Hochstadt-Marktzeuln – Probstzella railway line

	from Bamberg
0.000	Hochstadt-Marktzeuln	274 m
	to Hof Hbf
	Main bridge
3.510	Redwitz (Rodach)
7.240	Oberlangenstadt
9.018	Küps
	from Weißenbrunn
12.700	Neuses (b Kronach) (formerly Bf)
	from Nordhalben
15,447	Kronach	305 m
20.285	Gundelsdorf
	from Sonneberg
23.630	Stockheim (Oberfr) (formerly Bf)	343 m
	from Tettau
29.191	Pressig-Rothenkirchen	376 m
35.038	Förtschendorf	455 m
41,433	Steinbach am Wald	594 m
	from Lehesten
	Trogenbach Bridge (200 m)
47.680	Ludwigsstadt	457 m
	Taugwitztal Bridge (56 m)
50.560	Lauenstein (Oberfr)	410 m
52.800	Falkenstein (Oberfr)	375 m
	State border Bavaria / Thuringia
52.940	Probstzella route change
	to Leipzig-Leutzsch

The Hochstadt-Marktzeuln – Probstzella railway , also known as Frankenwaldbahn , is a double-track, electrified main line in Bavaria . It runs from Hochstadt-Marktzeuln near Lichtenfels over the ridge of the Franconian Forest near Steinbach am Wald to the Thuringian border near Ludwigsstadt , where it merges into the Leipzig – Probstzella railway line . The route is part of the main national connection from Berlin via Leipzig / Halle and Nuremberg to Munich .

Route

The Trogenbach Bridge in Ludwigsstadt with a class 151 push locomotive on the way back to Probstzella

Simplified elevation profile of the Kronach - Saalfeld section

The Frankenwaldbahn branches off in Hochstadt-Marktzeuln from the Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn , which runs from Bamberg via Lichtenfels to Kulmbach through the Main Valley, and runs in the Rodachtal to Kronach. From there it changes to the Haßlach valley and follows this increasingly narrow and steeper valley from Pressig to the watershed between the Rhine and Elbe in Steinbach am Wald. There the apex of the route is reached at 594.54 meters above sea level and the Rennsteig is crossed in a cut.

The descent to Ludwigsstadt begins immediately on the left side of the valley , where the Loquitz is reached and the Trogenbach Viaduct is crossed. After the former Lauenstein (Oberfr) stop , the railway line crosses the foothills of the Thuringian Slate Mountains to Probstzella on the left side of the narrow river valley . At the state border between Bavaria and Thuringia , the route number changes and the kilometers of the Frankenwaldbahn as well as the route to Saalfeld end . The federal highway 173 runs parallel to the railway line from Lichtenfels to Kronach and the federal highway 85 from Kronach to Probstzella .

history

Hochstadt-Stockheimer Railway

Since 1841 efforts by the operators of the coal mine in Stockheim have been made to run the Ludwigs-Süd-Nord-Bahn via Stockheim to the northern border of the Kingdom of Bavaria . After this main line had been built in the Main Valley, the mines continued to seek a connection to the railway network. On December 4, 1859, an agreement was made between the royal transport authorities, the city of Kronach and Theodor Freiherr von Cramer-Klett in Nuremberg for the construction of a leased railway from Hochstadt to Stockheim. The Hochstadt - Kronach - Gundelsdorf section was opened on February 20, 1861, the entire Hochstadt - Stockheim section was opened on March 1, 1863.

Connection to the north (Loquitztalbahn)

On January 21, 1882, the Kingdom of Bavaria , the Kingdom of Prussia , the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen and the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt signed a contract for the construction of a main line from Stockheim via Ludwigsstadt to Eichicht with a connection to the existing lines. The Stockheim - Ludwigsstadt and Eichicht - Probstzella lines were put into operation on August 8, 1885, and the gap between Ludwigsstadt and Probstzella was closed on October 1, 1885. The royal family leased and maintained the short section between the state border at Falkenstein (Oberfr) and Probstzella Bavarian State Railways .

Initially, the Probstzella station was the transition point and border station between the Royal Bavarian State Railways and the Prussian State Railways . There the locomotive change between Prussian and Bavarian machinery and the found Umladehallen the Güterabfertigung instead. The travelers first had to change to trains operated by the other railway administration, the first through trains - in the form of express trains between Berlin and Munich - did not exist until 1897.

