Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke – Edingen – Heidelberg railway line

map

Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke – Heidelberg
Route number (DB) :	9402
Course book section (DB) :	669 (up to 1970: 300g; up to 1992: 568)
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	750 volts  =
Top speed:	80 km / h
Dual track :	continuous
Legend 0.0 Mannheim Kurpfalz Bridge former tram from Friedrichsring Tram from Friedrichsring 5 0.4 Collini Center Tram on Friedrich-Ebert-Brücke 2 5 7 1.0 Lessingstrasse 1.7 Telecommunications tower Mannheim – Frankfurt railway line 3.2 Holbeinstrasse Tram through Dürerstraße 6 9 4.1 Neuostheim Turning loop Tram from / to SAP Arena 6 4.95 Cooperative State University A 6 6.6 Pforzheimer Strasse 6.7 German court 7.2 Seckenheim town hall 7.9 6.6 Seckenheim OEG Main-Neckar Railway 3.9 Neckarhausen Neckarhausen stop 9.9 Neu-Edingen industrial park 11.1 Edingen West Palatinate Court Edingen town hall 1.2 Edingen Ort (Edingen Brewery) 0.0 12.1 Edingen (Baden) (Route relocation 1929) A 5 14.5 Pigeon field 15.2 Wieblingen middle 16.2 SRH campus A 656 (Route relocation 1913) 17.0 Ochsenkopf (since 1955) 17.6 professional school (Route relocation 1993) Freight line to Schriesheim Sidings from Heidelberg Rbf 17.9 Heidelberg Gbf OEG (1913–1993) 18.1 Gneisenaustrasse south Former system change ESBO / BOStrab Blücherstrasse Tram from Bahnstadt 26 former tram from Wieblingen Heidelberg Gbf OEG (until 1913) System change between ESBO / BOStrab Heidelberg Central Station West until 1913 the railway line through Nadlerstrasse, since 1956 tram through Karl-Metz-Strasse Depot Heidelberg Central Station (North) Tram through Berliner Strasse 21 24 Public utilities Community College Roman district: tram to the mountain cemetery and the Montpellier bridge ( Bahnstadt or Rohrbach ) 23 24 22 Roman road City library Old indoor swimming pool Poststrasse Sea garden former tram through Rohrbacher Straße Adenauerplatz (Line 5: no stop) Tram through the electoral complex 20.0 Bismarckplatz 9 21 22 26 former tram through the main street Theodor Heuss Bridge , Neckar to Handschuhsheim - Weinheim 5 23

The Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke – Heidelberg railway is a meter-gauge railway line between Mannheim city center and Heidelberg-Bergheim operated by the RNV , formerly the Oberrheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG (OEG), according to the Railway Building and Operating Regulations for Narrow Gauge Railways (ESBO) . The route connects the Mannheim tram network with the Heidelberg tram network . However, it is still owned by MVV Verkehr AG , the successor to the OEG. It is a branch line and electronically signaled train control is used as the operating procedure .

history

The first years of operation

Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke station , opened in 1891

Although Mannheim and Heidelberg had been connected by the Rhine Valley Railway since 1840 , efforts were made in the 1880s to build a narrow-gauge railway between these cities in order to connect the smaller towns along the Neckar to the railway.

The Consortium Centralverwaltung für Secundairbahnen Herrmann Bachstein , which opened the line from Weinheim along the Bergstrasse to Heidelberg in 1890, first started the continuation from Heidelberg to Edingen on June 6, 1891 and on July 13 also the remaining line via Neckarhausen and Seckenheim to Mannheim .

In 1892, the existing gap between the two OEG train stations in Mannheim ( Weinheim train station on the Mannheim – Weinheim line north of the Neckar and Heidelberg train station south of the Neckar) was closed. This connection via the Friedrichsbrücke (today Kurpfalzbrücke) was only used internally.

Takeover by the SEG

In 1895 Bachstein founded the Süddeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG (SEG) , which also owned the Mannheim-Weinheim-Heidelberg-Mannheimer Eisenbahn (MWHME) in 1897.

