Köthen – Aken railway line

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Köthen-Aken (Elbe)
Aken station (2007)
Aken station (2007)
Route number : 6855
Course book section (DB) : 342 (2007)
Route length: 12.5 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class : CM4
Top speed: 60 km / h
Route - straight ahead
from Leipzig Hbf
Gleisdreieck - straight ahead, to the left, from the left
from and to Aschersleben
Station, station
0.045 Koethen
   
to Magdeburg Hbf
   
to Dessau Hbf
Stop, stop
7.668 Trebbichau (formerly Bf)
Station, station
12,492 Aken (Elbe)
   
12.5 Elbe harbor
End of track on open track - end
Aken Ost industrial area

The Köthen – Aken line is a branch line in Saxony-Anhalt . It connects the port and the city of Aken via Trebbichau with the train station in the district town of Köthen on the Magdeburg – Leipzig railway line .

history

Köthen station (2007)

In 1865 a railway committee was supposed to sound out the possibilities for building the railway to Aken. There were several starting points for the branch line. Since Aken was in Prussia , it was initially considered to choose Maxdorf , also Prussian , between Wulfen and Köthen on the route from Magdeburg, as the starting point for the railway. There was no train station there, however. Experts advised the city of Köthen in the Duchy of Anhalt to be chosen as the starting point. Moreover yet Elsnigk considered. In Koethen these plans met with severe criticism. For the time being, a railway line to Aken was not built. Such a railway should have been founded and operated as an independent company. But the costs were too high for that. At that time, however, profitability calculations predicted that a port railway would be profitable. But one was constantly looking for donors. An entrepreneur who had already been commissioned withdrew his financing.

In the meantime, many large railway companies were nationalized. The mayor of Aken turned to the Prussian government in July 1880 to take over the construction. Some time later, contracts were drawn up for the land, terrain and financing. The terrain was flat and level. This in turn led to favorable compensation. In order to save costs, the line from Aken was run in such a way that it merged with the Dessau – Köthen line southeast of Elsdorf . So only around 9.8 kilometers had to be built and the Dessau-Köthener route was also used for 2.5 kilometers. A state treaty for railway construction between Prussia and Anhalt was passed on September 24, 1887. The state police inspection took place exactly one year later to the day. Construction work began shortly thereafter.

The line from Aken ended in Berlin-Halberstadt station Köthen. A new platform was built and the pedestrian tunnel at the station was extended. A company from Uelzen was responsible for the construction. The work was completed in April 1890, so that the line could be opened in May. This also happened on May 1st. The first train left Koethen at around 1 p.m. In Aken, the day was celebrated with great enthusiasm. The mayor of Köthen did not take part in the celebration.

Initially, five pairs of trains ran daily in passenger traffic. One of them was a freight train carrying passengers. Due to the savings measures, they only had a meter mass of 25 kilograms. Light locomotives therefore soon had to be replaced by stronger ones. The fare for fourth class was 30 pfennigs. In 1908, the Aken City Council made efforts to extend the route to Zerbst or Loburg . Prussian agencies initially rejected this project. The Wiesenburg – Roßlau railway was already being planned. The First World War , which broke out soon after, prevented all construction projects. On September 2, 1916, the last train departed from Berlin-Halberstädtbahnhof Köthen for Aken. This station was then permanently closed.

The route, which is particularly important for goods traffic to the Aken Elbe port , was opened on May 1, 1890. The line reached its highest transport volume in passenger and freight traffic during the GDR era. As on many branch lines in East Germany, the number of passengers on the Köthen – Aken connection fell after the fall of the Wall in 1989, and freight traffic also fell. The first discussions about the closure of the line arose in the early 1990s. But in the winter of 1993/94 the superstructure was renewed because the port in Aken required a rail connection. The NASA , the city Köthen and the District of Köthen endeavored to increase the ridership.

With the timetable change in December 2006, DB Regio included operations on the route in the Elbe-Saale-Bahn network . Modern vehicles were also used.

Passenger traffic was discontinued on December 9, 2007 due to low passenger numbers. Most recently, the trains ran every hour on weekdays and every two hours on weekends with class 642 railcars of the Elbe Saale Bahn . Freight traffic to the port in Aken will continue to take place if required. Occasionally there are also special trips in passenger traffic.

Due to the loss of business, DB Netz wanted to give up the route in 2011. After the takeover negotiations with the main user, Port of Aken, failed, the company published a tender for takeover by other railway infrastructure companies in mid-June 2011 . This was won by the Deutsche Regionalisenbahn , with the route being operated by the subsidiary Bayerische Regionalisenbahn . Since the station Aken all sidings are locked, one is reacting locomotives only possible on the subsequent network of port operations Aken. All special trains have to run until there, as the platforms of DB Station & Service are closed.

Web links

Commons : Köthen – Aken railway line  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ Industrial area "Am Magnesitwerk" Aken Ost, PDF; 278 kB, access = 2012-08-04. Retrieved October 22, 2015 .
  2. ^ M. Schmidt: (Transport) Minister visited (transport) port. In: Akener Nachrichtenblatt No. 532. July 15, 2011, accessed on September 18, 2011 .
  3. Surrender of railway infrastructure. Köthen (exclusively) - Aken (Elbe) (including). Call for applications from June 15, 2011 to September 15, 2011. (PDF) (No longer available online.) DB Netze, June 15, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved September 18, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / fahrweg.dbnetze.com
  4. Sylke Hermann: A new operator has been found for the railway line. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, January 22, 2012, accessed on January 23, 2012 .
  5. Route Köthen - Aken, Bahn-Report , issue 3/2013, p. 43, publisher: Interest Group Rail Traffic eV, Rohr, ISSN  0178-4528