The line originally had only one track, but the planum was designed for a double-track expansion. The operational process with train divisions and many empty runs of the pushing locomotives on the steep section forced the relocation of the second track. As early as November 22nd, 1890, double-track operation on the steep ramps between Rothenkirchen and Probstzella began.

In 1903 the double-track expansion of the entire Franconian Forest Railway began. On May 1, 1905, the second track on the line from Hochstadt to Rothenkirchen could be used. The line connecting Probstzella and Saalfeld to the Frankenwaldbahn was completed on May 1, 1914. In 1920 the Pressig-Rothenkirchen locomotive station of the Lichtenfels workshop, which originally only held freight locomotives for shunting, was upgraded to an independent railway depot .

The connection between Lichtenfels and Saalfeld, together with the connecting Saalbahn, became one of the most important north-south routes in Germany. Between 1936 and 1939, among other things, the long - distance express railcars ran on it , which connected Berlin with Munich and Stuttgart and were only undercut by the Intercity Express trains to Munich with a journey time of six hours and 40 minutes 70 years later .

electrification

After investigating variants of the route to be electrified in 1934, the planning work for the Nuremberg - Halle / Leipzig section was completed in 1935 and the renovation work began in the same year. On May 13, 1939, the E 19 series, specially developed for this route, pulled the opening train from Nuremberg to Saalfeld, and in 1942 the contact wire finally extended to Leipzig. On September 18, 1940, the Pressig-Rothenkirchen depot received an electric locomotive for use on the Frankenwaldbahn, the E 94 012, for the first time ; the first E 94s were stationed in Probstzella a year later.

German division

Building of the former border inspection post in Probstzella before the demolition in December 2008

During the division of Germany , the route largely lost its importance. In 1945 the Reichsbahndirektion Erfurt took over the 1.3 kilometer section between the southern entrance signal of Probstzella and the zone border from the Reichsbahndirektion Nürnberg . On the entire northern connecting line in the Soviet occupation zone , the second track and the equipment for the electrical railway operation were dismantled as reparations in 1946 . The Reichsbahndirektion Erfurt electrified the 1.7-kilometer section between Probstzella and the inner-German border at the beginning of 1950, so that continuous electric train operation was again possible via the ramps. The Nuremberg Railway Directorate provided the necessary materials. From then on, the line was the only cross-border electrified railway connection between the Federal Republic and the GDR. By 1949, the second track between Hochstadt-Marktzeuln and Förtschendorf as well as Ludwigsstadt and the Falkenstein (Oberfr) block station was dismantled. In 1965 the stops in Lauenstein (Oberfr) and Falkenstein (Oberfr) were closed and the Pressig-Rothenkirchen depot was closed on September 1, 1968. The long-running interzonal trains and the transit trains to Berlin were the only passenger trains to cross the border. After 1972, a small border traffic was also set up. The border controls took place in Ludwigsstadt and Probstzella. The Probstzella border station remained the last remaining German-German border station before the border control building was demolished at the end of 2008.

Development since 1990

After the German reunification , the course book route 840 was first fundamentally refurbished, expanded to double-track and re-electrified. The increase in the regular track spacing from 3.5 to 4 meters made this work complex, especially in the narrow valleys. In addition, the route has been upgraded for the use of active tilting technology and the travel time has been shortened by around 20 minutes. In 1992 the stop in Oberlangenstadt was closed . In long-distance passenger transport, ICE trains have been running from Munich to Berlin since 2000, initially every two hours and since December 2000 every hour. Between Steinbach am Wald and the state border Bavaria / Thuringia, more precisely between kilometers 40.7 and 52.9, the route can only be driven at 70 km / h due to numerous tight curves, with tilting technology in sections at 80 to 110 km / h. Further structural measures to increase the speed of the route were not planned, as long-distance traffic was mainly shifted to the high-speed route Nuremberg – Erfurt from the end of 2017 .

In mid-2001 the IC train pair 812/813 (Berlin - Munich), which ran the route on Fridays and Saturdays, was discontinued.

