dürkheim - Oggersheim - Ludwigshafen - Mannheim - Neuostheim route.

On the route run since 1959 directional vehicles , since the 1970s, almost exclusively. Since the introduction of the RNV-Express excursion line in 2008, individual two-way railcars have also been traveling to Bad Dürkheim. Due to the matching minute of symmetry , the line at Berliner Platz in Ludwigshafen and Mannheim Central Station is optimally aligned with the Deutsche Bahn timetable. The RNV-Express has been running as Line 9 since June 2016.

vehicles

Four-axle

For commissioning in 1913, a requirement of 16 trains was calculated, consisting of a four-axle railcar and two to three two-axle trailer cars. 18 railcars were procured from the Fuchs Waggonfabrik in Heidelberg , eight of which were owned by the RHB, the remaining ten vehicles were provided by the Mannheim-Ludwigshafen tram. In 1924 the vehicles received new bogies, three years later new and lighter pantographs. In 1928, Scharfenberg couplings replaced the previous funnel couplings . In 1939 two more vehicles were procured, which were distinguished from the previous vehicles by the more powerful engine and the lack of maximum bogies . Seven wagons were lost due to war damage; the last four-axle vehicles survived until 1965 when they were replaced by newly delivered articulated wagons. The last remaining four-axle vehicle is the 1122 railcar, which was refurbished by Bahnfreunde Rhein-Neckar-Pfalz between 2004 and 2008 and has since been rented out for special trips.

Articulated trolley

In 1959 the RHB received two articulated railcars from Duewag . They were similar to the Duewag articulated trams in other cities, but differed from the standard equipment in terms of the single door for the driver and the lack of double doors at the rear.

The railcars with the numbers 1123 and 1124 and their associated trailer cars 1217 and 1218, like the similar urban teams 1011 and 1051 as well as 1012 and 1052, were designed for 1200-volt operation on the overland route. Since the new railcars also had significantly better acceleration under 600 volts direct current, the contact wire voltage was lowered to 750 volts direct current after the construction of an additional substation . A third headlight was subsequently installed in the unused line number boxes in the first four vehicles ; the vehicles built from 1963 onwards (which were procured by the Mannheim-Ludwigshafen tram for operation on the RHB) had one ex works. The railcars 1013-1018 and their trailer cars 1053-1058, acquired in 1963, only came into operation after the contact wire voltage had been changed to 750 volts and remained behind in the Collinistraße depot. The use of articulated sidecars with Jakobs bogies was unique in Germany (Bremen and Munich also had modern articulated sidecars, but they were designed as short articulated cars).

From 1967 onwards, four five-part articulated trams with a length of 38.5 meters were procured according to the modular principle, which were considered to be the longest tram cars in the world from their appearance until 1994. One of these twelve-axle vehicles still exists, and there are still three vehicles of the trailer trucks. At times, six-axle vehicles from Mannheim adapted for RHB operation, and later eight-axle vehicles from Ludwigshafen, ran on the railway line at peak times.

Low-floor car

Car 1042 in Bad Dürkheim Ost

In 1994, orders for low-floor wagons from the municipal companies in Mannheim and Ludwigshafen were followed and three seven-part eight-axle vehicles in multi-joint design were purchased from Duewag . Ludwigshafen procured two identical vehicles for operation on the Bad Dürkheim route. With a length of 40.5 meters, the 8MGT replaced the previous twelve-axle tram as the “longest tram car”, but had to surrender this title to Strasbourg in 1998 .

literature

• Ottokar Löwit: The Rhein-Haardtbahn Mannheim – Ludwigshafen – Bad Dürkheim. In: Electric power companies and railways. 12th year, issue 21, July 24, 1914, pp. 405-416.
• Otto Dietrich: 50 years of the Rhein-Haardtbahn . Mannheim 1963, OCLC 252443887 .
• Werner Rabe: Operating history of the MVG, the VBL and the RHB . Mannheim 1977, OCLC 312608332 .
• Dieter Höltge: German trams and light rail vehicles. Volume 4: Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland. Verlag Zeunert, Gifhorn 1981, ISBN 3-921237-60-2 , pp. 95-133.
• Josef Kaiser, Andreas Sperling: "If a train goes on a brisk journey ..." . Neustadt 1988, ISBN 3-926912-04-9 .
• Holger Blaul, Josef Kaiser: The Rhein-Haardtbahn . Ludwigshafen 2000, ISBN 3-934845-03-7 .
• Michael Kochems, Dieter Höltge: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 12: Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-88255-393-2 , pp. 221-253

Web links

Commons : Rhein-Haardtbahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Railway romance: The Rhein-Haardtbahn [episode 933] https://swrmediathek.de/player.htm?show=b8c81121-65b7-11e8-ba49-005056a10824

Individual evidence

1. ^ "German course book" summer 1939
2. ^ "Deutsches Kursbuch", annual timetable 1944/45
3. ^ Bad Dürkheim: Rhein-Haardtbahn grant approved in: Morgenweb des Mannheimer Morgen
4. ^ RNV-online: project to expand the Rhein-Haardtbahn
5. ↑ rnv puts new signal box into operation. Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH, March 16, 2016, accessed on April 1, 2016 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} ZSPNV Süd and RNV: New transport contract enables safeguarding and expansion of the Rhein-Haardt-Bahn offer. ZSPNV Süd , January 19, 2016, archived from the original on February 2, 2016 ; Retrieved January 25, 2016 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} New RHB transport contract. Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH, January 18, 2016, accessed April 1, 2016 .