Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line

Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz
Route number :	6821; sä. GM
Course book section (DB) :	511 (1976)
Route length:	27.768 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	11.3  ‰
Minimum radius :	300 m
Legend from Leipzig from Leipzig-Plagwitz 0.06 Markkleeberg-Gaschwitz formerly Gaschwitz 121 m to court 1.42 EÜ Großdeubener way 4.68 (Beginning of route 6821) 5.27 Zwenkau (near Leipzig) 135 m 9.36 Russen-Kleinstorkwitz 135 m from Pegau 13.42 Groitzsch 135 m to Neukieritzsch 17.38 Beetle grove 160 m State border between Saxony and Thuringia 20.65 Lucka (Kr Altenburg) (formerly Bf) 155 m 22.79 Lucka (Kr Altenburg) Süd formerly Wintersdorf (Kr Altenburg) 172 m Coal railway 23.45 Meuselwitz foundry 170 m 24.35 Meuselwitz- Heurekagrube 180 m from Altenburg and from Ronneburg 27.80 (End of route) 27.83 Meuselwitz 184 m according to Zeitz

The Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway was a branch line in Saxony and Thuringia . It ran from Gaschwitz via Groitzsch to Meuselwitz .

history

A tour to the east via Zwenkau was already discussed when the Prussian route Leipzig – Gera was being planned . However, the terrain clearly spoke against it. So the line was realized on the left bank of the White Elster by 1873 .

As early as 1869, however, the owners of the brown coal works near Zwenkau demanded a more direct rail connection to Leipzig. Since the Saxon state and private investors showed little interest in the construction of the line, the cities of Zwenkau, Groitzsch, Lucka and Meuselwitz founded the Leipzig-Meuselwitz railway company in 1872 . On April 19, 1872 she was granted the concession.

The route was opened on September 7, 1874. The state railways carried out the operation on behalf of the company. As early as January 1, 1876, the Leipzig-Meuselwitzer railway company was acquired by the Saxon state and the line became the property of the Kgl. Saxon State Railways.

Because of the brown coal open-cast mine in Zwenkau , which was expanding northwards , the line between Gaschwitz and Zwenkau was closed on January 14, 1957 and removed a little later. As a replacement, a connecting curve was built in Pegau from the reactivated Neukieritzsch – Pegau line to the Gera – Leipzig line, in order to continue to enable direct train journeys from Meuselwitz to Leipzig. Passenger train traffic then took place between Zwenkau and Meuselwitz. From May 22, 1966, passenger trains only ran between Groitzsch and Meuselwitz, although they were mostly tied to and from Pegau. Travel between Groitzsch and Zwenkau was now handled by buses.

In 1976 the southern section of the route had to be interrupted because of the Groitzscher Dreieck opencast mine . On September 27, 1976 the passenger train service between Groitzsch and Meuselwitz was stopped. From then on there were only the Zwenkau – Groitzsch and Lucka – Meuselwitz sections, which continued to be operated in freight traffic. The disused track of the Groitzsch – Käferhain section served as a connecting line for the excavator assembly area Groitzscher Dreieck until it was finally closed in 1992.

Only after the political change in eastern Germany in 1990 did the remaining routes lose their importance for freight traffic. Freight traffic between Lucka and Meuselwitz was stopped on May 23, 1993. On August 12, 1998, the closure of the Zwenkau – Groitzsch line was approved by the Federal Railway Authority, after it had not been used for freight traffic since the beginning of the year; It was legally enforced on September 30, 1998. In 2001, Coal Railway Haselbach eV took over part of the route in Meuselwitz . Today there is a track with a 900 mm gauge.

In February 2014, a citizens' initiative started an online petition to reactivate the railway line.

Todays use

On the sections from the southern city limits of Zwenkau to Schnaudertrebnitz , a part of the Groitzsch municipality , and from the southern end of the Waldallee in Lucka to the height of Schnauderhainichen , a part of the municipality of Meuselwitz , there are paved areas that are dedicated to the exclusive use of pedestrians and cyclists. A few kilometer stones found a new location in the Flurstein lapidarium on the Wiprechtsburg Groitzsch .

