Leutkirch – Memmingen railway line

Leutkirch – Memmingen
Route number :	4570
Course book section (DB) :	971
Route length:	31.540 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Minimum radius :	302 m
Top speed:	160 km / h
Legend from Herbertingen 0.000 Leutkirch ( wedge station ) 652 m to Isny Eschach Eschach 3.410 Lower line Wurzacher Ache 5.430 Auenhofen 7.543 Aichstetten Shell ( Awanst ) Connection of the Altmannshofen large tank farm 7.950 Altmannshofen Aitrach 10.105 Aichstetten 624 m Aitrach 16.726 Marstetten- Aitrach 604 m 19.960 Mooshausen 23,201 Tannheim (Württ) 585 m Illerkanal 24.970 State border Baden-Württemberg / Bavaria , Iller 26.260 Buxheim from Legau (Allgäu) from Kempten (Allgäu) 31.540 Memmingen 595 m to Buchloe to Neu-Ulm Swell:

The Leutkirch – Memmingen line is a main line in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria . It connects Leutkirch im Allgäu with Memmingen .

history

Two years after the construction of the Kempten (Allgäu) –Neu-Ulm railway line was completed in 1863, citizens of Wangen contacted Memmingen with the aim of establishing a cross-border connection to this new line. Since this venture lacked political backing, the plans initially fizzled out, and the Württemberg Allgäu was opened up in various stages by the Herbertingen – Isny ​​railway line until 1880 . Nevertheless, the desire for a connection to Bavarian Swabia and Old Bavaria persisted .

In 1876 and 1886, Memmingen again suggested building a direct connection to Lindau through the Württemberg region. The second attempt resulted in negotiations between the two countries, but was initially unsuccessful because Bavaria demanded operational management all the way to Lindau. However, as from 1870 onwards the military increasingly pushed for the last rail gaps between the southern Bavarian and Württemberg garrisons and southern Alsace to be closed, a state treaty was finally signed in 1887.

After almost three years of construction, the line from Leutkirch im Allgäu to Memmingen was opened on October 2, 1889. In Leutkirch, a connection was made to the existing Herbertingen – Isny ​​railway line, and a new wedge station was built there for this purpose .

The military was also involved in the execution: the tracks on Württemberg territory were laid on behalf of the State Railways by members of the Berlin Railway Regiment, which sometimes took part in civil construction projects for exercise purposes.

"1889. On September 2, at 7 a.m., the detachment of railway troops made up of Prussians, Saxons and Wuerttembergians marched through the local city after having broken the railroad tracks on the new Leutkirch – Bavarian line. Had laid the national border. The detachment consisted of 230 men with 7 officers and drove back to its garrison in Berlin ... Incidentally, the new railway is a link in a strategic railway, but should bring economic benefits especially for Memmingen. "

- Friedrich Clauss Döderlein : Memminger Chronicle

By closing the second border-related gap between Wangen and Hergatz on July 15, 1890 with a connection to the Buchloe – Lindau railway line , an alternative connection between Munich and Augsburg via Buchloe to Lindau was finally implemented, with the newer route across Württemberg versus the older Bavarian route via Kempten is even a little shorter.

route

“A bird's eye view of the Leutkirch – Memmingen railway”, postcard by Eugen Felle , 1909

The railway line does not connect the two endpoints Leutkirch im Allgäu and Memmingen directly, but deviates in two arcs from the straight line. In addition to political reasons, the route was chosen because of more favorable topographical conditions. The railway line mostly runs at ground level and follows the valleys of the Eschach and Aitrach rivers in the first half , which is why there were hardly any technical difficulties to overcome during construction. The crossing of the Iller between Arlach and Buxheim , instead of near Ferthofen , was chosen to connect the densely wooded Württemberg towns to the railway line for the removal of pit wood and to enable a simpler connection to a possibly later railway line Biberach - Ochsenhausen - Memmingen . There are also several wooded hills on the direct line between Leutkirch and Memmingen and the Illertal is much wider and deeper south of Ferthofen than further north.

Starting at the Leutkirch station, the route first turns to the northwest to the now disused Unterzeil station and then swings sharply back to the northeast towards Memmingen, where the Altmannshofen and Aichstetten stations are reached. This arch came about through the interest of the Count von Waldburg-Zeil in having his own rail link. In between, at the Aichstetten Shell alternative junction , there is a tank farm served daily by private railroad locomotives.