In order to enable a direct connection to the Schriesheim and Dossenheim quarries, a pure freight rail line was opened in 1906 from the Heidelberg SEG freight station via a separate Neckar bridge through the Neuenheimer Feld to Dossenheim and on to Schriesheim, so that the freight trains no longer had to travel through Heidelberg city center . This route was passable with a three- rail track in meter gauge and standard gauge , although some stations and company sidings were only built in standard gauge.

The first changes to the route in Heidelberg were made in 1913. Until then, the route led from the OEG train station through Bergheimer Strasse and then turned into Karl-Metz-Strasse . At the end of the street were the tracks of the state railway, which the line followed to the west to the Ochsenkopf. Because of the planned relocation of Heidelberg Central Station , the route should be relocated from there. Since then it has led through Blücherstrasse to Ochsenkopf. At the same time, the OEG freight yard in Heidelberg was relocated from the southern end of Karl-Metz-Straße to the long-term location at the end of the freight route through Neuenheimer Feld . The relocated facilities were opened on August 10, 1913.

The planned electrical expansion of the line was initially delayed by the First World War . It was not until May 15, 1928, that the Mannheim – Seckenheim – Neckarhausen – Edingen line was electrified and double-tracked between Seckenheim and Mannheim. In Mannheim, the Kurpfalzbrücke (“Heidelberger Bahnhof”) station was built on the Kurpfalzbrücke , from which connecting tracks to the Mannheim tram network led.

Some of the OEG trains were now tied through Paradeplatz – Schloss – Bismarckstraße to the Mannheim main station forecourt (with a track connection through Tattersallstraße to Bismarckstraße). This connection was discontinued in 1943 after devastating bomb attacks by the Allies.

Also in 1928 a direct, double-track, electrified line was built between Seckenheim and Wieblingen south of Edingen; this was opened on October 6, 1929 and was about six kilometers shorter than the single-track line through Neckarhausen (which continued to operate until 1969). The original Edingen – Wieblingen section along the overland road was replaced on October 28, 1928 by a double-track and electrified new line; the Wieblingen – Heidelberg section was simultaneously double-tracked and electrified. Together with the electrification and the new line , the Edingen (Baden) train station was relocated to its current location and a new car hall was built.

Joint operation with HSB began in 1929.

After the Second World War

OEG train station on the Kurpfalzbrücke in the 1950s

OEG train at Mannheim's Friedrichsring (1986)

1960 began to replace the local signal boxes with an automatic route block . The first route was from Mannheim to Seckenheim. In the next few years, the routes were controlled from the Edingen signal box.

Since the Seckenheim – Neckarhausen – Edingen route was now less frequented due to the direct route built in 1928/29, the decision was made in favor of a parallel bus route on June 1, 1969. The kilometer stones on the Neckardamm in Neckarhausen are still visible today.

The Neu-Edingen stop was put into operation on April 10, 1989.

After planning started in 1983, the OEG got a new route in Heidelberg in 1993: Instead of taking the Bergheimer Strasse, it now takes the tram route through the Kurfürstenanlage to the main station. A new line was built for this, coming from the direction of Wieblingen, starting shortly before the former OEG freight station - partly demolished at the same time -, passing under the Czerny Bridge and connecting to the existing tram line at the main station.

On Friday, May 7, 1993, the section between vocational school and old freight yard was closed. On the night following Sunday, the freight station - Blücherstraße section was shut down and the vocational school - main station track was put into operation. On Friday of the next week, the Blücherstraße - vocational school section was closed, and the main train station - vocational school track went into operation on the following Monday, May 17th. The area of ​​the freight yard was devoloped on August 17, 1998. The OEG turnouts on Blücherstraße, which were renewed at the beginning of September 1986 when adapting to the new Czerny Bridge , were only dismantled at the end of November 2004, and the tracks in the crossing areas adjacent to Blücherstraße in October 2007.