Route description

course

The Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line can be divided into four sections due to the different shutdowns and subsequent re-use:

Section Gaschwitz – Zwenkau

Beginning at Gaschwitz station, the line branched off to the southwest from the Leipzig – Hof line . It led straight in a south-westerly direction to Zwenkau. This section was shut down on January 14, 1957 and dredged over by the Zwenkau opencast mine (1921–1998) around 1960 . Part of the area is now filled by the eastern foothills of Lake Zwenkau .

Section Zwenkau – Groitzsch

Starting from Zwenkau station (near Leipzig) in the east of the city, the route initially continued to the south-west. After the federal highway 2 was crossed in the south of the city , the street and the railway line ran parallel to each other. The railway line passed east of the five towns between Zwenkau and Groitzsch. Only Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz had an en route station. From Audigast , the route ran directly south, where it met the Neukieritzsch – Pegau line at Groitzsch station . The Zwenkau – Pegau section was the longest in service. After the cessation of passenger traffic on May 22, 1966, it was used by freight traffic until 1998. A cycle path was created on this section.

The former station area of ​​Zwenkau is built up today, as are parts of the line on the outskirts.

Groitzsch – Lucka section

After passing the Groitzsch station , the railway line ran southeast towards Lucka (Kr Altenburg) . Shortly before reaching the station, the Saxon-Thuringian border was passed, which between 1952 and 1990 was only a district border in the Leipzig district . This section of the route was shut down by the Groitzscher Dreieck opencast mine on September 27, 1976 and dredged south of the Käferhain stop . The Groitzsch – Käferhain section was used as a connecting line for the excavator assembly site at Groitzscher Dreieck until 1992. Most of the Käferhain – Lucka section is now located in the Groitzscher See ; the Groitzsch – Käferhain section will be largely over-dredged from 2030 when the “Groitzscher Dreieck” mining field of the United Schleenhain open-cast mine is opened up .

Lucka – Meuselwitz section

The southernmost section runs between Lucka and Meuselwitz straight to the southwest. It is completely in the Altenburger Land . In Meuselwitz you could change to Ronneburg and Zeitz and Altenburg . After the cessation of passenger traffic between Groitzsch and Meuselwitz on September 27, 1976, the Lucka – Meuselwitz section was served by freight traffic until May 23, 1993. The section from the Meuselwitz station to the branch of the coal railway in the north of the city is used today by the Meuselwitz – Haselbach – Regis-Breitingen coal railway, which is used in the museum . For this purpose it was re-gauged to a gauge of 900 mm. The section of the route to the north was converted into a cycle path in 2013 and 2014 to Lucka.

Operating points

Markkleeberg-Gaschwitz ⊙

Gaschwitz station reception building (2009)

The Gaschwitz stop was opened on September 19, 1842 on the Leipzig – Hof railway line. In 1870 the station was expanded to become an important marshalling yard for freight traffic. In the period that followed, the station became an important transfer point in the south of Leipzig. In 1874 the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz line was opened via Zwenkau and in 1879 the Leipzig-Plagwitz – Gaschwitz line . The Leipzig S-Bahn network was opened in 1969 and Gaschwitz was designated as the southern turning point of the heart-shaped ring line A.

The rail connection to Zwenkau was shut down and dismantled in 1957 due to the advancing opencast mine. The route to Leipzig-Plagwitz has only been used as an occasional diversion route for freight or regional traffic since 2002. Of the original six platforms at Gaschwitz station, two are still in operation. These are since December 15, 2013 every half hour in both directions from the S-Bahn line S 3 of the S-Bahn central Germany operated between Halle and Geithain. In this context, the station was renamed Markkleeberg-Gaschwitz . In the area of ​​the train station, the federal motorway 38 crosses on a bridge . The special suburban tracks (route 6377) end at the southern end of the Gaschwitz station; from here to Böhlen there is an additional freight train track (route 6378) in addition to the main line.

