Braunschweig – Wieren railway line

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Braunschweig – Wieren
erixx-LINT 54 between Wieren and Bad Bodenteich
Route number (DB) :	1902 (Braunschweig – Gifhorn) 1962 (Gifhorn – Wieren)
Course book section (DB) :	115
Route length:	87.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Bad Harzburg and Hanover 0.0 Braunschweig Hbf 5.8 Braunschweig Lünischteich ( Abzw ) Braunschweig Schmiedekamp (Abzw) to Braunschweig Rbf to Magdeburg 7.3 Braunschweig-Gliesmarode to Wolfsburg until 2000 Schuntertal Railway until 1942 from Braunschweig North to Harvesse (formerly to Celle) 10.2 Braunschweig-Querum 12.3 Bienrode 14.0 Wenden - Bechtsbüttel Mittelland Canal 16.7 Meinholz 20.0 My 23.9 Rötgesbüttel (under construction) 24.2 Rötgesbüttel Realignment from 1913 28.4 Isenbüttel village Lehrter Bahn 32.1 0.0 Gifhorn formerly Isenbüttel-Gifhorn 3.5 Gifhorn city All Allertalbahn to Celle 7.8 triangle 12.6 Neudorf-Platendorf 19.3 True wood 22.4 Schönewörde Elbe Lateral Canal 25.1 Pre-hop 29.1 Knesebeck Wittingen – Celle railway line to Wittingen West from Celle 35.1 Wittingen 39.6 Sticks 43.2 Langenbrugge 47.6 Bad Bodenteich from Stendal 55.1 Wieren American line to Uelzen, Bremen

Course book route 115 Braunschweig – Uelzen

The Braunschweig – Wieren railway line is a predominantly single-track, non-electrified branch line. It opens up the north of the Braunschweiger Land and the eastern Lüneburg Heath . The most important stop on the way is Gifhorn . The route has been known as the mill railway for several years because of the many mills along the route .

course

The route runs from Braunschweig main station to the north, crosses the Mittelland Canal , crosses the Hanover - Wolfsburg rail link in Gifhorn (former station name: Isenbüttel-Gifhorn ) ( high-speed route Hanover - Berlin ), then crosses the Gifhorn district and thus the eastern Lüneburg Heath Wittingen , where there is a connection to the network of the East Hanoverian railways , and Bad Bodenteich to Wieren , where it joins the electrified eastern section of the American line.

The Braunschweig – Wieren railway is the shortest connection from Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Wolfsburg to the north. However, since it is poorly developed (maximum line speed up to 80 km / h), connections via Lehrte are mostly faster.

The Elbe Lateral Canal , which is crossed twice, and Bundesstraße 4 run roughly parallel, but a few kilometers away from the railway line .

history

The railway line started operating shortly before the end of the 19th century. Since then it has been regularly used by passenger trains. The first train ran on March 1, 1889, when the line from Gifhorn- Isenbüttel to Meine was opened for freight traffic, the first passenger train on this route on July 1, 1890. North of Gifhorn-Isenbüttel, the section to Triangel was first opened ( Freight traffic since May 1, 1889, passenger traffic since November 1, 1889). Both sections were initially operated by the Berlin-Lehrter railway company. The southern connection to Braunschweig has been used since July 1, 1894 and the northern connection to Wieren since September 1, 1900.

Trains coming from Braunschweig ran from the west into the Isenbüttel-Gifhorn station (today: Gifhorn) until 1913. There they had to change the direction of travel to continue to Uelzen. Extensive re-routing enabled the trains to reach the station from the east from 1913 onwards, thus reducing travel times.

Two serious train accidents occurred at Isenbüttel-Gifhorn station during the Second World War. Both accidents were rear-end collisions, each of which involved two trains. On January 22, 1941, a train hit a transport train carrying around 1,000 Belgian prisoners of war. Over 120 people were killed. On October 11, 1944, nine people died in another accident and 15 were seriously injured. In the woods near Bodenteich there was a Muna with its own siding and its own locomotive (V 36). On March 25, 1945, a freight train loaded with ammunition exploded, presumably due to flying sparks from an approaching train. Up to 80 people died and many were injured. The station building and many surrounding houses were disturbed or damaged right up to the church.

A picture of the Triangel train station near Neudorf-Platendorf can be seen on the cover of the first edition of Bernward Vesper's novel fragment Die Reise (1977).

In the 1960s and 1970s, hedge cable trains ran on the route, i.e. express trains with routes off the main routes. In 1975 there was a pair of trains each on the routes Flensburg - Lübeck - Wittingen - Kreiensen and Hamburg - Wittingen - Goslar - Kreensen.

The number of stations has been gradually reduced over the years. The Meinholz stop was canceled before 1967, a scheduled train stopped at Braunschweig-Querum station and at Isenbüttel Dorf on May 30, 1976 for the last time, in Bienrode on May 22, 1977, at Langenbrügge and at Stöcken station on May 30 1981. Wenden-Bechtsbüttel station followed in 1988. In December 2011, the ticket offices in Bad Bodenteich, Wittingen and Wahrenholz were closed.