In 1995 the MVG 2000 concept was implemented, which also brought major changes for the OEG. While the trains from the direction of Weinheim previously ended at the forecourt of Mannheim main station and from Heidelberg in the Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke station, the ring has now been closed with the trains running through Mannheim city center. In order to achieve this, a short connecting route was built, which branches off in front of the Collini-Center , bypassing the Kurpfalzbrücke train station and joins the tram route in Friedrichsring. This re-established a connection that had already existed in a similar form until 1928 and 1974. The OEG was integrated into the Mannheim tram line network and now carried the line designation 5R and only 5 for trips on the Käfertal – Mannheim Hauptbahnhof – Edingen section.

The connection of the OEG to the two main railway stations of the Deutsche Bahn in Mannheim and Heidelberg took place within a few years.

As a result of the expansion, the OEG was also integrated into the tram network in Heidelberg as a full line from June 1999.

The Heidelberg stop Adenauerplatz between Bismarckplatz and Poststraße was not served by the OEG until it was closed in 2015 due to the small distance to the neighboring stops.

Transition to the RNV and modernization from 2005

Since the standardization of the line designations in the RNV area on December 10, 2006, the OEG has been designated 5 on its entire route.

Since 2010 the complete signal systems and interlocking technology have been renewed. An operations control center was built in the Möhlstrasse depot in Mannheim to cover the entire traffic area of ​​Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH. The conversion to electronic interlocking technology also takes place . On March 10, 2011, the Edingen signal box was switched to the central control center, so that after Schriesheim this station is now also unmanned.

Operating points

Renaming

before	later	when
Slaughterhouse	Mittermaierstrasse	between 1934 and 1944?
Lessing School	Lessingstrasse	?
Seckenheim Castle	?	?
Friedrichsbrücke	Kurpfalzbrücke
Mittermaierstrasse	Depot
Wieblingen south	University of Applied Sciences	2005
Mill field	Professional academy	2006
Professional academy	Cooperative State University	June 2009
Wieblingen OEG train station	Wieblingen middle	June 2010
University of Applied Sciences	SRH campus	December 2016

Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke station

→ Main article : Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke train station

Neuostheim station

There is a connection to the Mannheim tram at Neuostheim station. Originally this was only used for handover trips to and from the central workshop in the Möhlstrasse depot; for the tram there was a separate end loop on the other side of Seckenheimer Landstrasse. With the renovation in 2005 and 2006, the tracks of the tram and OEG were combined in the now four-track Neuostheim station, where a bus station was also built. The signaling technology of the Neuostheim station now also allows scheduled continuous journeys between the two operating parts, which is used for individual journeys in the morning peak and the express trains on line 9 between Heidelberg and Bad Dürkheim. As a special feature, the two tracks of the tram in Neuostheim station are secured with signals according to the Ks signal system . In Neuostheim, the newly built tram line to the Maimarkt area and the SAP Arena , the Stadtbahnring Ost , has also been branching off since 2005 .

Mannheim-Seckenheim Ort train station

Mannheim-Seckenheim station was the starting point of the single-track Seckenheim - Neckarhausen - Edingen line, which until 1928 corresponded to the original route from Seckenheim to Edingen. With the electrification in 1928, the two-track, largely straight connection between Seckenheim and Edingen, which is still used today, was rebuilt and the Seckenheim station became a branch station. The original route via Neckarhausen was closed in 1969 and subsequently dismantled. From the direction of Heidelberg it was possible to operate standard gauge wagons on trolleys as far as Seckenheim station, which was used until the mid-1980s, especially during the sugar beet campaign. During the barrier-free renovation in 2007, the station was reduced to three tracks. Only the middle track can be reached from both main tracks, and only from this the stub track in the southeastern head of the station. The former station building serves as a residential building and as a base for the Seckenheim local association of the German Red Cross .

Wieblingen Mitte station

Until 2010 the station was called Heidelberg-Wieblingen Ort . Up until around 1980 there were extensive track systems for freight traffic here. To the south of the two main tracks 1 and 2 were the side tracks 3 to 5 along with a weighbridge . Track 3 continued in a westerly direction as a connection to Weißenfels . To the north of the main tracks, butt tracks 6 and 7 were used as loading and stabling tracks on the goods shed. With the decline in freight traffic, the southern freight tracks were initially removed, and the area is now completely built on with residential buildings. The northern freight tracks remained connected to the main tracks via a switch, but have hardly been used since 1986. When the interlocking technology was switched to ESTW in 2010, the connecting switch was removed, so that the station now only has one track change between the two main tracks. The station building was rebuilt in the mid-1950s as a contemporary low-rise building (similar to Weinheim-Blumenstrasse, Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim and Neckarhausen) and was demolished at the beginning of 2008. In the meantime this area was also built on.

