Kassel – Warburg railway line

Kassel Hbf – Warburg (Westf)
Route number (DB) :	2550 3913 (Vellmar-Obervellmar-Kassel-Oberzwehren)
Course book section (DB) :	430
Route length:	52.3 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Top speed:	140 km / h
Dual track :	(continuous)
Legend Upper Ruhr Valley Railway from Hagen Route from Altenbeken former route from Volkmarsen 292.9 Warburg (Westf) 297.4 Diemel , state border NRW / Hesse 299.0 Haueda 301.0 Liebenau (Bz Kassel) (until 12/2015) Ostheim 307.0 Lambs 309.7 Eberschütz former Carlsbahn from Bad Karlshafen 313.1 Hofgeismar-Hümme RT1 318.6 Hofgeismar 324.6 Grebenstein (former route 1848–1875) Grebenstein (until 1875) Eat 329.2 Immenhausen 333.5 Espenau - Mönchehof Link to Speele (planned) Line from Wolfhagen RT4 337.7 Vellmar - Obervellmar (original route west of the Rbf) 338.5 Vellmar-Osterberg / EKZ 339.2 Kassel Rbf Abzw Berg High-speed route from Göttingen Route from Hann. Münden 340.2 Kassel - Jungfernkopf Wegmannstrasse (until 2012) Geilebach 340.2 Kassel Rbf North 340.3 Kassel Northwest ( Abzw ) Geilebach 341.4 Kassel- Harleshausen Wolfhager Strasse ( B 251 ) 341.5 Kassel Rbf 342.5 Kassel- Kirchditmold SFS to Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe 344.0 Freight route to Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe Freight route to Kassel Unterstadt Route from Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe System change 15 kV ~ / 600 V = 345.2 Kassel Central Station RegioTram Kassel RT1 RT4 etc. Swell:

The Kassel – Warburg line is a double-track, electrified main line in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia . It connects Kassel in northern Hesse with Warburg in eastern Westphalia .

As part of the East-West route known as Central Germany , it is used by long-distance, regional and freight trains.

A section of the route between Kassel and Vellmar-Obervellmar is also known as the Harleshausen curve .

history

Kassel main station, eastern start and end point of the Kassel – Warburg railway line

Warburg (Westf) train station - western start and end point of the Kassel – Warburg railway line

construction

Former station building of the Kassel main station , largely destroyed in World War II

Former branch of the Carlsbahn in Hümme

The line was built by the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn-Gesellschaft (FWNB). The first section was called the Carlsbahn section from Kassel to Karlshafen . The aim of the connection was to connect the capital of the Electorate of Hesse with the port on the left bank of the Weser exclusively through domestic territory . The timetables were therefore tailored to the connection to the Weserschifffahrt. The southern part of the Carlsbahn between Kassel and Hümme is thus the oldest part of the Kassel – Warburg railway.

The construction of the line was not without its problems: numerous dams and bridges had to be built in the low mountain range north of Kassel. Tunnels, the production of which was particularly complex in the time before dynamite was available, could be avoided - with the exception of the Deiseler Tunnel in the northern section of the Carlsbahn. The route in the Grebenstein area proved to be particularly critical .

Grebenstein (1)

Several routes were considered in the Grebenstein area. A ridge south of Grebenstein, which could only be overcome with a deep cut in the terrain, was decisive for the route ultimately chosen. This would have had to be dug by hand with the technical means available around 1845, which represented a considerable cost factor. So the railway company decided to look at it when coming from Kassel, to drive around it in an arc that dodged to the left and then to turn right to Grebenstein with a subsequent sharp right-hand bend. Here the railway line cut through the lower town on a high embankment, which required a total of 15 bridges over the Esse , intersecting streets and paths. The exit from Grebenstein consisted of an even narrower left curve to the north, where after a few hundred meters the route merged into the route to Hofgeismar, which still exists today. Grebenstein's first regular train station was also on this last bend . These curves were not a problem for the railroad's top speed of 30 km / h in 1848 and also gave Grebenstein a train station location that was right next to the city.

