Hunsrückquerbahn
The Hunsrückquerbahn is a railway line that branches off from the Nahe Valley Railway in Langenlonsheim and leads via Simmern to Hermeskeil . Freight traffic between Langenlonsheim and Stromberg took place until June 22, 2010, the rest of the route had already been closed. In Hermeskeil she meets the dismantled Hochwaldbahn Trier - Türkismühle .
This route was originally called the Hunsrück Railway. After passenger traffic was discontinued (in stages between 1976 and 1984), the name was transferred to the Boppard – Emmelshausen line, which was still operated by passenger traffic, for marketing reasons . To distinguish the connection described here is now called the Hunsrückquerbahn.
history
The Hunsrückquerbahn was built and opened in stages. On April 1, 1899, a construction department was set up to build the Simmern – Kastellaun and Simmern – Kirchberg lines.
Opening dates:
- October 6, 1889: Langenlonsheim – Simmern
- July 15, 1901: Simmern– Kirchberg (Hunsrück)
- December 15, 1902: Kirchberg (Hunsrück) - Morbach
- October 1, 1903: Morbach – Hermeskeil (freight traffic November 1, 1903). From then on, a scheduled train service between Langenlonsheim and Hermeskeil was carried out.
As a result of the opening of the Simmern – Kirchberg section, a railway maintenance office was opened in Simmern in 1901 .
During the Second World War , the line between Morbach and Hermeskeil was interrupted between 1945 and 1950 after the viaducts at Hoxel and Geisfeld had been blown up in February 1945 .
Between 1952 and 1962, the Simmern – Stromberg section of the route was converted to train control . In the following years, the route was used particularly for timber transport. In 1976 the passenger traffic Simmern-Hermeskeil was stopped, in 1984 the passenger traffic followed in the section Langenlonsheim-Simmern. During the Gulf War in 1991, the route was again heavily frequented by military transports from the US Army .
In June 1996 the Waldhof railway company initially took over freight traffic on the line, and in September 1998 also took over operations management. On July 11, 1998, the Morbach – Hermeskeil section was finally shut down, and on July 1, 1999, Stromberg – Morbach as well. Between 1998 and 2000 there were only irregular freight trains on the remaining route.
After safety deficiencies were discovered in the aforementioned section during an inspection in April 2003, which according to DB information would have cost around 165,000 euros to remedy, the company stopped operations on this section. The Federal Railway Authority rejected an application submitted by the DB for line closure and issued a decision in October 2003 in which it instructed the DB to resume operations by November 30, 2003. An objection by DB Netz to this decision was rejected by the Koblenz Administrative Court. According to the court, the duty to operate the route is not subject to economic profitability. On February 26, 2004, the Koblenz Higher Administrative Court overturned this judgment. Investments in an infrastructure for which there is no foreseeable use are unreasonable.
After a lawsuit filed by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate against Deutsche Bahn , the route had to be opened again.
On April 2, 2016, DGEG Bahnreisen GmbH organized a trip with class 796 railcars from Langenlonsheim to Kirchberg carried out by Eifelbahn Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH . After extensive clearing beforehand, the route appeared to be passable.
Planned re-operation
After the Rhineland-Palatinate state government accused Deutsche Bahn in 2001 of obstructing the reactivation of the line by the leaseholder of the line, RP-Eisenbahn (RPE), Deutsche Bahn and the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Transport announced on September 23, 2005 that the route to the Frankfurt-Hahn airport ( Büchenbeuren junction ) should be reactivated in passenger traffic. This is intended to improve the connection to the Rhine-Main area in particular . Until reactivation, the connection to public transport with long-distance buses is guaranteed.
Commissioning was originally planned for 2010. The plan was to run a regional express (RE) between Mainz and Hahn Airport every hour and a regional train from Bingen am Rhein every two hours .
On July 5, 2007, the Rhineland-Palatinate Transport Minister Hendrik Hering signed a planning agreement with DB Netz to reactivate the route. Hering said that the start of the connection, which had been planned for 2010, would "not be feasible". The reason he cited was the need for extensive construction work along the 62-kilometer route, which is to be expanded to double-track in sections. In addition, the project will become considerably more expensive. If the original plans included costs of 62 million euros, around 85 million euros will probably have to be invested. The client DB Netz is preparing for several years of upgrading work: rails, sleepers and ballast would have to be replaced almost along the entire route. The number of currently around 80 level crossings is to be reduced by half. According to the railway, the construction of a long-distance train station and an electronic signal box are also planned . At the joint meeting, however, they agreed to tackle the overall expansion and not, as initially planned, in several stages.
With effect from September 1, 2008, the Hochwaldbahn Group leased the line from Büchenbeuren to Hermeskeil. The connection to the rest of the rail network is to take place via the Hermeskeil – Türkismühle line, which is also operated by the Hochwaldbahn Group.