Heidelberg Gbf

Meter gauge 1960

To the north of the two main tracks were tracks 3 and 4, from the eastern end of the latter track 5 could be reached on the Kohlenbansen . To the south were tracks 10 and 11, the signal box, track 12 with the adjacent tracks 15, 16 and 17 on the goods shed, and tracks 13, 14 and 18 to the trolley pits.

To the west of the level crossing of the standard gauge track 20 was the siding track 9 as an extension of track 10, from which only track 8 was otherwise accessible. Track 7 (Heidelberg – Schriesheim) and 6 (Schriesheim – Wieblingen) were also located in this area. The latter ended in the area of ​​the junction of the Heinstein works.

Standard track 1960

The OEG freight yard could be reached from the Mannheim – Heidelberg Federal Railroad via Bundesbahn track 47. There was the connecting switch to the OEG's three-track transfer group, from which track 20 to the three-track route to Schriesheim was accessible.

From track 3 of the transfer group, you could get to tracks 4 and 5 at the goods shed northeast of the transfer group, from which tracks 8, 6 and 7 (from south to north) could be reached, those at the trolley pits (narrow-gauge tracks 18, 14 and 13 ) ended.

Bismarckplatz

Together with the electrification of the line from Edingen, a turning loop was put into operation at the end of 1928, which was shut down in 1972 when the Bismarckplatz was redesigned.

On April 24, 1978, the OEG's own tracks at Bismarckplatz were closed, thus abolishing the ability to turn around for trains coming from Handschuhsheim. Until the new common tracks were put into operation on July 24th, the OEG trains then drove over the old HSB tracks. From November 6th, a transfer track was again available for trains coming from the south.

traffic

Originally, passenger traffic on the route was one of four independently operated OEG lines and was designated as Line B. The car hall was in Edingen.

After electrification in 1929, express trains ran from Heidelberg Bismarckplatz to Mannheim Hbf in 43 minutes.

There were hourly long-distance trains without a stop between Kurpfalzbrücke and Bismarckplatz, hourly express trains with stops in Neuostheim, Seckenheim Rathaus, Edingen and Wieblingen, and trains via Neckarhausen with stops everywhere. On Sundays and public holidays, additional express trains ran in the early afternoons and evenings, which ran every quarter of an hour.

From September 6, 1943, after bombing raids during the war, trains in Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke ended and no longer drove to the city center. On March 26, 1945 operations were stopped due to the war. First he was resumed on July 1st from Seckenheim to Neckarhausen and directly via Edingen to Heidelberg. The Neuostheim – Seckenheim section followed on July 15, the Lessingschule – Neuostheim and Neckarhausen – Edingen sections on November 12, and the last section to Kurpfalzbrücke on May 23, 1946.

On April 1, 1946, a 20-minute cycle was introduced on the route.

From June 2, 1957, the trains ran every 24 minutes.

On May 26, 1963, the first carriage class areas were abolished on this route as the last OEG line. At the same time, the express trains were also abolished after an express train only ran from Heidelberg to Mannheim in the morning.

In 1974 a joint tariff with the Heidelberg tram was introduced.

After the complete electrification of the OEG triangle Mannheim-Heidelberg-Weinheim-Mannheim in 1956, the trains in Weinheim were tied through, every second train continued in Heidelberg, so that so-called "round trip" trains were created. As of May 30, 1965, the general connection also took place in Heidelberg, so that since that time all trains have been round trips except for compression trains. A round trip lasted 122 minutes. Thus, the two lines resulted on the route

• A Mannheim Hbf - Käfertal - Weinheim - Heidelberg - Seckenheim - Kurpfalzbrücke and
• B Kurpfalzbrücke - Seckenheim.

