Löwenberg – Flecken Zechlin railway line

	50.6	Spots Zechlin
	46.8	Kagar - Zechlin village
	42.6	Linow
	41.1	Linowsee
	38.1	Rheinsberg (Mark)

	10.1	Rheinsberg Stechlinsee ( Rheinsberg NPP )

	7.1	Berry bush

		Little Rhin
	32.5	Köpernitz (b Neuruppin)
	28.6	Dierberg
		B 122
	25.1	Klosterheide (Mark)
		from Schulzendorf
		Vielitz Canal
	21.3	Lindow (Mark) (formerly Bf)
	18.0	Schoenberg (Mark)
		from Neuruppin
	14.8	Herzberg (Mark)
	9.9	Greaves (b Gransee)
	4.3	Lime tree (marrow)
	2.7	Löwenberg Dorf (formerly Bf)
		B 96
		from / to Gransee
		B 167
	0.0	Löwenberg (Mark)
		to Oranienburg

North head of Rheinsberg station, to the left the former line towards Flecken Zechlin, 1991

The Löwenberg – Flecken Zechlin railway (also known as the Löwenberg-Lindow-Rheinsberger Railway ) is a railway line in the north of Brandenburg . The connection opened in 1896 to Lindow was extended to Rheinsberg in 1899 and to Flecken Zechlin in 1928 . The section between Löwenberg (Mark) and Rheinsberg is still in operation.

course

The route begins in the community of Löwenberger Land in Löwenberg (Mark) station on the Berlin Northern Railway . From there, the railway branches off to the west and runs almost parallel to Bundesstraße 167 to Herzberg (Mark) . There is a connection via the Neustadt – Herzberg railway to Neuruppin . From Herzberg the route turns north, leads via Lindow , where there was a connection to the Stechlinseebahn , to Rheinsberg . In Rheinsberg there was a continuation to Flecken Zechlin until the end of the Second World War , and in 1958 a connection to the nearby Rheinsberg nuclear power plant was added.

The line is single-track and not electrified.

history

Private railway time

Towards the end of the 19th century, the rural regions of Brandenburg were connected to the railway network. The Ruppin district was initially connected to the main lines, which were mostly oriented towards Berlin . Later these were connected to one another via branch lines and small railways and expanded to remote towns.

Löwenberg had had a train station since 1877, but this was outside the center of the village in the Neulöwenberg suburb . In order to still get a direct rail connection, a connection via Herzberg to Lindow was planned. The concession to build was granted on August 7, 1895. On December 28th of the same year the Löwenberg-Lindower Kleinbahn AG was founded to operate the line. On August 10, 1896, operations between Löwenberg private train station - parallel to the state train station - and Lindow (Mark) began. The single-track line was only given a second track at the two end points and in Herzberg.

Two two-axle steam locomotives from Henschel , three passenger cars, one baggage car and nine freight cars, which were primarily intended for deliveries of wood, were used.

The city of Rheinsberg also insisted on a rail connection, which the small train also brought closer. However, the city fathers initially had their reservations, as they insisted on at least one branch line connection and found a small train not to be fully functional. Only after the traffic started the opinion changed and the connection could go into operation three years later on May 18, 1899. At the same time, the operating company's headquarters were relocated to Rheinsberg and the fleet was increased by a three-axle Henschel locomotive, three passenger cars and seven freight cars.

In the following years, further stops were opened along the route, for example in Linde (1901), Klosterheide (1902) and Dierberg (1904). In 1902 the line from Neuruppin to Herzberg, which was run by Ruppiner Eisenbahn AG from 1913, was extended, so that there was now a connection to the Prignitz .

In 1903, planning to expand the line to the Wittstock – Mirow – Neustrelitz line came into consideration for the first time. In the long term, this should result in a connection from Eberswalde via Gransee, Rheinsberg to Malchow in Mecklenburg . Three years later, the route was corrected, the northern continuation should now take place from Rheinsberg via Zechlinerhütte to Mirow and there join the main line. In addition, a branch line was to be built from Rheinsberg via Kagar to Flecken Zechlin . The idea was not pursued for the next few years and was finally abandoned during the war.

In 1907 the line was converted into a branch line, and the operating company itself changed its name to Löwenberg-Lindow-Rheinsberger Eisenbahn . In the same year the fourth locomotive, another three-axle locomotive of the Henschel type Bismarck , was put into operation.

