Railway line Neukirch West – Bischofswerda

	from Bautzen
0.000	Neukirch (Lausitz) West	344 m
	to Bad Schandau
2,500	Bach Bridge (48 m)
3.094	Viaduct Putzkau (397 m)
3.385	Putzkau (formerly Bf)	313 m
5,860	Schmölln (Upper Lusatia) (formerly Bf)	303 m
8.504	Werkgraben Bridge (48 m)
	von Görlitz and von Kamenz
9.426	Bischofswerda	288 m
	to Dresden-Neustadt

The Neukirch West – Bischofswerda line is a single-track main line in southern Upper Lusatia in Saxony , which was once built as a short connecting line between the Bautzen – Bad Schandau and Görlitz – Dresden lines . Today it is part of the national long-distance connection from Liberec via Zittau to Dresden .

history

The construction of a railway between Neukirch and Bischofswerda was included in the original plans for the Südlausitzer Bahn as early as 1870. However, the decision was then made to route from Großschönau via Warnsdorf, Ebersbach, Wilthen, Neustadt to Dürrröhrsdorf, which was put into operation on September 1, 1877. In order to shorten their route with a view to the planned through traffic from and towards Dresden, the routes Niederneukirch – Bischofswerda and Oberoderwitz – Eibau were approved in the Saxon state parliament in 1875/76. The Niederneukirch – Bischofswerda line was opened on August 15, 1879.

Regional train to Zittau on the Putzkau Viaduct with a view of the Valtenberg

Today, the single-track route serves almost exclusively the regional transport lines RE2 and RB61 on the Dresden Hauptbahnhof - Zittau (- Liberec ) route, which run every 2 hours . These services were provided by DB Regio as part of a transport contract with the ZVON . Since the timetable change in December 2014, Die Länderbahn has operated the route under the brand name Trilex .

Scheduled freight traffic is now only handled by the private railway company ITL based in Dresden. The gravel works in Oberottendorf on the line to Bad Schandau that branches off in Neukirch West is served, and until June 2009 the wine distillery in Wilthen on the connecting Bautzen – Bad Schandau railway line is also served. There are no longer any goods tariff points on the Neukirch West – Bischofswerda route itself.

A passenger train timetable came into effect on October 15, 2019, which is consistently geared towards the new zero-cycle hub in Zittau. Since then, the regional express trains have been crossing every two hours in Bischofswerda at the usual minute of symmetry , and there offer a corner connection to and from the direction of Görlitz.

Route description

The route leaves the Neukirch (Lausitz) West station, which is located far outside the town, in a westerly direction. In a wide curve to the right, the route first cuts through a forest area. In the local area of Putzkau , the route crosses the wide valley basin of the Wesenitz on an almost 400-meter-long, one-story viaduct , followed shortly afterwards by today's Putzkau stop. The rest of the route to Bischofswerda cuts through the hilly foothills of the Lusatian mountains . The line from the southeast joins the Bischofswerda station together with the Görlitz – Dresden line.

Bischofswerda train station
Schmölln train station
Putzkau station
Neukirch West train station

Vehicle use

The series 38.10–40 in passenger traffic and 52 in freight traffic were formative in the steam locomotive era . From around 1935 onwards, the Dresden – Zittau express train was driven by multiple units consisting of diesel-electric multiple units and sidecars from the Dresden-Pieschen depot. This railcar connection was operated until 1965.

Passenger train to Zittau near Bischofswerda (1991)

Until the end of the 1980s, the Dresden – Zittau express trains generally consisted of a DR class 118 locomotive and modernization express train passenger cars . It was not until 1988 that the fleet of express trains was converted to the Halberstadt type central entry coaches, which were modern at the time. The locomotives of the DR class 110 were mostly used before the passenger trains . Until 1988, local freight trains mostly ran with steam locomotives of the DR class 52.80 . A use of the heavy Soviet large diesel locomotives was not possible due to meter load restrictions on the bridges.

From the beginning of the 1990s, the Romanian locomotives of the DR class 119 were used in front of all trains. After the viaducts had been upgraded and the possible meter loads had been increased, the 232/234 series was also permitted on the line from the mid-1990s . They were mainly used in front of the push-pull trains for local transport.

Around 2000 modern regional railcars replaced the locomotive hauled push-pull trains. Since then, the regional trains have been running vehicles of the 642 series (Desiro). The regional express trains were formed from vehicles from the 612 series , but due to the lack of track expansion they ran without tilting technology.

By order of the ZVON, Desiro has also been used on the regional express trains since December 11, 2011. Because of the low volume of traffic, the vehicles usually run individually.

literature

Erich Preuß , Reiner Preuß : Saxon State Railways. transpress Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-344-70700-0 .

Web links

Commons : Neukirch West – Bischofswerda railway line - collection of images, videos and audio files

Route, operating points and permissible speeds on the OpenRailwayMap
Oberlausitzer Eisenbahnen - route description, track plans, photos
Sachsenschiene - route data, station descriptions, track plans, photos

Individual evidence

↑ Turntable 218 (September / October 2009), p. 70
↑ Annual timetable 2020

[1] Turntable 218 (September / October 2009), p. 70

[2] Annual timetable 2020