Shortly thereafter, the route turns north again from the direct line and reaches the Marstetten-Aitrach stop, the Mooshausen stop, which has been closed since the 1970s, and the Tannheim train station . There the route swings in another sharp curve to the east and crosses the Iller on the largest viaduct of the section , through which the state border runs. On the Bavarian side, the Buxheim station, which has now also been closed, follows, before a wide loop leads to the southern end point of Memmingen. The railway line was introduced into Memmingen station from the south in order to avoid the change of direction of long military trains. This so-called Tannheim arch also has partly political causes: the route was originally chosen to meet the wishes of Count Waldbott von Bassenheim from Buxheim and Count von Schaesberg in Tannheim, also for connection to the railway.

business

Between Memmingen and Mooshausen

Railway bridge over the Illerkanal near Tannheim

Railway bridge over the canalized Iller near Buxheim , with only residual water

The route is operated by regional trains on the Aulendorf - Kißlegg - Memmingen route every two hours, other trains from Leutkirch to Memmingen increase the frequency Monday to Friday at an approximate hourly rate. Also run Euro City trains on the line Zurich - St. Gallen - Bregenz -Lindau-Memmingen-Buchloe Munich on the track.

Due to a lack of vehicles from DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee, regional traffic has been largely suspended since February 25, 2019 until further notice and the trains are being replaced by buses.

Freight transport

From 1958 to 1995, daily 200 tons of oil in the oil field Mönchsrot was promoted in the station Tannheim on tank cars loaded and transported to Memmingen. Gravel trains run in the summer season, and the Shell large tank farm in Aichstetten-Altmannshofen, which is part of the strategic oil reserve of the Federal Republic of Germany, is served.

future

As part of the expansion of the Munich – Lindau line, the line is expected to be electrified by December 2020. In addition, the Memmingen-Klinikum / BBZ and Buxheim stops on this route could be set up as part of the planned Donau-Iller regional S-Bahn .

Controversial Tannheimer Bogen

As part of this planning, there were discussions in 2009 about a possible relocation of the route while cutting off the Tannheimer Bogen . According to the non-coordinated proposal, a new route should have been roughly the same as the disused local railway to Legau, connecting Memmingen directly with Aichstetten and crossing the Iller south of Dickenreishausen at the height of Illerbeuren .

In particular, the Bavarian ÖDP , citizens of Buxheim and Memmingen's Lord Mayor Ivo Holzinger were in favor of bypassing the Württemberg stops . The municipality of Buxheim sees itself most affected by the increasing volume of traffic and the associated noise level, as the village - like parts of Memmingen - has meanwhile expanded close to the railway line.

The municipalities of Tannheim and Aitrach successfully defended themselves against this proposal, as its implementation would have meant cutting them off from rail transport. In March 2009, the state of Baden-Württemberg rejected it.

literature

• Reinhold Breubeck: The railway in Central Swabia between Iller and Wertach . Memmingen railway junction. Druck und Verlag Hans Obermayer GmbH, Buchloe 1999, ISBN 3-927781-18-5 .
• Michael Mayer: 125 years of Leutkirch station . Wilfried Eppe Verlag, Bergatreute 1998, ISBN 3-89089-046-6 .
• Thomas Scherer: The Württemberg Allgäu Railway . In: Railways in Württemberg . tape I . Wheel rim publishing house, Ulm 1981.

Web links

Commons : Leutkirch – Memmingen railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Route as well as individual signals and permissible speeds on the OpenRailwayMap
• Peter Roth: 125 years ago: The Memmingen - Leutkirch railway line opened. (PDF) In: Local history supplement to the official gazette of the municipality of Aitrach. Municipality Aitrach , December 2014 called on August 29, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ DB Netz AG: Infrastructure Register. In: geovdbn.deutschebahn.com , accessed on August 28, 2020.
2. ^ Mayer: 125 years of Leutkirch station. 1998, p. 101.
3. ↑ Quoted from Uli Braun: Memmingen in oldest photographs . Ed .: Curt Visel. Maximilian Dietrich Verlag, Memmingen 1988.
4. ^ Mayer: 125 years of Leutkirch station. 1998, p. 115.
5. ^ Mayer: 125 years of Leutkirch station. 1998, p. 86.
6. ^ Mayer: 125 years of Leutkirch station. 1998, p. 120.
7. ↑ Breubeck: The train in Mittelschwaben. 1999, p. 152.
8. ↑ Current traffic reports . Train cancellations between Aulendorf - Kißlegg and Memmingen - Kißlegg - Lindau (vehicle bottlenecks). In: bahn.de. Deutsche Bahn, February 23, 2019, archived from the original on February 25, 2019 ; accessed on February 25, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Lindau - Kißlegg - Memmingen. (PDF) In: bahn.de. DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee , February 22, 2019, accessed on February 23, 2019 . 
10. ↑ SMA / Intraplan: Regio-S-Bahn Donau-Iller results of the main study (PDF; 2.4 MB), November 27, 2012, accessed on November 19, 2013
11. ↑ Schwäbische Zeitung : Tannheim is fighting to keep its station. (No longer available online.) February 12, 2009, archived from the original on September 18, 2012 ; Retrieved December 28, 2010 . 
12. ↑ Schwäbische Zeitung: According to Köberle, “Tannheimer Bogen” remains. (No longer available online.) March 19, 2009, archived from the original on September 9, 2012 ; Retrieved December 28, 2010 .