Zwenkau (near Leipzig) ⊙

Former Zwenkau train station

The station Zwenkau was opened on September 7, 1874 as a stop. The station has been a train station since 1882. In 1926 he was given the name Zwenkau (Bz Leipzig) , later Zwenkau (b Leipzig) .

As a result of the Böhlen opencast mine expanding to the north (from 1970: Zwenkau opencast mine) , the northern section of Gaschwitz – Zwenkau was shut down on January 14, 1957, and shortly afterwards it was removed. It was dredged over until 1966. As a replacement, a trolleybus operated to Leipzig from December 1956 , which was discontinued in October 1972 after 16 years of operation .

Since 1957, train journeys from the direction of Meuselwitz ended in Zwenkau. With the cessation of passenger train traffic on the Zwenkau – Groitzsch section, the station, which has meanwhile been rededicated as a freight yard, has only been used for freight traffic since May 22, 1966. Travel between Groitzsch and Zwenkau was now handled by buses.

With the closure of the Zwenkau – Groitzsch section on September 30, 1998, the Zwenkau station was finally decommissioned. The station building was renovated as a residential building from 2006 to 2009. Large parts of the former station area are now built with single-family houses.

The route between Zwenkau and Groitzsch has been used as a cycle path since 2007.

Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz ⊙

Former Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz train station

The Rüssen stop went into operation when the railway line opened on September 7, 1874. In 1905 it was dedicated to the station. After the amalgamation of the municipalities of Rüssen and Kleinstorkwitz to Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz on January 1, 1957, the station was also named Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz on May 1, 1957 .

With the cessation of passenger train traffic on the Zwenkau – Groitzsch section, the station was only used for freight traffic since May 22, 1966. Since September 27, 1976, Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz was run as a freight yard. With the closure of the Zwenkau – Groitzsch section on September 30, 1998, the Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz station was finally decommissioned. At the location on the eastern edge of the village, the reception and farm buildings are still there. A cycle path has been on the disused route since 1997, connecting the town with Groitzsch and Zwenkau.

Groitzsch ⊙

Groitzsch station was opened as a stop on September 7, 1874 with the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line. In 1882 it was upgraded to a station. With the opening of the Neukieritzsch – Pegau railway on October 1, 1909, the Groitzsch station became a hub. In 1919 it was expanded. The damage caused by the Second World War in 1945 could be repaired by 1947.

Since 1957, the advancing lignite mining has also made itself felt in rail traffic. The recently closed Gaschwitz – Zwenkau section of the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line was removed by the Zwenkau opencast mine . Since May 22, 1966, passenger trains only ran between Groitzsch and Meuselwitz, although they were mostly tied to and from Pegau . Travel between Groitzsch and Zwenkau was now handled by buses and the route was only operated as goods traffic. Since the Groitzsch – Lucka section was located in the mining area of ​​the Groitzscher Dreieck opencast mine, which was opened in 1974 , passenger traffic was also stopped on this section in 1976.

Thus, the Groitzsch station was only served on the Neukieritzsch – Pegau railway line until it was discontinued on June 1, 1997. On August 12, 1998, the closure of the Zwenkau – Groitzsch line was approved by the Federal Railway Authority, after it had not been used in freight traffic since the beginning of the year; It was legally enforced on September 30, 1998. At the site of the former train station in the east of Groitzsch, the meanwhile renovated reception building, goods and farm buildings and the B1 signal box have been preserved. The W2 signal box was demolished in 2013. In the direction of Zwenkau, a cycle path was created on the old route.

• 

  Groitzsch station shortly after its closure (2000)

• 

  Groitzsch station, renovated reception building (2011)

Käferhain ⊙

Since 1874, the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line ran past Käferhain to the east. However, the place only received a stop on the route on October 15, 1879. While the station east of the village has had a reception building since it opened, it was not given a cession until 1908. The breakpoint was the last stop on Saxon soil in the direction of Meuselwitz.

In 1974/75 the Groitzscher Dreieck opencast mine was opened southeast of Käferhain. As a result, on September 27, 1976, passenger train traffic on the Groitzsch – Meuselwitz section of the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway was stopped and the Käferhain stop was taken out of service. The disused track of the Groitzsch – Käferhain section served as a connecting line for the excavator assembly area at Groitzscher Dreieck until it was finally closed in 1992.