The draft planning, which was presented by Transport Minister Hering and DB Netz in November 2009, provided for the line to go into operation in December 2014. The cost estimate for the expansion of the route (without designing the station area) is currently 104 million euros. In the areas of Simmern and Guldental-Heddesheim, the line will receive two double-track meeting sections , together around four kilometers long. The travel time of the RE line between Mainz and Hahn should be 90 minutes (and from Frankfurt 130 minutes). Intermediate stops are planned in Langenlonsheim, Stromberg, Rheinböllen, Simmern and Kirchberg.
The opposition in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament criticized the travel times of 90 minutes to Mainz Hbf or 130 minutes to Frankfurt Hbf planned for the RE as not sufficiently attractive (for comparison: a car journey between Mainz city center and Hahn takes about 60 minutes, between Frankfurt - Downtown and Hahn about 90 minutes). The expansion of the A 60 ( Mainzer Ring ) and the B 50 should further increase the attractiveness of the road connection compared to the railways. The main reason given for the long train journey time is the renouncement of the so-called Gensinger brace . The implementation of such a route would, according to the opposition, save 30 minutes of time. The Gensinger Spange is a link between the Nahe Valley Railway and the Rheinhessen Railway at the level of the cities of Gensingen and Langenlonsheim . This measure would not only shorten the rail route, it would also eliminate the need to stop and turn heads in Bingen am Rhein. It was therefore requested that the clasp be implemented in a second expansion stage. The Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Transport defended the decision on the grounds that the time saved was only three minutes. Furthermore, the clasp would increase the cost of the project by a further € 30 million and further extend the planning period due to the local nature reserves.
The reopening of the route to the airport is stipulated both in the coalition agreement between the SPD and Bündnis90 / Die Grünen after the state elections in 2011 and part of the 2015 Rhineland-Palatinate cycle . According to newspaper reports from September 2011, there is a possibility that the reactivation of the Hunsrückquerbahn from Langenlonsheim to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport will not only be delayed until 2018 [out of date] , but may also be canceled entirely. Nevertheless, Infrastructure Minister Roger Lewentz announced that he would continue the planning process. [obsolete] Accordingly, the implementation of the planning approval procedure for the various sections of the route began in spring 2013 . The parliamentary group chairmen of the SPD and Bündnis90 / Die Grünen, Hendrik Hering and Daniel Köbler as well as the spokesman for the State Ministry of Transport, Joachim Winkler, confirmed in the summer of 2013 that the plans for reactivation from 2016 onwards, possibly initially in sections, would be adhered to. An originally planned tender for the operation of the route as part of the diesel network southwest for the period between December 2014 and 2037 was waived, also in perspective.
In order to lower maintenance costs, DB Netz plans to reduce the maximum speed from 50 to 10 to 20 km / h. Since this means a considerable loss of capacity, the Langenlonsheim – Büchenbeuren section was put out to tender in mid-November 2012 for takeover by other railway infrastructure companies .
Current developments
A new plan approval procedure for reactivation is currently being carried out. The focus should now be less on the connection to the airport and more on the general development of the Hunsrück, which is why the current planning includes two additional stops on the way. This addresses a major point of criticism from the neighboring communities for the eastern part of the route.
Starting at Hahn Airport , in addition to the previously planned stations in Sohren , Kirchberg , Simmern , Rheinböllen and Stromberg , a stop is now also planned in Windesheim and Guldental before the route merges into the Nahe Valley Railway. The local trains will then continue to Bingen Hauptbahnhof with a stop in Langenlonsheim , where the direction of travel will change. Then the Mainz main station is reached via Ingelheim .
The Gensinger brace was discarded.
According to a statement by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture in March 2018, the reactivation of the Hunsrück Railway is "in planning phase 4 ". Due to the large number of objections, the process is taking longer than originally assumed and a planning approval decision is expected at the end of 2018 at the earliest [out of date] .
Between December 2017 and the end of 2018, the route between Langenlonsheim station and Stromberg was repaired by the transmission system operator Amprion in order to carry out transformer transports to Windesheim and Stromberg. For this purpose, two bridges in Stromberg were completely renewed. A transformer reloading point was also set up in Stromberg station. On December 26, 2018 and January 3, 2019, two transformer transports were carried out to Stromberg.
On July 6, 2020, the Rhein-Zeitung reported on a freight transport planned from December 2020 by the Swiss railway company Widmer Rail Services . On July 31 and August 1, 2020, the railway company operated the route to Büchenbeuren with a class 215 diesel locomotive .
Büchenbeuren – Hermeskeil tourist railway
From October 2008 to October 2013, reactivation work was carried out on the 50-kilometer Büchenbeuren – Hermeskeil section by HWB Verkehrsgesellschaft and the Hunsrückbahn development association. In 2009, on the Büchenbeuren – Morbach section, the tourist railway began operating with rail buses of the VT 98 series . In 2013 there was a regular offer during the last driving season from May 1 to October 31; In July and August 2013, five pairs of trains ran every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday according to the timetable. Themed special driving days took place on August 24, October 3 and December 7. The planned reactivation of the remaining Hermeskeil – Morbach line did not take place due to upcoming investments and financial problems of the Hochwaldbahn Group. This also affected the Morbach – Büchenbeuren section to the east, which was consequently closed on October 17, 2014. Finally, the entire Büchenbeuren – Hermeskeil section was returned to DB Netz at the end of 2014 . This means that tourist traffic is suspended indefinitely.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Submission of railway infrastructure, section 3021 Langenlonsheim - Büchenbeuren, tender from November 15, 2012 to February 15, 2013. (PDF) DB Netze, November 15, 2012, archived from the original on November 21, 2012 ; accessed on January 13, 2014 .
- ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the official gazettes published on April 1, 1899. Volume 3, No. 15. News, p. 112.
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the published official gazettes of July 13, 1901. Volume 5, No. 32, Announcement No. 326, p. 251.
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Hrsg.): Collection of the published official gazettes from December 13, 1902. 6th year. No. 70. Announcement No. 588, p. 627.
- ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Collection of the published official gazettes from August 3, 1901. Volume 5, No. 36, Announcement No. 354, p. 270.
- ↑ a b Markus Göttert, Current reports on the Langenlonsheim – Simmern route + timetable of the route ( memento from April 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Hunsrückquerbahn.de, November 27, 2007, accessed January 9, 2009
- ^ Markus Göttert: Period 1985 to 1995. In: hunsrueckquerbahn.de. July 17, 2007, archived from the original on January 21, 2015 ; Retrieved July 31, 2010 .
- ↑ Markus Göttert: Period 1996 to today. In: hunsrueckquerbahn.de. July 17, 2007, archived from the original on January 21, 2015 ; Retrieved July 31, 2010 .
- ↑ Report DB Netz must keep the Hunsrück line operational . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 2/2004, ISSN 1421-2811 , p. 52.
- ↑ Report DB Netz is allowed to shut down the Hunsrückbahn . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 4/2004, ISSN 1421-2811 , p. 146.
- ^ Judgment of the 3rd Senate of October 25, 2007 BVerwG 3 C 51.06. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Federal Administrative Court , October 25, 2007, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 10, 2010 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ https://drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?2,7784364 http://www.forum.hunsrueckquerbahn.de/viewforum.php?f=8 ( Memento from April 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Bauckhage: Deutsche Bahn AG blocks reactivation of the Hunsrück Railway / Affront for the Hunsrück. (No longer available online.) July 2, 2001, formerly in the original ; accessed on July 2, 2001 (press release by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Transport). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Federal government, railway and state sign the agreement on the Hunsrück Railway. Ministry of Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture Rhineland-Palatinate, November 16, 2005, archived from the original on August 9, 2013 ; accessed on September 11, 2019 .
- ↑ Press release of the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture from July 5, 2007 ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ DPA announcement of July 5, 2007: "Bahn zum Hahn" is to come - but later and more expensive than planned
- ↑ a b Rhineland-Palatinate: Hunsrückbahn is to go into operation in 2014 ". Eurailpress, November 13, 2009, accessed on June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ See "Hans-Josef Bracht: A false minimal solution". CDU parliamentary group in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, July 5, 2007, archived from the original on April 16, 2016 ; accessed on June 9, 2018 (press release).
- ↑ a b Cf. "Hans-Josef Bracht: Too much time wasted on a central transport project". CDU parliamentary group in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, November 12, 2009, archived from the original on April 15, 2016 ; accessed on June 9, 2018 (press release).
- ↑ See "Project - Hunsrück Railway to be reactivated by the end of 2014". (No longer available online.) Ad hoc News, November 12, 2009, formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 25, 2011 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ^ Train to Hahn: Train has left. In: Rhein-Zeitung. September 9, 2011, accessed June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Hunsrückbahn: Construction is to start from 2016. Allgemeine Zeitung, June 1, 2013, archived from the original on July 14, 2013 ; accessed on June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Marc-Oliver von Riegen: Green parliamentary leader hopes for the Hunsrück Railway to roll soon. Allgemeine Zeitung, August 1, 2013, archived from the original on August 9, 2013 ; Retrieved August 9, 2013 .
- ↑ Overview of the SPNV award procedure ZSPNV Süd. (PDF; 21.5kB) (No longer available online.) ZSPNV Süd, January 2013, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 9, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Benjamin Hilger: Planning approval procedure for reactivating the Hunsrück Railway should be completed by the end of 2017. In: Allgemeine Zeitung . Retrieved June 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Hans-Peter Linz: Is the Hunsrück Railway threatened with extinction? In: Trierischer Volksfreund . March 3, 2018, accessed June 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Freight trains should start rolling in the Hunsrück from December: Rail traffic between Langenlonsheim and Morbach is concrete. Retrieved July 14, 2020 .
- ^ "Saar-Hunsrück Express" tourist train timetable. Retrieved August 14, 2013 .
- ↑ Rhineland-Palatinate: Hunsrückbahn returns routes to DB Netz. In: Eurailpress.de. January 6, 2015, accessed September 11, 2019 .