Lubsko – Bad Muskau railway line

Lubsko – Bad Muskau
Route number :	365 (Stary Raduszec – Łęknica)
Course book range :	178k (1945) ; PKP 357 (1968)
Route length:	42.7 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Krosno Odrzańskie from Guben 37.34 Lubsko formerly Sommerfeld Nebenbf. to Legnica 39.59 Budziechów formerly Baudach (Niederlausitz) 42.56 Glinka Górna formerly Oberklinge 44.3 Graniczno formerly Three Frontiers 46.2 Świbinki used to be Schniebinchen 47.32 Nowa Rola formerly Niewerle 50.29 Grabówek formerly Grabower Mühle 51.88 Łazy Żarskie formerly Laesgen Tuplice Barszcz formerly Teuplitz Fürstenstrasse from Cottbus 56.77 Tuplice formerly Teuplitz Nebenbf. to Żagań 59.19 Chełmica formerly Helmsdorf ( Kr.Sorau ) 61.36 Trzebiel formerly Triebel Trzebiel Gródek formerly Triebel Spremberger Straße 64.88 Kamienica nad Nysą Łużycką formerly Kemnitz (Kr.Sorau) Buczyny formerly Buckoka 68.53 Żarki Wielkie formerly Groß Särchen (Kr.Sorau) 72.68 Czaple - Chwaliszowice formerly Tschöpeln-Quolsdorf 75.35 Nowe Czaple formerly Neu Tschöpeln 77.92 Łęknica formerly Lugknitz Lusatian Neisse ; State border between Poland and Germany 79.38 Bad Muskau formerly Muskau after white water

The Lubsko – Bad Muskau railway was a branch line in Poland that was originally built and operated by the Lusatian Railway Company . It led from Lubsko (Sommerfeld) via Tuplice (Teuplitz) to Bad Muskau .

history

After the city of Triebel had refused a rail connection when planning the Cottbus - Sorau line , it was now in favor of the economic development - on November 9, 1891, a hollow glassworks started operations and Triebel had become an industrial center - a branch line between the transport hubs Sommerfeld ( Berlin – Breslau railway ) and Teuplitz (Cottbus – Sorau railway), which should be extended to Muskau. When they wanted to found a company for the construction and operation of the railway in 1895, the Münchner Lokalbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft agreed shortly beforehand to build the planned route. At the same time, Muskau and the manor owner of Nieder- Zibelle , Baron von Wedmeyer-Sommer, campaigned for a railway, but with a route from Muskau to Schönwalde via Zibelle. Already on October 31, 1892, permission was given to a committee chaired by Baron von Wedmeyer-Sommer to carry out the general preparatory work for the construction of a railway line from Muskau to Schönwalde. This jeopardized the Sommerfeld – Teuplitz – Muskau project presented in 1891.

Probably as a result of the efforts of Sommerfeld and Teuplitz, Kaiser Wilhelm II signed the concession document for railway construction on April 29, 1896 for the Lokalbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft in Munich, which "established a stock corporation under the company Lausitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft for the operation of Neben - Railways a) from Muskau via Teuplitz to Sommerfeld, b) from Rauscha to Freiwaldau ”. Sommerfeld became the seat of administration. At the same time, investment capital of 3,367,000 marks was approved for the route. Commissioning had to take place within 2 ½ years, otherwise a default penalty of 5% of the construction cost was due. In addition, it was stipulated in the concession document that at least two passenger trains must run in each direction with two carriage classes every day. The Sorau district subsidized the construction costs of the entire route with 5,000 marks.

Operations began on October 1, 1897 on the northern section and on June 15, 1898 on the southern section. From Muskau there was a connecting line to the Weißwasser train station and thus to the Berlin-Görlitzer Railway . The line was thus only operated in the Prussian provinces of Brandenburg ( districts Crossen and Sorau ) and Silesia or, at times, Lower Silesia ( district Rothenburg , which included part of the dissolved district of Sagan ), but never in Saxony , as the Silesian Muskau only after the second World War II became Saxon, but at that time the section of the route that now runs on Saxon soil was already closed.

With the construction of the line, Teuplitz had a second train station and a central workshop. The Triebel train station had to be built outside of the city, as the city demanded 28,000 marks for a building site on Forster Chaussee, which could not be raised.

In 1898, the operation of the Muskau – Weißwasser line, which was state-owned, was transferred to the Lausitz Railway Company, so that there were continuous train connections from Weißwasser to Teuplitz or Sommerfeld.

In Lugknitz the early 20th century, which years ago repeated in white water began similarly - by commodities and a rail connection to the Farming Heidedorf developed into a thriving industrial center. After Lugknitz was incorporated into Muskau in 1940, the station was given the name Muskau Ost , which the Polish state railway had also retained in Polish translation (Mużaków Wschodni) . The names of other train stations were also changed when the Nazi regime erased place names of Slavic origin: 1936 Tschöpeln-Quolsdorf in Töpferstedt-Quolsdorf and Neu Tschöpeln in Birkenstedt and 1937 Buckoka in Buchenberge .

Bridge over the Lusatian Neisse

At the end of World War II, the Oder-Neisse border cut the railway line, and the Mużaków Wschodni – Muskau section was closed in 1945. The Neisse Bridge was rebuilt for military reasons, but was closed for years until border controls were abolished after Poland joined the Schengen Agreement . The remaining route lost its importance, but was operated by the Polish State Railways to Łęknica until 1999.

In 1990 the northern section (Lubsko – Tuplice) and in 1996 the southern (Tuplice – Mużaków Wschodni) was closed to passenger traffic. In 2000, the line was then closed for freight traffic. As early as the summer of 2004, it was no longer passable because a large number of rails and fastening screws had been stolen. Therefore it was decided to dismantle the line, which started in 2006. The water tower in Łęknica and a cycle path on the edge of the Muskau Park , which has been over the former railway bridge over the Neisse since 2015 , still remind of the railway line .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ kolej.one.pl: Linia Stary Raduszec – Bad Muskau
2. ↑ Last timetable from 1944

literature

• Eberhard Blume, Hanspeter Smers , Lutz Stucka : On the economic development of the Weisswasser / Oberlausitz district in the second half of the 19th century . Ed .: District Office Weißwasser / Oberlausitz, Department of Culture (=  local history articles for the district of Weißwasser / Oberlausitz . Issue 7). Weißwasser / Oberlausitz 1991, p. 21st ff .
• Erich Schwärzel: The railway in the Sorau district. Part 8. Sorauer Heimatblatt 36 (1987) H. 4, S. 8 f.

Web links

• Description at Baza Kolejowa (in Polish)