business

The Drache locomotive pulled the opening train of the second section on August 18, 1848

The route was opened in sections. The first section went into operation on March 30, 1848, a section from Karlshafen to a provisional train station on the northern edge of Grebenstein, on Schinderberg. It was officially opened on April 3, 1848. Only a few months later, on August 18, 1848, the section between Kassel and Grebenstein was completed and opened. The opening train was pulled by the Drache locomotive , the first locomotive built by Henschel in Kassel. On August 21, 1848, public operations began here. However, this section ended west of Grebenstein. The corresponding provisional station was located at the intersection between the railway and the road from Grebenstein to Burguffeln . The section through the city was not yet completed due to the numerous engineering structures . Travelers were transported here in horse-drawn buses between the two endpoints of the railway in Grebenstein. The line from Karlshafen to Kassel was not open to traffic until November 8, 1848.

The building was continued on the basis of an agreement between the Electorate of Hesse and Prussia. The border station at Haueda was reached on March 6, 1849. Since the originally assigned the Westphalian route Cologne-Minden-Thüringische Link Railway Company meantime bankruptcy was filed, it was not until February 6, 1851 to the Royal Westphalian Railway Company the portion of its Hamm-Warburg railway between Warburg and the border with Kurhessen. The main reason for the delay was the viaduct near Warburg. Because the viaduct over the Diemel near Warburg had to be improved. The railroad company's shareholders were unwilling to raise additional capital. The Prussian Ministry of Commerce finally made a sum available so that the construction work could be carried out. In February 1851 a locomotive drove over the viaduct for the first time, two months later the viaduct was opened for operation.

On March 28, 1851, the connection between Hümme and Warburg, Westphalia , in the Kingdom of Prussia was opened. Soon after its completion, the importance of rail transport far outweighed that of shipping. As a result, the Kassel – Warburg line became the main line , and the remaining line of the original “Carlsbahn” from Hümme to Karlshafen, now known as the “Carlsbahn”, became a branch line .

The railway line was also of strategic importance until 1866, as the connection from Berlin to the Prussian western provinces ran over the territory of the Kingdom of Hanover and could thus be bypassed.

Grebenstein (2)

With the steadily increasing speed of rail traffic, the tight bends on both sides of Grebenstein presented a significant operational problem. On August 28, 1872, what had been increasingly feared happened: At around 4 p.m., the exit bend from Grebenstein station braked the engine driver of a coming from the north express train , which traveled to Kassel, the locomotive was removed from the track worn and crashed along with their Tender the high embankment down into the stack. The stoker was killed in this accident. This accident was the last reason to fundamentally rebuild the railway facilities in Grebenstein: What was still too expensive in the 1840s, the puncture through the ridge south of Grebenstein, was made and the route straightened. Grebenstein received a new train station. This new route went into operation in 1875.

Monument protection

Hofgeismar-Hümme station

Some of the facilities on the railway line are cultural monuments due to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . These include:

• Reception building at Liebenau station
• Liebenau railway bridge
• Track inspector's house at Hümme , kilometer 312.70
• Reception building in Hümme station
• Reception and workshop building in Hofgeismar station
• Grebenstein station building from 1875
• Railway bridge in Grebenstein over the Esse from 1848
• Entrance building at Immenhausen station
• Reception building at Espenau station
• Entrance building at Obervellmar station

Todays situation

RegioTram near Liebenau between Hofgeismar-Hümme and Warburg

The line is classified as a main railway line , has two tracks throughout and has been electrified with overhead lines since December 11, 1970 . It belongs to the highest route class D4, which means the permissible axle load is 22.5 t and the load per meter is 8.0 t / m.