Lucka (Kr Altenburg) ⊙

Lucka train station (Kr Altenburg)

The Lucka stop was opened with the opening of the railway line on September 7, 1874. The station was the first stop in the direction of Meuselwitz in Saxony-Altenburg and later in Thuringia. It was upgraded to a station in 1905. The station had the following names:

• until 1894: Lucka
• until 1911: Lucka i. S.-A.
• until 1922: Lucka (S-Altenbg)
• since 1922: Lucka (Kr Altenburg)

Due to the opening of the Groitzscher Dreieck opencast mine northwest of the city, passenger train traffic on the Groitzsch – Meuselwitz section and the Groitzsch – Lucka section were closed on September 27, 1976. The now Lucka freight yard continued to be approached by freight trains from the direction of Meuselwitz. With the cessation of goods traffic on the Lucka – Meuselwitz section, the Lucka freight yard (Kr Altenburg) finally went out of service on May 23, 1993. At the location in the west of Lucka, the reception building and a goods shed have been preserved. The "Lucka corrugated cardboard factory" is located nearby.

Lucka (Kr Altenburg) South ⊙

Between Breitenhain in the northwest and winter village in the southeast was on 1 October 1891 at the western edge of Luckaer Forst the breakpoint winter village opened. In 1932 he received the addition Wintersdorf (Kr Altenburg) . Between 1948 and 1968, the Phoenix- East open-cast mine destroyed the area between the village and the Wintersdorf stop. Since the connection to the eponymous town was cut, the station was named Lucka (Kr Altenburg) Süd in 1958 . With the cessation of passenger train traffic on the Groitzsch – Meuselwitz section, the stop was also taken out of service on September 27, 1976.

Since 2014 , an asphalt bike path has been built on the Lucka – Bünauroda section , where the former stop is also located. Wintersdorf still has a stop on the Meuselwitz – Haselbach – Regis-Breitingen coal railway, which is operated as a museum railway . This is located in the south of the village of Wintersdorf.

Meuselwitz Foundry ⊙

Railway cycle path at the former Meuselwitz Gießerei stop (2019)

The Meuselwitz Foundry stop was only opened on May 28, 1972. It was located near the foundry north of Bünauroda. While the foundry still exists in what is now the “North Industrial Area”, the stop was closed again on September 27, 1976 when passenger traffic on the Groitzsch – Meuselwitz section was discontinued. A cycle path was built on the route in 2014.

Meuselwitz-Heurekagrube ⊙

Railway cycle path at the former Meuselwitz Heurekagrube stop (2019)

The stop Heurekagrube b Meuselwitz was opened on October 1, 1921 on the eastern edge of Bünauroda . The eponymous Heurekagrube was about 500 meters to the south. It had its own siding. In 1930 the breakpoint was renamed Meuselwitz-Heurekagrube .

With the cessation of passenger train traffic on the Groitzsch – Meuselwitz section, the Meuselwitz-Heurekagrube stop was taken out of service on September 27, 1976. The railway line in the area of ​​the former stop was redesigned as a cycle path in 2013/14.

Meuselwitz ⊙

Meuselwitz train station

→ Main article : Meuselwitz train station

The Meuselwitz station was opened on June 19, 1872 together with the Altenburg-Zeitz line, the line to Leipzig (Meuselwitz-Gaschwitz) was opened on September 7, 1874 and the Meuselwitz-Ronneburg line was opened on October 17, 1887 . Since June 1942, the Meuselwitz – Haselbach – Regis-Breitingen coal railway ran through the northern Meuselwitz-Altenburg lignite district . Meuselwitz station had the following names:

• until 1929: Meuselwitz
• until 1953: Meuselwitz (Thür)
• since 1953: Meuselwitz

Due to the lignite mining, the Meuselwitz – Großröda section of the Meuselwitz – Ronneburg railway was closed in 1965. When the Zwenkau and Groitzscher Dreieck opencast mines opened up, the railway line to Leipzig was interrupted and removed between Lucka and Groitzsch in the 1970s. After that, the route to Lucka was operated in freight traffic until May 23, 1993.