On September 25, 1966, the half-hourly service was introduced. On the Neckarhausen route, the trains ran every hour and from Seckenheim to Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke. There were additional trains between Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke and Seckenheim, which ran every quarter of an hour on this section. There were considerable delays up to October 20th due to the short turning time of just 6 minutes in Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke. As a result, the routes were changed on October 23 and the turning time there was extended to 21 minutes by non-linear turning in Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke.

From July 1, 1971 to June 31, 1973, there was an economy schedule with a worsened frequency. After that the trains ran again every half hour, in the rush hour every 20 minutes, between Kurpfalzbrücke and Seckenheim in the peak hours every 5/8/7 minutes (from September 18, 1975 only 13/7 minutes Clock). As a result, no train turned as planned at Bismarckplatz, before it was only a morning train.

On May 23, 1993, a half-hourly service was reintroduced, with additional trains running between Kurpfalzbrücke and Seckenheim. The top speed was increased from 60 km / h to 80 km / h.

Since September 24, 1995, the Weinheim and Heidelberg trains have also been tied up in Mannheim and run from Edingen via Breite Straße to the main station. Since then, the OEG trains have been running in circles unless they turn around in Edingen / Schriesheim or Käfertal / Weinheim. The trains running only on the Käfertal – Mannheim – Edingen section were designated as line 5, the round trips as line ^5R . From then on, line 5R ran every 20 minutes (every half hour on weekends), between Edingen and Käfertal this was condensed by line 5 to a 10-minute cycle (on Sundays, 15-minute cycle).

In 1995, 62 were initially used as route numbers for the complete tour and 63 for the short run between Käfertal and Edingen , as the VRN intended in its network-wide concept. However, since the MVV used the designation 5 within Mannheim to insert the OEG into its light rail network, after some time it was switched to 5R (instead of 62) for the entire circuit and 5 (instead of 63) for the short runners between Käfertal and Edingen. The timetable could be found in the VRN timetable book under the table number "R 65". The distinction between 5 and 5R was finally abandoned at the end of 2006 and since then only the designation 5 has been used, which is now also used in the timetable book.

From October 30 to November 3, 2000, OEG trains were diverted for the first time between Mannheim and Neuostheim via the tram route in Seckenheimer Strasse, Theodor-Heuss-Anlage and Dürerstrasse.

On April 27, 2008, the RNV-Express was introduced, which runs on Sundays from Bad Dürkheim to Heidelberg with only the most important stops in 80 minutes; Since June 2016 it has been run as line 9 alongside the RHB express trains.

The OEG tour describes an "8" with an intersection in the city of Mannheim on the left bank of the Neckar (at the Friedrich-Ebert-Brücke); a change at this intersection, which is barely noticeable while driving, is not supported.

Edingen (Baden) train station

This complete ring traffic places special demands on reliability and punctuality. The OEG has no overtaking tracks either in Mannheim or in Heidelberg; it also has no scheduled time buffers there, because it would disrupt tram traffic. At times, there were considerable irregularities in OEG rail operations: delays of ten minutes and more often occurred at certain times of the day. Scheduled connections were often not reached. The OEG timetable has therefore included more time buffers in Schriesheim, Edingen and Käfertal since June 12, 2005.

The route is served exclusively by bidirectional vehicles that have driver's cabs at both ends of the car and therefore do not require any turning loops. Line 5 is the only line in Mannheim that requires such vehicles, while the tram in Heidelberg has been in continuous bidirectional operation since 1974.

See also

• Local transport in Mannheim
• Local transport in Heidelberg

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.s197410804.online.de/Zeiten/1945.htm
2. ↑ Excerpt from the general plan of the city of Heidelberg and the surrounding area. Officially made by the civil engineering office. Scale 1: 7500. Supplement to Karl Pfaff, Heidelberg and the surrounding area, Heidelberg 1897, 1902. (JFIF; 208 KiB) In: Website “haidelberg.de” of the Heidelberger Geschichtsverein eV Retrieved on March 21, 2017 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.s197410804.online.de/Zeiten/1900.htm
4. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.s197410804.online.de/Zeiten/1965.htm