Like numerous other small railways in the province, the company posted profits up to the beginning of the First World War and in 1911 and 1913 increased its fleet of vehicles by two locomotives and several wagons. Only with the beginning of the war and the associated bottlenecks did operations have to be rationalized. As goods traffic decreased, passenger trains had to run more easily equipped, which led to complaints from passengers in many places. Since the measures continued until the end of the war, the company was forced to merge with Ruppiner Eisenbahn AG in 1921. The four youngest locomotives were also included in the vehicle fleet and were given the numbers 15, 16, 17 and 22, while the two remaining tractors were taken out of service.

After the takeover by Ruppiner Eisenbahn AG, the idea of a northern extension was taken up. The connection to Mirow was abandoned, instead work began in 1926 on the extension to Flecken Zechlin. The opening of the 14 km long continuation took place on May 15, 1928. The traffic now increasingly shifted to excursion traffic to the lakes of Northern Brandenburg; Five and a half pairs of trains drove daily on the main line, some of them going through to the Stettiner Bahnhof in Berlin on weekends . The Stechlinseebahn, which opened in 1930 with a connection in Lindow, brought about a further increase in the number of passengers. In the following year, passenger transport was partially converted to railcars.

In 1938 there was a serious accident along the route when a steam train collided with one of the railcars on the Köpernitz – Rheinsberg section. A total of five people were killed. The crossing of the two trains was originally supposed to take place at Rheinsberg station. But since the steam train coming from Zechlin was already late, the train crossing was moved to Köpernitz. The staff of the railcar coming from Löwenberg was not informed of this change and drove out over the station. Shortly after Köpernitz there was a collision in a curve.

State Railroad Time

Rail buses in Rheinsberg (Mark) station, 1995

Immediately after the end of the Second World War , the Rheinsberg – Flecken Zechlin section was shut down and dismantled. The material went to the USSR as a reparation payment and only a few superstructures such as station buildings have survived. The route was later expanded as a cycle path . The part that was still in operation, however, became the property of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1950 . Linked to this was the rationalization of operations, which among other things brought with it the conversion of smaller train stations into stops.

From 1970 the traffic with diesel trains could be managed completely and the remaining steam locomotives were decommissioned. Mainly locomotives of the series 110 or 106 and rail buses of the type 171/172 were used .

After the fall of the Wall , little changed in the company. In 1996 most of the stopovers were abandoned.

In 1999 the 100th anniversary of the line was celebrated with a station festival in Rheinsberg. A year later, direct traffic to Berlin was resumed with the Prignitz Express . However, contrary to the historical route, the train did not run via Löwenberg, but returned to Herzberg and continued via Neuruppin. However, this traffic was canceled again in 2006 due to insufficient passenger numbers. Since then, the total traffic on the main line Löwenberg – Herzberg – Lindow – Rheinsberg has also been greatly reduced.

From 2008 to 2018, the route was only served in the summer half of the year (from Easter to the end of October) with six pairs of trains on the regional train line RB 54 of the DB Regio Nordost, which went via Löwenberg and Berlin-Gesundbrunnen to Berlin-Lichtenberg . From 2006 onwards, the line ran from Friday to Sunday in winter. Between June 11, 2012 and December 2013 the trains of the regional train RB 54 ran from Neuruppin via Herzberg (Mark) instead of Löwenberg (Mark). The reason for this was construction work on the Berlin Northern Railway , which meant that Löwenberg was only accessible to a limited extent. Five pairs of trains drove a day, some of them directly via Hennigsdorf to Berlin-Spandau. When the 2014 summer timetable came into effect, six train pairs were offered daily between Rheinsberg (Mark) and Löwenberg (Mark), two of which were connected to and from Berlin Gesundbrunnen station .

Since the timetable change on December 9, 2018, the route has been operated all year round again, but the number of train pairs has been reduced from six to five.

Renewed private railway time

In view of upcoming investments and a lack of cost recovery, DB Netz put out tenders for the route for other railway infrastructure companies to take over at the beginning of July 2011 . At the end of December, the Regio Infra Gesellschaft mbH (RIG) was awarded the contract, which has been operating the route on a lease basis since April 2012. The RIG already owns the route to Neustadt (Dosse) that branches off in Herzberg (Mark).