Hochstadt-Marktzeuln station, starting point of the Frankenwaldbahn
Kronach station at 15.44 km
Gundelsdorf stop
Probstzella station

Train traffic

Long-distance transport

Until the timetable change in December 2017, there was regular, at least two-hour ICE traffic from Munich to Berlin via the Frankenwaldbahn. Since December 2017, only one pair of IC trains has been running from Leipzig to Karlsruhe with a stop in Kronach, and a two-hour IC connection is to be set up again from 2023.

Local transport

Since December 2018, regional express trains have been used every two hours on the route Nuremberg - Lichtenfels - Saalfeld - Jena - Leipzig, which stop everywhere between Lichtenfels and Saalfeld. In addition, a regional express runs every two hours between Nuremberg and Saalfeld on the route, which only stops at some stations. The offer is supplemented by a regional train every two hours from Bamberg to Kronach.

Class 442 railcars are used on all three lines .

Freight transport

Class 155 locomotive as a sliding locomotive on a freight train near Förtschendorf

As sliding locomotives for freight trains between Pressig-Rothenkirchen and Probstzella, locomotives of the 151 series are mostly used , but occasionally also those of the 152 series . In addition to many locomotives from private railway companies, the 152 series , but also the 151, 155 , 185 , 189 and 193 series are most frequently used as the main leader in freight transport . The 294 series is used for transfer journeys.

Line service in the 2019 timetable year:

Train type	route	Tact
IC	Leipzig - Bamberg - Nuremberg - Stuttgart - Karlsruhe	a pair of trains
RE	Nuremberg - Fürth - Erlangen - Bamberg - Lichtenfels - Kronach - Saalfeld - Jena - Naumburg - Leipzig	Every two hours
RE	Saalfeld - Kronach - Lichtenfels - Bamberg - Nuremberg	Every two hours
RB	(Kronach -) Lichtenfels - Bamberg	Every two hours

Train traffic before 2018

Class 143 locomotive with double-decker cars as the Naumburg - Lichtenfels regional train in Kronach

ICE T in the direction of Munich at the apex of the Frankenwaldbahn in Steinbach am Wald

In long-distance traffic, ICE T (series 411) ran approximately every hour as ICE trains on the Munich - Nuremberg - Halle / Leipzig - Berlin (- Hamburg ) line, with only every second pair of trains running via Leipzig stopping in Lichtenfels and Saalfeld. Until the timetable change in 2007, InterCity trains ran daily on the route and, until 2002, Interregio trains that stopped in Lichtenfels, Kronach and Saalfeld. Since December 2010, however, a pair of intercity trains has been running again, which has been placed in the timing of an ICE train pair and is covered in a sandwich combination with the 101 series.

Regional train from Kronach to Lichtenfels in Kronach, consisting of BR 143 locomotives and n-wagons

Until the timetable change in December 2011, Regional Express trains on the Hof - Saalfeld route ran every two hours on the route . Regional trains alternating between Lichtenfels and Kronach every hour on the routes (Nuremberg -) Lichtenfels - Kronach and Lichtenfels - Saalfeld - Naumburg , with the regional trains ending in Kronach always connecting to the Regional Express to Saalfeld or in Kronach from the Regional Express to Hof to the regional train to Lichtenfels existed. In the Kronach - Saalfeld section, this resulted in a regional train connection from Lichtenfels to Naumburg that only ran every two hours.

On the connected regional train connection (Nuremberg -) Lichtenfels - Saalfeld - Naumburg, 143s were also on the move with double-decker cars . Since the timetable change in the winter of 2013, trains of the 442 series have normally been running there, this is the well-known Talent 2 electric multiple unit.

Model series that are no longer used as planned in passenger and freight transport today include:

Class 03.10 , 39.10 and 95 of the steam locomotives . On May 15, 1935, the Pressig-Rothenkirchen depot also had the 44 , 57 , 91 , 96 and 98 series .

The series 103 , 118 , 119 , 120 , 140 , 141 , 143 , 144 , 150 , 155 and 194 of the electric locomotives . In December 1958, the Pressig-Rothenkirchen depot listed not only the E 44 and E 94 but also the E 52 and E 91 series .