The entire route is equipped with punctual train control (PZB 90) and between Warburg and Vellmar-Obervellmar with speed monitoring tilting technology (ZUB 262) .

service

Long-distance transport

In long-distance passenger rail transport, individual pairs of intercity trains on line 50 travel the route. Furthermore, a pair of trains on the Intercity Express line 41 runs daily to and from Munich:

Operation in long-distance traffic

line	Line course	service
IC 50	( Berlin - Halle - Naumburg - / Jena-Göschwitz - Jena-Paradies -) Weimar - Erfurt - Eisenach - Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe - Warburg  - Paderborn - Dortmund - Essen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf (- Cologne)	3 × per day and direction, Fri + Sun 4 × per direction
ICE 41	Munich - Nuremberg - Würzburg - Fulda - Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe - Warburg  - Paderborn - Dortmund - Essen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf - Cologne	1 × per day and direction

Regional traffic

In the local rail passenger transport , the route is used by Regional Express lines and the RegioTram Kassel :

line	Line course	EVU	material	Tact
RT1	Kassel Hbf - Vellmar-Obervellmar - Hofgeismar-Hümme	RegioTram Kassel	Alstom RegioCitadis	030 min
RT4	Kassel Hbf - Vellmar-Obervellmar  - Zierenberg - Wolfhagen	RegioTram Kassel	Alstom RegioCitadis	030 min
RE 11 Rhein-Hellweg-Express	Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe  - Warburg  - Altenbeken  - Düsseldorf	Abellio Rail NRW	Siemens Desiro HC	120 min (with gaps in the IC travel times)
RE 17 Sauerland Express	Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe - Warburg  - Bestwig  - Schwerte  - Hagen	DB Regio NRW	BR 633 (140 km / h)	120 min. (With gaps to the ICE travel times)

Planning

Due to the positive development of the extension of line RE 11 to Kassel, the Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (NWL) plans to reduce the offer for the timetable change in December 2020 to an hourly rate. There should only be gaps in the timetable between Paderborn and Kassel for two InterCity train pairs. In return, the RE 17 to Hagen between Kassel and Warburg is to be completely eliminated. By April 2020, coordination with regard to the scope of offerings in peripheral locations is to be carried out. Funds to finance the additional operating costs must also be raised from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and a binding order must be obtained from the North Hessian Transport Association (NVV).

Freight transport

The route is often used by freight traffic for connections between the Ruhr area and eastern and southern Germany.

In order to facilitate the onward journey towards East Germany for goods traffic, the Kassel curve is being planned, with which a direct connection via the Hannöversche Südbahn and the Halle – Hann railway line. Münden to the east would arise. So far, freight trains for this route have had to change direction in Kassel Rbf.

literature

• Heinz Schomann: Railway in Hessen. Cultural monuments in Hessen . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (=  Monument Topography Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 2 , vol. 1). Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 , p. 85-98 (route 004).
• Wolfgang Tölle: The railway in Grebenstein 1848–1875 (=  Castle and City of Grebenstein . Volume 4 ). Support group of the Ackerbürgermuseum Grebenstein , Grebenstein 1990.

Web links

NRWbahnarchiv by André Joost:

• Description of route 2550 (NRW part)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ Tölle, pp. 65f.
4. ↑ Tölle, p. 158.
5. ↑ Tölle, p. 39f; 89f.
6. ↑ This and the following data from: Tölle, p. 105f.
7. ^ Henz: Restoration of the viaduct over the Diemel . In: ZfB II, 1852, pp. 15–31.
8. ↑ Tölle, p. 172.
9. ↑ Tölle, p. 40.
10. ↑ Schomann.
11. ↑ Attention: In Schomann, p. 93, mapped in the wrong place!
12. ^ DB Netz Rail Network Conditions of Use 2011, p. 14
13. ↑ Local transport association Paderborn / Höxter, 26th association meeting, December 2, 2019, Item 8: Target concept RE 11 (RRX) for the Hellweg corridor
14. ^ Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe, 56th Association Assembly, Item 7: Target concept RE 11 (RRX) for the Hellweg corridor, December 5, 2019
15. ↑ https://www.kurve-kassel.de/