The Vorhop stop was created with the construction of the Elbe Lateral Canal. Originally Schönewörde and Vorhop had a common stopping point (called Schönewörde) at the level crossing on the road between the two places. With the elevation of the railway line to bridge the canal, the level crossing was also replaced by a bridge overpass and Vorhop and Schönewörde received their current, more local stopping points.

Until about 1994 there was a siding to the then sugar factory in Meine , which was previously often used by freight wagons during the beet campaign, but was no longer used in the 1970s.

In spring 2008 the level crossings in Meine were renewed and the bridge over the Mittelland Canal near Bechtsbüttel was renovated.

Individual regional trains with the Braunschweig – Bremen route ran on the Braunschweig – Wieren and American lines until December 2008, and in 2010 and 2011 a regional train once again connected Braunschweig and Bremen on this route on weekdays. This tradition came to an end when erixx GmbH took over local transport on the Uelzen – Bremen route in December 2011.

In July 2011, the tracks were relocated on the Bad Bodenteich – Wieren section, and in autumn 2012 on a ten-kilometer section from Vorhop via Wahrenholz to Neudorf-Platendorf. At the same time, the freight tracks in Wahrenholz station were dismantled (with the former designation "Ölbf."). In 2013, the renewal of the tracks between the Vorhop and Stöcken followed with the simultaneous expansion of all switches to the former freight tracks of Wittingen station. In addition, the points for the meeting track were renewed in Bad Bodenteich and the entire length of track 2 including the points in Gifhorn Stadt. In 2014, the route between Stöcken and Bad Bodenteich was renewed, connected with the subsequent construction of a central platform to enable the necessary encounter for the few trains that have been running every hour since December 2014. Platform 1 at the station building, which was still used at the time of the hedge cable trains , was dismantled. At the stations Gifhorn Stadt, Neudorf-Platendorf, Wahrenholz and Knesebeck, the platforms have been completely or partially adapted to the boarding height of the new railcars. In 2017, Wittingen train station was given a new central platform while the old platform 1 was dismantled at the same time. In Gifhorn Stadt, platforms 1 and 2 were completely renewed in their previous location and at the same time Bahnhofstrasse was expanded with the central bus station and extended parking facilities.

Current operation

Until December 2014, passenger transport was carried out roughly every two hours on regional trains operated by DB Regio , mostly with class 628 diesel multiple units . The timetable was unattractive due to the two-hour service and the early closing time. Mondays to Fridays, only eleven pairs of trains ran between the upper center of Braunschweig and the middle center of Gifhorn, and the last regional train left Braunschweig at 19:37 in the direction of Gifhorn. Since December 2014, the route has been served by the Soltau- based railway company erixx with Lint 54 railcars . With the exception of another evening connection from Braunschweig to Wittingen, Fridays to Sundays to Uelzen, a Sunday late connection from Braunschweig to Wittingen and two improved early connections between Uelzen and Gifhorn, the range of journeys has not yet improved significantly, as some non-timed connections have also been canceled.

Freight traffic still takes place from and to Knesebeck (timber loading, siding company Butting ), from and to the port of Wittingen and south of Braunschweig-Gliesmarode .

Sections of the route are in need of renovation. At the level crossings at Meine ( Bundesstraße 4 ) and Ausbüttel there are sometimes traffic jams due to defective barriers. The traffic then has to be controlled manually by the police.

The route is rarely used by museum railways.

Planning

It was intended to use the section between Gifhorn Stadt and Braunschweig by the planned RegioStadtBahn Braunschweig . For this purpose, some train stations or stops were to be rebuilt and the number of trains on this section of the route increased in accordance with the more frequent train cycle of the RegioStadtBahn. In a further construction phase, the line to Uelzen should also be used as a carrier for the RegioStadtBahn. The entire project was originally supposed to be completed by 2014. The project failed in 2010 because the cost-effectiveness of the concept was no longer given due to the significantly increased vehicle procurement costs.

In order to be able to increase the attractiveness of the regional train line even without RegionalStadtBahn, the Zweckverband Großraum Braunschweig (ZGB) developed the “Regionalbahn Concept 2014+”. This provided for new vehicles and a consistent hourly service for the Braunschweig – Uelzen regional train line. In addition, the link between light rail and regional rail in Braunschweig-Gliesmarode is to be improved. In the long term, a compression between Braunschweig and Gifhorn Stadt is planned every half hour.

In order to realize the denser local transport offer, the infrastructure must be expanded accordingly. The Rötgesbüttel stop is being expanded into a crossing station for the implementation of an hourly cycle on the entire route. Construction began on March 3, 2020. Almost at the same time, Wahrenholz station is being modernized and rebuilt in such a way that simultaneous entrances from the direction of Wieren and Gifhorn are possible. The hourly cycle is to be run from December 2020.

