Limburg-Staffel – Siershahn railway line
| Siershahn – Limburg relay | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route number (DB) : | 3731 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book section (DB) : | 629 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 29.8 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 50 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Siershahn – Limburg-Staffel railway (also known as the Unterwesterwaldbahn ) is a railway line between Limburg-Staffel , Montabaur and Siershahn in the Westerwald and runs through the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse .
history
Shortly after the opening of the first section of the upper Westerwaldbahn in 1870 discussed the Rhenish Railway Company (RhE) the construction of another track that the Westerwald addition in east-west direction from a connection to the East Rhine Railway in Engers about Montabaur by Open up Limburg and get a branch to Altenkirchen . At that time, today's Unterwesterwaldbahn and the western parts of today's Brexbachtalbahn were planned and treated as one unit. The motivation, as for all railway projects in the Westerwald, was the better development of the mineral raw material sources in particular (especially clay and various rocks, partly also iron ore), the connection of the processing plants established at these mining sites, and better transport of the numerous migrant workers in the region to the industrial ones Centers and generally the economic upgrading of the poor region.
However, the RhE also rated the railway line as “not worth building”, as the costs were offset by insufficient profit prospects. In 1873, however, she received the concession that Siershahn set as the starting point for the branch to Altenkirchen. At the same time, representatives of the Prussian state assured the assumption of those costs for the acquisition of land that would exceed 1.5 Reichstaler per square rod. Numbers should be "those interested in railway construction", including the neighboring districts and the Krupp cast steel factory . The "circles" refused, probably also under the impression of the founding noise , and now completely rejected the project for their part. These disputes, in which the Prussian Ministry of Commerce also got involved, meant that the construction plans and the cost estimate for the land acquisition were not completed until mid-1876. They produced a cost gap of 360,000 marks, which the "circles" should have raised. By 1878, an agreement was finally reached on the financing, to which Wilhelm Müller, pastor in Grenzhausen and chairman of a committee for the construction of the railway line, had made a significant contribution. However, construction had not started in mid-1879 and the land was still being acquired.
On May 30, 1884, the single-track line, around 93 kilometers long, was opened. The line from Engers to Altenkirchen was a good 61 kilometers long, that from Siershahn to Staffel almost 28 kilometers and the branch line from Grenzau to Höhr-Grenzhausen 2.41 kilometers. At this point in time the Prussian State Railways had already taken over the operation of the RhE, and on January 1, 1886, the Prussian State Railways finally became its owner. Around 1895 there were plans to expand the branch to Höhr-Grenzhausen as far as Vallendar , but in 1911 this was only made for 4.2 kilometers to Hillscheid .
In Staffel the Unterwesterwaldbahn joins the Hadamar – Limburg state railway . The Brexbachtalbahn branches off in Siershahn today and continues to establish a connection to the right-hand Rhine route.
business
While the Deutsche Bundesbahn ceased passenger traffic on the Holzbachtalbahn on June 1, 1984, passenger trains are still running on the subsequent Unterwesterwaldbahn.
Today's Montabaur train station was opened in Montabaur in 2002 and provides a link to the high-speed line Cologne – Rhine / Main .
From the timetable change in 2004 to the timetable change in 2014, local rail passenger transport was carried out by vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft , which used LINT diesel multiple units every hour or two hours . The Zweckverband rail local passenger traffic Rhineland-Palatinate North (SPNV North) led in 2011 by a tendering of transport services in the diesel power Eifel-Westerwald victory (EWS). Since December 2013, LINT railcars operated by the Hessian State Railway have been operating on the Unterwesterwaldbahn on behalf of the vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft.
The SPNV Nord announced the result of the tender on October 31, 2012. The Hessische Landesbahn was awarded the contract to operate the Unterwesterwaldbahn from August 2015 to December 2030. As part of a necessary transition concept, the start of operation of the RB 29 by the Hessische Landesbahn (HLB), regional area Dreiländerbahn, was brought forward to the 2014 timetable change. Since then, the regional train line RB 29 has been operated at irregular hourly intervals, with gaps in intervals, especially on weekends.
The Unterwesterwaldbahn has, although it is only a branch line, a considerable volume of freight traffic. It plays an important role in the clay traffic operated by DB Cargo between the clay pits in the Westerwald and the clay processing companies in Northern Italy . Most of the wagons are loaded in the Westerwald and then find their way from the Westerwaldquerbahn and from Siershahn via Montabaur to Limburg, where they are assembled into block trains heading south. In addition, since 2017 the Schütz company has also received its wagons from DB Cargo via the Unterwesterwaldbahn. Since the line has a certain incline and the diesel locomotives of the class 261 or 294 that have been used so far for the Schütz trains do not have enough power, DB Cargo has been using heavy diesel locomotives of the class 266 (Canadian JT42CWRM, also called Class 77) since 2018. in order to bring the large amounts of freight as quickly as possible and in one piece to the Westerwald.
Due to the derailment of a passing freight train as a result of an accident with a passenger car on a level crossing near Girod, the line was severely damaged on September 30, 2011 over a length of seven kilometers to Montabaur. Some of the concrete sleepers required for the repair were transported by a freight train steam locomotive from the Hanau Museum Railway over the Taunus to the Steinefrenz station. After the route was restored, train traffic was resumed on October 19, 2011.
| line | Train run | Tact |
|---|---|---|
| RB 29 | Siershahn - Wirges - Dernbach - Montabaur - Goldhausen - Girod - Steinefrenz - Dreikirchen - Niedererbach - Elz Süd - Staffel - Diez Ost - Limburg (Lahn) | approximate hourly intervals |
Rates
Due to the location in the Hessian district Limburg-Weilburg , the tariff of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) applies on the section between Limburg (Lahn) and Elz Süd . On the section between Niedererbach and Siershahn in the Rhineland-Palatinate Westerwaldkreis , the tariff of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel (VRM) has been in effect since January 1, 2017 . The VRM tariff applies as a transitional tariff on the section between Elz Süd and Limburg (Lahn), provided that the start or destination station of the journey is in the VRM area.
The valid state tickets for Rhineland-Palatinate, the Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket and the Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket + Lux (including Luxembourg ) are valid in the Hessian section. The Hessenticket is valid between Limburg (Lahn) and Elz Süd.
The Quer-Durch-Land-Ticket is valid on the Unterwesterwaldbahn trains.
literature
- Konrad Fuchs: The development of the Westerwald by the railroad, in: Nassauische Annalen 72nd Volume, 1961. P. 143–159
Web links
- Unterwesterwaldbahn railways in the Westerwald