At the beginning of 2004 the passenger traffic between Altenburg and Zeitz was stopped. On the Zeitz ( Profen ) –Meuselwitz section, coal trains ran until 2013 to supply the power station in Mumsdorf and a few trains to the Kriebitzsch gravel recycling plant.

The Meuselwitz – Haselbach – Regis-Breitingen coal line is thus the last line in Meuselwitz where rail traffic takes place. It is used in museum operations. Meuselwitz station was expanded to become a cultural station. The stately reception building and a locomotive shed used by the coal railway have been preserved to this day. The part of the yard where the trains on the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway stopped via Groitzsch was re-gauged to a gauge of 900 mm by the coal railway in 2009.

See also

• List of disused railway lines in Saxony

literature

• Erich Preuß , Reiner Preuß : Saxon State Railways. transpress Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-344-70700-0 .

Web links

Commons : Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Route data and pictures on sachsenschiene.net
• Pictures from the last years of operation ( Memento from September 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
• Tradition on the Gaschwitz-Meuselwitz railway line in the holdings of the Halle Reich Railway Directorate in the Saxony-Anhalt State Archives, Dessau Department

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway at www.schnaudertal.de
2. ↑ Historical outline of the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line ( memento from September 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ ^{a b} List of federally closed lines in the state of Saxony that have been closed since 1994. ( MS Excel ; 27 kB) August 21, 2012, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; Retrieved January 6, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Trains should start rolling again in the Meuselwitz area , in: Ostthüringer Zeitung of February 28, 2014. ( online )
5. ↑ New cycle path between Zwenkau and Groitzsch. Retrieved August 10, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Achim Bartoschek: Groitzsch – Zwenkau. Retrieved August 10, 2015 . 
7. ↑ Approved cycle path from Meuselwitz to Bünauroda. In: Ostthüringer Zeitung . December 9, 2013, accessed August 10, 2015 . 
8. ^ Spring cleaning in Lucka. In: Luckaer Nachrichten - Official Journal of the City of Lucka. March 21, 2015, p. 3 , accessed August 10, 2015 . 
9. ↑ Achim Bartoschek: Meuselwitz – Lucka. Retrieved August 10, 2015 . 
10. ↑ The Flurstein-Lapidarium on www.reitwanderfuehrer.de
11. ↑ The Zwenkau – Groitzsch railway cycle path on the website of the city of Groitzsch
12. ^ The Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz train station on www.sachsenschiene.net
13. ↑ Groitzsch train station on www.sachsenschiene.net
14. ↑ The Käferhain stop at www.sachsenschiene.net
15. ↑ Measurement table with the former location of Käferhain and the railway station of the same name
16. ^ The Käferhain stop in the German Digital Library
17. ↑ The Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway at www.schnaudertal.de
18. ↑ Historical outline of the Gaschwitz – Meuselwitz railway line ( memento from September 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
19. ↑ Pictures of the track remains at the Käferhain stop from 1994 ( Memento from August 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
20. ↑ Location of the Wintersdorf stop on a measurement table from 1928
21. ^ Document of the LMBV with a map of the open pit Phoenix-Ost
22. ↑ The Lucka (Kr Altenburg) Süd stop on www.sachsenschiene.net
23. ↑ The Lucka (Kr Altenburg) Süd stop before the construction of the cycle path ( memento from September 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
24. ↑ www.bahntrassenradeln.de
25. ↑ Location of the Heurekagrube stop on a measurement table from 1928
26. ↑ The Meuselwitz-Heurekagrube stop on www.sachsenschiene.net
27. ↑ The Mumsdorf power plant at www.ostkohle.de
28. ^ The Kulturbahnhof Meuselwitz on the Altenburg tourism website ( Memento from September 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
29. ^ The Meuselwitz train station on www.sachsenschiene.net
30. ↑ ex KBS 532 Pegau - Neukieritzsch ( Memento from July 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), www.ferkeltaxe.de