The Bienrode and Isenbüttel stations are to be expanded again to accommodate passenger trains. This was agreed on March 28, 2019 between the state of Lower Saxony (Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft LNVG), the regional association for the greater Braunschweig area and DB.

To implement the half-hourly service to Gifhorn Stadt, an additional crossing station in Braunschweig-Kralenriede as well as an increase in speed from 80 km / h to 100 km / h is necessary. The regional association is planning to set up a third station track there to connect the lines RB 44 and RB 45 to the south of Gliesmarode .

vehicles

Class 628 railcar in front of Wittingen

During the steam locomotive era, the following were used: the 03 , 38 , 50 , 55 , 57 and 64 series . In addition, in the 1930s, the ETA 177 accumulator railcar was apparently performed. In the 1970s, passenger train traffic was carried out with twin-engine Uerdinger VT 98.9 rail buses and class 628.0 and 614 railcars , the rear end - rail trains were hauled with V 200.0 . The operation was switched over to the series 634, 613 and 515 one after the other , until operation was switched to locomotive-hauled trains with silver coins.

For a long time, passenger trains hauled by class 216 and 218 diesel locomotives dominated the scene . In the 2002/03 timetable, they drove the route with control cars for the first time. This era in passenger traffic ended in 2003. Since then, class 628 railcars have been running almost exclusively between Braunschweig and Uelzen. Individual trains were operated with the 614 series until December 2008. Erixx GmbH has been using LINT 54 vehicles since December 2014 .

The types and series Köf , V 60 and 212 could be observed in freight traffic in the post-steam locomotive era , as well as diesel locomotives from the Peine-Salzgitter transport company between 1999 and 2014 . Today freight traffic is handled with locomotives of the 294 and 261 series ( Voith Gravita ).

Picture gallery

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  Braunschweig main station

• 

  Stop mine , look north

• 

  Gifhorn Stadt railway station

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  Wittingen station

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  Wahrenholz signal box

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  Gifhorn-Stadt station

literature

• Dietmar Hamann, Werner Kieselbach (editor): The history of the railway from Braunschweig to Uelzen in the district of Gifhorn. Series of publications by the Gifhorn District Archives No. 15, Gifhorn 1998, ISBN 3-929632-40-3 .

Web links

Commons : Braunschweig – Wieren railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Historical and current photos of almost all train stations along the route
• A detailed website that starts from the Braunschweig-Gliesmarode train station and deals with the Braunschweig – Uelzen railway line, among other things
• Information brochure of the regional association for the greater Braunschweig area on the RB47 (Braunschweig – Uelzen)
• Resolution of the 2020 local transport plan

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Course book summer 1967 complete edition
2. ↑ Kursbuch Niedersachsen, Bremen, Ostwestfalen, summer edition 1976, 1977, 1981
3. ↑ Topographic map 1: 25000 sheet 3329 Wahrenholz, Königl. Preuss. Landes -aufnahme 1899. Published in 1901, reproduced and published by the Lower Saxony State Administration Office - Land Surveying - Hanover
4. ↑ Topographic map 1: 25000, sheet 3329 Wahrenholz, published in multiple colors by the Lower Saxony State Administration Office - land surveying - 1958, 1975 edition
5. ↑ Topographic map 1: 25,000, sheet 3329 Wahrenholz, published in multiple colors by the Lower Saxony State Administration Office - State surveying - 1958
6. ↑ Summer timetable 1975
7. ↑ http://kursbuch.bahn.de/hafas/kbview.exe/dn/KB115_R_Taeglich_G26112013.pdf?filename=KB115_R_Taeglich_G26112013.pdf&orig=k Deutsche Bahn, Kursbuch 2014, KBS 115 Braunschweig - Uelzen
8. ↑ http://kursbuch.bahn.de/hafas/kbview.exe/dn/KB115_H_Taeglich_G26112013.pdf?filename=KB115_H_Taeglich_G26112013.pdf&orig=sT Deutsche Bahn, Kursbuch 2014, KBS 115 Uelzen - Braunschweig
9. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ Course book 2015, route 115
11. ^ ZGB, regional rail concept 2014+
12. ↑ Press information from the regional association for the greater Braunschweig area from 03.03.2020. March 3, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020 . 
13. ↑ Isernhagener Kreisblatt dated March 20, 2020 .
14. ↑ reactivation of stations. Retrieved March 30, 2019 . 
15. ^ Regional Association Greater Braunschweig, Committee for Regional Transport, Item 2: Local transport plan for the greater Braunschweig area - draft, April 24, 2019, pp. 146, 153
16. ↑ ^{a b c} L. Anton: Mühlenbahn. In: Lok-Magazin, issue 2/2015, pp. 104–109 (109)