Among the diesel locomotives, the series 212 and 365 for handover journeys, which mainly take place at night due to the high traffic density, as well as the Kö and Ks stationed in Pressig-Rothenkirchen from 1955 , which, in addition to shunting and handover services, also took over the passenger train service between Stockheim and Burggrub,

among the electric multiple units the ICE 1 , ET 31 and ET 32 and

DR 137 153… 234 among the diesel multiple units .

Accidents

Accident in 1924

On the night of April 10, 1898, a serious train accident occurred on what was then only a single-track line: at about 0:30 a.m., a freight train coming from Probstzella collided at Stockheim station after crossing a stop signal with a passenger train coming from Kronach that was not occupied by passengers . In the accident, the two locomotive drivers were seriously injured, the rest of the train crew suffered minor injuries. The locomotive driver of the freight train from Rothenkirchen died in August 1898 as a result of his injuries.

In the railway accident in Ludwigsstadt on February 18, 1924, a freight train derailed due to excessive speed after a brake failure in a construction site and crashed from the Trogenbach bridge onto residential buildings. Two people died and four others were injured.

On September 23, 1983, shortly after 3 a.m., the Berlin-Munich transit train between the border and Ludwigsstadt was separated. The passengers in the back ten cars had to change to the front three cars on the open road and were able to continue their journey after about an hour and a half. The other cars were towed by a workshop train to Ludwigsstadt at around 6 a.m. and later transferred to Nuremberg empty with two other locomotives.

On the morning of February 9, 1995, a local train from Probstzella to Lichtenfels, south of the Pressig-Rothenkirchen station, crashed into six freight wagons that had been lost by a freight train. Seven people were injured.

On the night of June 6, 2008, a night train from Vienna to Berlin, north of Förtschendorf, crashed into a tractor that had hit the rails. The tractor driver was seriously injured, and nobody was injured on the train. The route was then closed for several hours.

On the afternoon of December 12, 2009, there was a chemical accident in the Kronach train station. A poisonous liquid leaked from five parked freight cars. For several hours, the line was only passable on a single track and at a reduced speed. Nobody got hurt.

In the early morning of November 8, 2014, a car that had broken down on the track bed of a level crossing in Neukenroth was hit by a freight train. Nobody was injured. The railway line was closed for several hours due to the rescue work.

literature

Manfred Knappe (editor): 100 years of the Frankenwaldbahn (Eisenbahn-Journal: special edition III / 85). Hermann Merker Verlag, Fürstenfeldbruck 1985, ISSN 0720-051X .
Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: The Frankenwaldbahn. The story of the steep ramp over the Franconian Forest. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-581-5 .
Konrad Koschinski: Kissed awake from the turning point. The Frankenwaldbahn from 1989 to the present day. In: Eisenbahn Journal, December 2018, pp. 30–39.
Bernd v. Mitzlaff: 100 years of the Frankenwaldbahn. In: Eisenbahn Magazin , January 1986, p. 21 ff.

Web links

Commons : Frankenwaldbahn - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Course, operating points and permissible speeds on the OpenRailwayMap
Private website for the route
Railway lines in Thuringia: (Leipzig Hbf) - Leipzig-Leutzsch - Probstzella - (Hochstadt-Marktzeuln)
Regional traffic network, route book 840: Lichtenfels - Probstzella - Saalfeld

