Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach railway line

Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach
Route number :	3303
Course book section (DB) :	672
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Saarbrücken 0.0 Kaiserslautern Hbf to Mannheim Bundesstrasse 37 2.5 Kaiserslautern North Mannheimer Strasse Friedenstrasse State road 395 Federal motorway 6 Kaiserslautern motorway triangle State road 395 5.5 Eselsfürth to the US Army 9.2 Fröhnerhof District road 44 Schützenkanzel tunnel (57 m) Bundesstrasse 48 from Hochspeyer 13.1 Enkenbach 297 m to Bad Münster and Grünstadt

Enkenbach station

The Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach line is a single-track main line in the West Palatinate . It runs within the Rhein-Neckar transport association (VRN). It was built in 1875 as an abbreviation for trains on the Alsenz Valley Railway that ran to Kaiserslautern. In the following decades several express trains ran on this connection. Passenger traffic was initially discontinued in 1987, but reactivated ten years later.

history

Planning, construction and opening (1870–1875)

As early as 1863, a memorandum advertised a railway from Kaiserslautern via Kirchheimbolanden to the connection to the Rhine-Hessian border in Alzey, the so-called Donnersbergerbahn. The route was planned parallel to a long-distance road that was already important at the time, today's B 40 or A 63. In the course of this route, a route from Kaiserslautern via Enkenbach was designed for the first time. Since they feared negative effects on the operation and above all the income of the Palatinate Ludwig Railway, a realization was abandoned.

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871, there was increased interest in strategic pathways in southwest Germany. In the course of this, calls for a direct connection between Kaiserslautern and Enkenbach were loud, as the previous route via Hochspeyer was considered too cumbersome for this, especially after the Zellertal Railway Langmeil - Monsheim and the Donnersberg Railway Alzey - Marnheim were completed in 1873 and 1874 were. The city of Kaiserslautern provided the appropriate premises especially for this purpose. The Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach connection finally went into operation on May 15, 1875. Intermediate stations on this connection route were “Kaiserslautern Nord” and “Eselsfürth”.

Development up to the Second World War (1875–1945)

The operator of the railway was the company of the Palatinate Northern Railways . Since the Enkenbach – Eselsfürth – Kaiserslautern connection is shorter than the route via Hochspeyer , most trains - especially long-distance trains - went in the direction of Kaiserslautern via Eselsfürth. In the opposite direction they took the Alsenz Valley Railway to Langmeil and from there to the Rhine-Main area via Worms to Frankfurt am Main or via Alzey to Mainz. Although it was originally planned to expand it to two tracks, it always remained a single track.

On January 1, 1909, the line together with the other railway lines within the Palatinate became the property of the Royal Bavarian State Railways .

On April 1, 1920, the line became the property of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . In 1922 the line was incorporated into the newly established Ludwigshafen Reich Railway Directorate . After the Eistalbahn Grünstadt – Eisenberg, which opened in 1876, was extended to Enkenbach in 1932, some of its trains were tied through the connecting line to Kaiserslautern. In the course of the dissolution of the Ludwigshafen directorate, the Kaiserslautern – Eselsfürth section changed to the responsibility of the Saarbrücken directorate on April 1, 1937, while the Mainz authority was responsible for the rest of the route.

Recent past

The German Federal Railways (DB) divided the station after the Second World War in the Bundesbahndirektion Mainz one, they all railway lines within the newly created state of Rhineland-Palatinate allotted. DB received financial grants from the federal government aimed at maintaining the route for strategic reasons as part of the Cold War . On August 1, 1971, the line came under the jurisdiction of its Saarbrücken counterpart in the course of the dissolution of the Mainz management.

On May 29, 1987, passenger traffic on the route was initially set. Military aspects prevented a complete shutdown. A year later, after the railway accident in the Heiligenberg Tunnel on the Mannheim – Saarbrücken railway line and its closure between Kaiserslautern and Hochspeyer for around three days, it served as a diversion route for trains on the Alsenz Valley Railway and part of those along the main line from Saarbrücken to Mannheim. Due to the missing overhead line in Kaiserslautern, the latter got a diesel locomotive in front of the electric locomotive and had to turn heads in Enkenbach as well as in Hochspeyer in order to then take up their regular route.

On June 1, 1997, the line was reactivated for passenger traffic in order to save trains along the Alsenz Valley Railway, which lead to Kaiserslautern, from making the detour via Hochspeyer. However, the two intermediate stations have not been operated since then.

