Helmstedt – Börßum railway line

Helmstedt – Börßum
Route number (DB) :	1940
Course book section (DB) :	312 (2007)
Route length:	45.3 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Legend from Magdeburg -0.3 Helmstedt from Weferlingen 0.0 to Braunschweig (old route until around 1940) 2.6 EEW substation (old route until around 1940) (old route until around 1940) 5.5 New Büddenstedt 6.5 Büddenstedt Connection to the Trendelbusch opencast mine 8.4 Gbf Schöningen EEW 9.1 Alversdorf Connection to the Buschhaus power plant (old route until around 1940) from Eilsleben 10.9 Schöningen to Braunschweig , to Oschersleben 16.5 Söllingen (Braunschweig) from Oschersleben from Nienhagen 22.3 Jerxheim to Wolfenbüttel from Braunschweig from Heudeber-Danstedt 31.1 Matting inch 36.8 Hedeper from Braunschweig 45.3 Börßum (formerly Bf) to Osterwieck to Bad Harzburg to Kreiensen (museum) Swell:

The Helmstedt – Börßum railway is a branch line in Lower Saxony . It was opened in 1858 and opens up the area southeast of the Elm . Until December 8, 2007, there was passenger traffic on this route from Braunschweig via Wolfenbüttel , Schöppenstedt , Jerxheim and Schöningen to Helmstedt , which was last marketed as the Südelmbahn . The section from Helmstedt to the Alversdorf freight station has since been operated as a connecting line for EEW Energy from Waste , formerly E.ON.

history

The first state railway in the German Confederation was the line from Braunschweig to Wolfenbüttel, opened by the Duke of Braunschweigische Eisenbahn on December 1, 1838 . It connected the two most important cities in what was then the Duchy of Braunschweig .

The Wolfenbüttel – Oschersleben railway via Jerxheim was opened on July 16, 1843. Until the opening of the Berlin – Lehrter Railway in 1871, this was part of the shortest connection between Hanover and Berlin.

A branch line was built from Jerxheim via Schöningen to Helmstedt, which began traffic on July 20, 1858. Until 1872 this was the only railway connection from Helmstedt. In that year the Braunschweig – Magdeburg railway went into operation via Helmstedt with a branch from Eilsleben to Schöningen. Even if the route, like the Jerxheim – Helmstedt route, continued to be of predominantly local importance, there were a few express trains between Schöningen and Jerxheim. The extension of the line to Börßum, which opened on May 1, 1868, enabled the Braunschweigische Südbahn to reach Kreiensen and thus a connection to Frankfurt am Main and the southern Ruhr area. The Jerxheim – Schöningen section has been expanded to two tracks. In freight transport, it was particularly important for the region's lignite mines and sugar factories.

Branch lines such as the Jerxheim – Nienhagen (1890) and the Braunschweig – Schöninger Railway (1902) were added later.

A local train leaves Jerxheim in the direction of Helmstedt (1993)

With the division of Germany , the inner German border separated all lines branching off to the east and south-east; only Helmstedt-Magdeburg remained in operation. On January 1, 1976, the passenger and goods traffic from Jerxheim to Mattierzoll and on May 28, 1988 also the goods traffic from Mattierzoll to Börßum ceased. At the end of the 1970s, after the branch lines branching off in Jerxheim between the border and the Elm ridge, only the Wolfenbüttel – Jerxheim – Helmstedt connection was left. Despite the moderate volume of traffic, it was retained for structural reasons; the lignite opencast mines in the Helmstedter Revier and the Buschhaus power plant were connected to it.

Until December 2006, the regional trains on the Braunschweig – Schöningen – Helmstedt line ran every two hours from Monday to Saturday with additional repeater trains during rush hour. After that, service in the Schöppenstedt – Helmstedt section was reduced to six pairs of trains and finally canceled in December 2007 when the timetable changed.

Attitude Schöppenstedt – Helmstedt

Relocation of the railway line due to the expansion of the opencast mines was considered too costly by the Braunschweig region . Instead, the suspension of the route was approved. Traffic between Schöppenstedt and Schöningen was also given up in December 2007. The reason for this was the low number of passengers, which was just over 200 per day on this section. The regionalization funds saved should be used for new light rail vehicles and an improved range of services from the regional light rail system from Braunschweig to Schöppenstedt.

Schöningen station after the closure (2012)

The section through the planned open-cast mine site between the Alversdorf and Schöningen junction was shut down by the Federal Railway Authority on November 15, 2008; the Jerxheim – Schöningen section followed on May 21, 2009 and Helmstedt – Alversdorf on April 26, 2010, with this section remaining in operation as a connecting line for the EEW Energy from Waste company.

In an evaluation of 73 possible reactivation candidates in Lower Saxony, the route already fell under the point “no further investigation” in the second stage. In February 2014, the association assembly of the special purpose association for the greater Braunschweig area debated a possible route security contract for the Schöppenstedt – Schöningen section. The decision was made to have the annual costs of at least € 140,000 checked by an expert and then to decide whether the route should be secured or de-dedicated.

By 2009, parts of the route between Helmstedt and Schöningen had already been removed for open-cast mining. Both platform tracks are still available in Schöningen, the station building is empty and the outbuildings are in ruins. The section from Helmstedt in the direction of Schöningen is operated in freight traffic until shortly before the former Alversdorf station. The siding to the Buschhaus power plant branches off to the north of this .

literature

• Urs Kramer, Matthias Brodkorb: Farewell to the rails. Freight routes 1980 to 1993 . Transpress, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-71346-8 , pp. 30 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Friedrich Brandes, Chronik des Bahnhofs Jerxheim, Helmstedt 1987, pp. 24–26, online ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
4. ↑ Braunschweiger Zeitung of April 13, 2005: End of the Südelm-Bahn in sight. Transport Committee of the Greater Area Association approved the draft resolution (accessed on December 18, 2012)
5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) ZGB, Nahverkehrsplan 2008, p. 57
6. ^ Federal Railway Authority, list of the disused lines in Lower Saxony, online .
7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) draft resolution for the association assembly of the Civil Code