Individual evidence

^ Infrastructure register
^ Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: The Frankenwaldbahn. The story of the steep ramp over the Franconian Forest. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-581-5 , p. 37.
↑ 100 years of the Frankenwaldbahn in: Eisenbahn Magazin 1/1986, p. 21 ff.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Bahnbetriebswerke. In: Private homepage on the Lichtenfels – Kronach – Saalfeld railway line. Retrieved January 29, 2012 .
^ Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: The Frankenwaldbahn. The story of the steep ramp over the Franconian Forest. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-581-5 , p. 97
^ Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: The Frankenwaldbahn. The story of the steep ramp over the Franconian Forest. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-581-5 , p. 102.
↑ ^a ^b The stations of the Frankenwaldbahn; former train stations. In: Private homepage on the Lichtenfels – Kronach – Saalfeld railway line. Retrieved January 29, 2012 .
↑ Steffi Hammer: www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/audio/audio25382.html “What will happen to the Probstzella border station?”, In: Deutschlandfunk , September 13, 2008. (audio contribution)
^ Message IC withdrawal from the Frankenwaldbahn. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 7/2001, ISSN 1421-2811 , p. 291.
↑ The express train finally stops again in the district town. In: New Press Coburg. December 11, 2017, accessed February 8, 2018 .
↑ Today's passenger traffic on the Frankenwaldbahn. In: Private homepage on the Lichtenfels – Kronach – Saalfeld railway line. Retrieved January 28, 2012 .
↑ Gerd Fleischmann: It happened on Easter Sunday, April 10th, 1898. Railway tragedy in Stockheim station - freight train and passenger train crashed together . In: Kronicher. The information brochure for the city and district of Kronach . No. 34 . Verlag Carlo Fehn, Kronach April 2014, p. 6th f . ( online ).
↑ web Extra Edition 5.2016, page 31 (Geramond Verlag Munich)
↑ Special missions over the past 50 years. Voluntary fire brigade Pressig ( Memento from September 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
^ Serious train accident near Förtschendorf. THW local association Kronach, June 6, 2010, archived from the original on October 29, 2014 ; Retrieved October 29, 2014 .
↑ Use of chemicals in Kronach train station. Kronach Volunteer Fire Brigade, accessed on August 5, 2010 .
^ Corinna Igler: Freight train records car in Neukenroth. inFranken.de, November 8, 2014, accessed November 8, 2014 .
↑ Got stuck: freight train rams car. Neue Presse Coburg, November 8, 2014, accessed on November 8, 2014 .

[1] Infrastructure register

[2] Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: The Frankenwaldbahn. The story of the steep ramp over the Franconian Forest. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-581-5 , p. 37.

[3] 100 years of the Frankenwaldbahn in: Eisenbahn Magazin 1/1986, p. 21 ff.

[Bahnbetriebswerke-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Bahnbetriebswerke. In: Private homepage on the Lichtenfels – Kronach – Saalfeld railway line. Retrieved January 29, 2012 .

[5] Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: The Frankenwaldbahn. The story of the steep ramp over the Franconian Forest. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-581-5 , p. 97

[6] Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: The Frankenwaldbahn. The story of the steep ramp over the Franconian Forest. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-581-5 , p. 102.

[Ehemalige_Bahnhöfe-7] The stations of the Frankenwaldbahn; former train stations. In: Private homepage on the Lichtenfels – Kronach – Saalfeld railway line. Retrieved January 29, 2012 .

[8] Steffi Hammer: www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/audio/audio25382.html “What will happen to the Probstzella border station?”, In: Deutschlandfunk , September 13, 2008. (audio contribution)

[eri-2001-291-9] Message IC withdrawal from the Frankenwaldbahn. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 7/2001, ISSN 1421-2811 , p. 291.

[10] The express train finally stops again in the district town. In: New Press Coburg. December 11, 2017, accessed February 8, 2018 .

[11] Today's passenger traffic on the Frankenwaldbahn. In: Private homepage on the Lichtenfels – Kronach – Saalfeld railway line. Retrieved January 28, 2012 .

[12] Gerd Fleischmann: It happened on Easter Sunday, April 10th, 1898. Railway tragedy in Stockheim station - freight train and passenger train crashed together . In: Kronicher. The information brochure for the city and district of Kronach . No. 34 . Verlag Carlo Fehn, Kronach April 2014, p. 6th f . ( online ).

[13] web Extra Edition 5.2016, page 31 (Geramond Verlag Munich)

[14] Special missions over the past 50 years. Voluntary fire brigade Pressig ( Memento from September 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )

[15] Serious train accident near Förtschendorf. THW local association Kronach, June 6, 2010, archived from the original on October 29, 2014 ; Retrieved October 29, 2014 .

[16] Use of chemicals in Kronach train station. Kronach Volunteer Fire Brigade, accessed on August 5, 2010 .

[17] Corinna Igler: Freight train records car in Neukenroth. inFranken.de, November 8, 2014, accessed November 8, 2014 .

[18] Got stuck: freight train rams car. Neue Presse Coburg, November 8, 2014, accessed on November 8, 2014 .