Bautzen – Hoyerswerda railway line

Stiebitz – Hoyerswerda junction
Extract from the route map of Saxony 1911
Route number :	6579; sä. bra
Course book section (DB) :	234 (1999)
Route length:	36.81 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	12  ‰
Minimum radius :	300 m
Top speed:	50 km / h
Legend from Görlitz 1.97 Abzw Stiebitz to Dresden 2.50 Rattwitz 209 m 3.60 Awanst Seidau 215 m to Seidau (Spreetalbahn) 3.69 Seidau 215 m 5.45 At the north industrial area 6.17 Kleinwelka 205 m 8.25 Cölln 192 m 10.03 Radibor (Sachs) 174 m to Löbau 11.70 Quoos 158 m Industrial railway to the Adolfshütte Crosta 14.06 Schwarzwasser (13 m) 14.21 Flood bridge (13 m) 14.77 Neschwitz (Sachs) 152 m to Wetro 17.17 Zescha 148 m 19.87 Königswartha 140 m to Knappenrode / Weißkollm 21.20 Bach Bridge (17 m) 23.36 Commerau 133 m 25.13 former border between Saxony and Prussia 26.11 Groß Särchen (Kr Hoyerswerda) 130 m 29.13 Hoske 129 m 29.67 Black Magpie (10 m) 31.05 Lusatian mine railway 32.32 Wittichenau 127 m 34.78 Black Magpie (13 m) 35.11 Flood bridge (20 m) 36.12 Dörgenhausen 119 m 37.35 Black Magpie (12 m) 37.43 Flood bridge (10 m) from Węgliniec 38.78 Hoyerswerda 118 m to Rosslau to Neupetershain

The Bautzen – Hoyerswerda line was a branch line in Saxony . It ran in Upper Lusatia from Bautzen via Neschwitz and Königswartha to Hoyerswerda . In 2001 the traffic was finally stopped.

history

Dismantled route near Neschwitz (2018)

While there was already a dense railway network around 1880 in other parts of Saxony, the only connection in northern Upper Lusatia was the Kamenz – Pirna line, which was inaugurated in 1871 . A project already discussed in the 1860s to connect Weisswasser in Prussian Upper Lusatia via Löbau to Bohemia to connect to the routes of the Bohemian Northern Railway was not implemented for strategic reasons. Around 1888 there were again specific plans for a connection between Bautzen and Weißwasser. However, there was no interest in the project on the Prussian side.

On March 25, 1889, the ordinance on railway construction was issued by the Saxon government. In August 1889, construction work began on the Bautzen-Königswartha section in Saxony. On December 2, 1890, the line was opened as a standard-gauge secondary line. A continuation to Prussia was not possible for the time being.

In 1898, citizens of Hoyerswerda requested an electric train between Spremberg , Hoyerswerda and Königswartha, which, however, was not implemented. The Prussian state railway opened in 1904 instead its own route between Hoyerswerda and Peter Hain ; this made the further construction of the connection Bautzen – Königswartha to Spremberg and Weißwasser unrealistic. In the meantime, however, there was also readiness in Prussia to continue the Saxon route onto Prussian territory. On March 24, 1905, the continuation of the line to Hoyerswerda was agreed in a state treaty. Both states built the section on their own territory; the property border was identical to the national border.

The line was opened on October 1, 1908.

Between 1959 and 1961, the direct connection of Bautzen in the direction of Spremberg was realized by means of a new road starting in Königswartha. The route, which was laid out as the main line, was necessary in particular because of the development of the Schwarze Pump combine and the expansion of lignite mining in the former Prussian Upper Lusatia. A branch led to Knappenrode on the main line Węgliniec – Roßlau .

As a result, fewer and fewer trains remained on the old line between Königswartha and Hoyerswerda, so that it was planned to shut down as early as 1967. On May 26, 1968 the passenger train service was stopped there. Freight traffic to service the Dubring quarry was maintained until July 7, 1973. In December 1973, the dismantling of the tracks began there.

Königswartha Railway Station (2012)

From then on, all traffic was handled via the new route. Until the beginning of the 1990s, the connection was also used by express trains on the Bautzen - Berlin route .

Because of the low number of travelers, passenger traffic was canceled in 1998 by the responsible Upper Lusatia-Lower Silesia Transport Association (ZVON). On May 30, 1999, the last passenger trains ran between Bautzen and Hoyerswerda.

On January 5, 2001, the remaining freight traffic was officially stopped.

On July 19, 2001, the closure of the Bautzen – Königswartha (–Knappenrode) line was approved by the Federal Railway Authority ; It was legally enforced on May 31, 2002. The exemption from railway operations for the section from Bautzen to Königswartha and on to the branch to Caminau on the Königswartha – Weißkollm railway line was made by the Federal Railway Authority in 2010. Today the line is partially dismantled. A possible reconstruction is contained in the action plan of the coal commission for the promotion of the Lausitz 2018.

See also

• List of disused railway lines in Saxony

literature

• Hans von Polenz: Railways in the Bautzener Land . Ostsächsische Eisenbahnfreunde eV, Löbau 2006, ISBN 3-00-018243-8

Web links

Commons : Bautzen – Hoyerswerda railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Route description at www.sachsenschiene.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.eisenbahn-bundesamt.de/Service/files/file_info/download.php?file=11_stilllege_strecken.xls ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Federal Gazette, announcement according to § 23 (2) AEG of April 27, 2010
3. ↑ [1] Press release of the city of Bautzen from January 31, 2019 (accessed on February 21, 2019).