Route

The line begins at the Kaiserslautern main station and initially runs together with the Mannheim – Saarbrücken railway in an easterly direction before turning north. Then it crosses the federal highway 37 and reaches the Kaiserslautern Nord train station. This is followed by another course to the northeast, where it crosses under the federal motorway 6 and runs parallel to the Eselsbach . Eselsfürth train station is located there. A few kilometers further east it reaches the southern edge of the Enkenbach settlement area . There it crosses the watershed between Lauter and Alsenz in the form of the Schützenkanzel tunnel and, shortly after crossing under the federal highway 48, joins the Alsenz valley railway coming from Hochspeyer in order to reach the Enkenbach train station.

traffic

In 1985, express trains ran on the route for the last time. These led from Paris via the Alsenz Valley Railway and Mainz to Frankfurt.

Operating points

Kaiserslautern Central Station

Kaiserslautern Hbf., Starting point of the Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach railway line

→ Main article : Kaiserslautern Hauptbahnhof

The station was opened on July 1, 1848, when the Homburg – Kaiserslautern section of the Palatinate Ludwig Railway went into operation. It was only half a year later that it was extended to Frankenstein, before in 1849 the stretch from the Rheinschanze to Bexbach could be used continuously. Despite its great importance, it only became a railway junction in 1875 with the opening of the Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach railway line, making it a comparatively late point. It also gained in importance with the opening of the Lautertalbahn in 1883 and the completion of the Biebermühlbahn to Pirmasens in 1913.

Kaiserslautern North

The station was on the northeastern outskirts. The station building was built from red sandstone and was therefore typical for buildings by the Palatinate Northern Railways. It was closed before the temporary cessation of passenger traffic, and to this day no more passenger trains stop at it. Today there is a facility of Lebenshilfe Westpfalz in the building .

Eselsfürth

The train station is at the height of the Eselsfürth settlement belonging to Kaiserslautern. The station had a standard mechanical signal box that was put into operation in 1938 and is no longer relevant to rail operations. His station building was also built in the 1930s. There are no longer any passenger trains stopping at this station. A siding branches off to a US barracks.

Fröhnerhof

Little is known about the Fröhnerhof depot. It was in use from the 1940s until May 29, 1976. The depot created an intersection on the single-track line.

Enkenbach

→ Main article : Enkenbach station

The train station is on the eastern outskirts of Enkenbach . It was put into operation in 1870 with the opening of the Alsenz Valley Railway section from Hochspeyer to Winnweiler . With the opening of the line to Kaiserslautern, it became a railway junction. From 1932 it was the western terminus of the Eistalbahn.

literature

• Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rails. Disused railway lines from 1980–1990 . Transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-71073-0 , p. 221-224 .

Web links

Commons : Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• history
• Pictures of the tunnel portals, route 3303

Individual evidence

1. ↑ eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de: Schützenkanzel tunnel on route 3303 . Retrieved January 22, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Memorandum on the construction of a railway from Kaiserslautern via Kirchheimbolanden to connect to the state border, Kirchheimbolanden in June 1863, Bavarian State Library, signature 4 BAVAR 550 dn
3. ↑ Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines from 1980–1990 . 1997, p. 423 .
4. ↑ Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2007, p. 13 .
5. ↑ bahnstatistik.de: Royal Bavarian Railway Directorate Ludwigshafen a. Rhine - Timeline: Establishments - Designations - Dissolutions . Retrieved December 17, 2013 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} bahnstatistik.de: railway management Mainz - Timeline: erections - names - resolutions . Retrieved December 17, 2013 . 
7. ^ Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate (2007) . 2007, p. 19 .
8. ↑ Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines from 1980–1990 . 1997, p. 408 .
9. ↑ Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines from 1980–1990 . 1997, p. 424 .
10. ↑ Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Return to Rail - Reactivated and New Lines in Passenger Traffic 1980-2001 . 2001, p. 178 .
11. ^ ^{A b} Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines from 1980–1990 . 1997, p. 421 .
12. ↑ stellwerke.de: list German interlockings - Entries XZ . Retrieved December 19, 2013 . 
13. ↑ stellwerke.de: list German interlockings - abbreviations . Retrieved December 19, 2013 . 
14. ↑ Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines from 1980–1990 . 1997, p. 422 .
15. ^ Drehscheibe-online.de: Steam in the Palatinate . Retrieved January 22, 2016 .