Today's traffic

NEB “Pesa Link” railcar in Löwenberg (Mark), 2016

When the tender was won, passenger transport on the route (regional train RB 54) has been provided by Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn AG (NEB) since December 2015 . In 2016 came brand new diesel railcar type Pesa link used. In 2017, vehicles from the first RegioShuttle series (BR650) will be used. These run from Monday to Friday in a single unit. On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays there is a double traction.

In the summer of 2017, the NEB extended a pair of trains to Stechlinsee station for the first time. The regular trains of the RB54 run on the section at weekends, but without applying the VBB tariff. The turnaround time of the railcar in Rheinsberg was used for the extension.

Today, freight traffic only takes place when required, almost exclusively to the former Rheinsberg nuclear power plant.

Connecting line to the Rheinsberg nuclear power plant

Stechlinsee station with 172 001, the nuclear power plant in the background

In 1956 the GDR leadership decided to build the country's first nuclear power plant. The Rheinsberg nuclear power plant was built northeast of the city on Lake Stechlin . An approximately ten kilometer long connecting line was built there in 1957 from Rheinsberg . The single-track route received two stations, the Beerenbusch stop and the Stechlinsee terminus , which was equipped with extensive freight track systems. From May 19, 1958, the line served both freight traffic and passenger traffic for employees. Initially, up to seven passenger and two mixed pairs of trains were driven daily in factory traffic with class 52 and 74 steam locomotives . From 1970 diesel locomotives of the class 110 were used.

The power plant was taken off the grid in 1990, and passenger traffic continued until 1996. Since then, the connecting line has been used annually by special trains, especially on the occasion of the Rheinsberg station festival.

As part of the dismantling of the power plant, several Castor transports to the North interim storage facility of Energiewerke Nord near the Greifswald nuclear power plant took place from 2001 onwards . One of these transports served in 2001 as a backdrop for the film "Angst" from the series " Polizeiruf 110 " by the ORB . A former transport vehicle for radioactive material was erected as a memorial in Rheinsberg train station.

On October 30, 2007, the still radioactively contaminated reactor pressure vessel , which weighed 169 tons including the 15 centimeter thick shielding, was transported as a whole to the interim storage facility North for decay storage with the help of a 24-axle heavy-duty transport vehicle. For this purpose, two old bridges near Lindow (Mark), which could only be crossed at a maximum of 10 km / h, were specially secured on the Herzberg – Rheinsberg railway line, which was closed at the time.

Web links

Commons : Löwenberg-Lindow-Rheinsberger Eisenbahn - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Railway lines in the state of Brandenburg - Löwenberg-Lindow-Rheinsberger Eisenbahn
AG Rheinsberger Bahnhof
Route and photos Rheinsberg - Flecken Zechlin on bahntrassenradeln.de

Individual evidence

↑ VBB Timetable 2016 ( Memento from May 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Timetable 2019: More offers by rail! Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg, 23 November 2018, accessed on 21 January 2019 .

↑ Surrender of railway infrastructure. Route: Löwenberg (Mark) (excl.) - Rheinsberg (Mark) (incl.). Call for applications from July 6, 2011 to October 6, 2011. (PDF) (No longer available online.) DB Netze, July 6, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 7, 2011 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2

↑ RIG wins course tender. Regio Infra Gesellschaft, December 22, 2011, accessed on December 22, 2011 .

↑ On the way on secret paths: With the NEB from Rheinsberg to Stechlinsee station

↑ ^a ^b connecting railway to the Rheinsberg nuclear power plant. AG Rheinsberger Bahnhof, accessed on August 3, 2018 .

^ DasErste.de - Police call 110 - fear. Retrieved April 30, 2012 .

↑ Complete transport of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) from the KKR to the ZLN. (No longer available online.) EWN Entsorgungswerk für Nuklearanlagen GmbH, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 4, 2015 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ewn-gmbh.de

^ German Bundestag: Transport of a reactor pressure vessel from the Rheinsberg nuclear power plant to the North Interim Storage Facility, response of the Federal Government to the small question ... of the DIE LINKE parliamentary group. (PDF) Printed matter 16/7619. December 19, 2007, accessed August 4, 2015 .

↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Reactor pressure vessel reaches interim storage facility. October 31, 2007, accessed August 4, 2015 .

[1] VBB Timetable 2016 ( Memento from May 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

[2] Timetable 2019: More offers by rail! Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg, 23 November 2018, accessed on 21 January 2019 .