Kautenbach – Bastogne railway line
| Kautenbach – Bastogne | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Course book range : | Linn 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 200 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Kautenbach – Bastogne railway is a branch line in Luxembourg and Belgium, which is now partially closed. It runs from Kautenbach on the Luxembourg – Spa railway via Wiltz to Bastogne . Today only the 9.48 km electrified section of Kautenbach – Wiltz is in operation.
history
The first considerations for the connection to Wiltz were made during the planning of the northern line in 1860. A direct connection, i. H. a swiveling of the main line to Wiltz was rejected very quickly, so that only the construction of a connecting line came into question.
With the Prince Heinrich Railway Company , a second railway company was established in Luxembourg in 1869. The aim was a second network, independent of the Wilhelm-Luxemburg-Eisenbahnen , which would connect the Luxembourg iron ore deposits with coal deposits in Belgium and Germany. In 1873 this company received the concession for a line from Bastogne in Belgium via Wiltz to the northern line. Both Kautenbach and Wilwerwiltz were discussed as a branch station, whereby the connection from Kautenbach was able to prevail due to the simpler terrain and the shorter distance.
Although the construction of the railway line was decided in 1875, the company went bankrupt in 1876/77 and the concession was withdrawn. The anonymous Luxembourgish Prince Heinrich Railway and Ore Mine Company, which was then founded , then took over the existing concession and the construction of the line, although the last section of the line in Belgium was to be built by the Belgian State Railways. On the Luxembourg side, the line to Wiltz was initially only to be completed by 1880. For cost reasons, the minimum radius for the curves has been reduced to 200 m. This saved some bridges and tunnels, and the length of the terrain cuts could be shortened. The maximum gradient is 1.5%. The 9.517 km long route was opened on June 1, 1881.
Several years passed before construction work began on the missing section. Construction work did not begin until 1886.
The Benonchamps – Bastogne section was opened by the Belgian State Railways on July 18, 1887, the last section between Wiltz and Benonchamps only on July 1, 1888. The planned connecting routes from Bastogne via Redange or Reichlingen to the Attert line and via Oberbesslingen to Troisvierges, which between Wiltz and the border to meet the route to Bastogne were never built. However, since 1885 there was a connection from Libramont via Bastogne to Gouvy.
At first, the train had to be changed at the Benonchamps border station, from 1893 the Belgian State Railways and the Prince Heinrich Railway took over the management of operations between Wiltz and Bastogne every six months.
In 1907 and 1916, the quarries near Merkholtz received a rail connection, and the Merkholtz stop in 1907 a waiting room. However, apart from a few years, the route has always been a loss.
In the summer of 1944, the Belgian section was interrupted by a partisan attack. As on numerous other Luxembourg railway lines, this line was also severely damaged during the Ardennes offensive. Only the train station in Kautenbach was largely spared. In 1945, operations to Wiltz were possible again, and then to Bastogne in January 1946.
As part of the modernization measures after the Second World War, the CFL introduced a simplified branch line in 1948. As early as October 8, 1950, passenger traffic on the Belgian section of the route was stopped. The remaining passenger traffic was carried out with railcars. On September 24, 1967, all passenger and freight traffic was finally stopped from Wiltz. This part of the route has been converted into a cycle path (all the way to Bastogne).
On the remaining branch line from Kautenbach to Wiltz, the superstructure and tracks were renewed in 1969 and the station buildings were renovated in 1981. As part of the electrification of the northern line, this line was also electrified in 1991 (opening on April 20, 1991). In 2001 and 2004, a complete renovation of the route, including the substructure and the bridges, was finally carried out (official reopening 2005, see video).
Transport takes place on the track in the form of regional express trains on and regional trains every hour instead, most of these features are bound by over the northern route to Luxembourg City and have the path of Luxembourg-Mersch-Ettelbruck-Kautenbach-Wiltz. Push-pull trains with class 4000 electric locomotives and class 2000 electric multiple units from De Dietrich Ferroviaire are used .
The Paradiso and Mäerkels stops are not served by all trains (only RBs) and are also on- demand stops .
literature
- Ed Federmayer: Railways in Luxembourg - Volume 1 , Wolfgang Herdam Fotoverlag, Gernrode / Harz 2007