Passau – Hauzenberg railway line

Passau-Voglau-Hauzenberg
Route number (DB) :	5843
Course book section (DB) :	881 (1944: 426v; 1956: 417n)
Route length:	23.9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Top speed:	60 km / h
Legend from Wels 1.2 Passau-Voglau to Passau 2.6 Passau- Innstadt 3.3 Passau-Rosenau 5.2 Kräutelstein Bridge over the Danube (300 m) Bundesstrasse 388 At ZF Passau 6.4 Grubweg 7.7 Lionmill 8.7 Kellberg 13.4 Erlau (b Passau) 297 m Erlau to Wegscheid Erlau Erlau Erlau 16.6 Schloßberg Tunnel (34 m) Erlau 17.5 Schaibing 19.2 Kaindlmühle 360 m 21.4 Oberdiendorf 398 m 23.5 Dumpling 25.1 Hauzenberg 483 m

The Passau – Erlau – Hauzenberg railway is a branch line in Bavaria . It branches in the city of Passau from the Wels-Passau railway from, crossed the Danube and leads from Eger in Erlautal to Hauzenberg . The line, which was closed in 2007 and partially reactivated since 2020, belongs to the network of the Bavarian Regional Railway (BRE). A complete restart for the passenger and freight traffic is planned.

history

Initial plans for a connection between Hauzenberg and Wegscheid in 1895 envisaged using the Passau – Freyung railway to Fischhaus and from there via Büchlberg and Hauzenberg to Wegscheid. Due to the long detour and 130 meters of altitude lost , the decision was made against this route . Added to this were the high costs and the low expected volume of traffic between Wegscheid and Hauzenberg. This led to new planning along the Danube and through the Erlautal in the direction of Hauzenberg, or from the town of Erlau further in the direction of Wegscheid.

The permit to build this route was granted on June 30, 1900. This was started three years later in 1903 and completed on November 15, 1904 with the opening of the line to Hauzenberg. More than half a year earlier, on April 18, 1904, there was the first train ride from Passau to Erlau.

The Erlau – Obernzell branch was opened on May 15, 1909, and it was continued to Wegscheid, which was then the district headquarters, on December 1, 1912.

Regular local rail passenger traffic on this route was discontinued at the end of September 1970. Freight traffic between Erlau and Hauzenberg ceased on June 1, 1997. On January 31, 2001 all traffic was stopped.

The hairpin in Voglau

After all traffic on the line had ceased in 2001, the line was flooded a year later by the August floods in 2002 and made impassable. In the Innstadt district of Passau, the section of the route had been completely renewed shortly before the flood due to a new sewer system. In spite of the small need for renovation, reactivation by DB Netz AG was not tackled.

On March 1, 2007, the line from Passau via Erlau to Obernzell was shut down by the Federal Railway Authority .

The Bavarian Regional Railway (BRE), a subsidiary of the German Regional Railway (DRE), then leased the Passau – Hauzenberg line and the Erlau – Obernzell section on November 24, 2007 to protect them from dismantling, as there were plans to remove the line to convert it into a cycling and hiking trail. The BRE, on the other hand, wanted to use the route for freight traffic, especially for granite and graphite transport.

Almost two years later, in September 2009, the Passau – Hauzenberg line was cut open in cooperation with the local railway association Passau – Hauzenberg. In order to gain more room for maneuver, BRE is negotiating with DB Netz AG to purchase the route. Together with the development association, they want to start a similar concept in passenger transport as with the reactivation of the Ilztalbahn GmbH . This provides for a combination of tourist rail traffic and bicycle traffic, especially along the Danube Cycle Path .

The intended resumption of freight traffic in 2011 could not be carried out due to a lack of expert opinions on the Kräutelstein Bridge. These examinations were then carried out in spring 2012 and showed that the bridge is in good condition. At the end of 2012, the BRE estimated the need for renovation of the Passau – Hauzenberg line to be half a million euros. May 2013 was named as the new date for the start of train operations on the Passau via Erlau to Obernzell route. The plan was for three pairs of passenger trains on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from May to October. In 2014, the rest of the route from Erlau to Hauzenberg should go into operation. Likewise, it should be advertised that freight traffic and regular local rail passenger traffic will be handled again on this route . However, this announced date also passed without the start of operations. However, it was still hoped that operations would start in 2013 and initially expected 12,000 passengers per year. This number could rise to 50,000 in the following years.

In January 2013, the BRE tried to secure the financing of the renovation needs for both lines of 898,000 euros. According to their ideas, the city of Passau should raise 275,000 euros, the BRE together with the support association 299,000 euros and the other neighboring communities 323,700 euros. For the latter amount, both the district of Passau and the individual municipalities were asked. According to its own statements, the company had already invested 250,000 euros in reactivating the route by the beginning of 2013. The urban development committee of the city of Passau rejected this funding application at the end of January 2013, referring to its proportionality to the Ilztalbahn, and referred it back to the parliamentary groups. The district committee of the district of Passau also refused financial support shortly afterwards. A final decision was made by the district committee on June 24, 2013. This promised a contribution of 15,000 euros, provided that it comes to a reactivation. The city of Hauzenberg spoke out in favor of participating in the reactivation. The BRE applied for funding of 72,500 euros for the 7.4 kilometers in the city. These could also be provided by the city building yard. In its 2013 budget, the city provided a total of 20,000 euros to support the granite track.

The floods in May / June 2013 covered the route along the Inn with mud.

On December 29, 2014, the route was sold to BRE.

With the reactivation of the section Passau Hauptbahnhof - Passau-Rosenau on August 14, 2020, a passenger train ran on the route for the first time. For this purpose, a new platform was built near the former Passau-Rosenau train station. The rest of the route from Passau-Haibach (west of the Kräutelsteinbrücke ) to Hauzenberg is still closed.

Route description

The Kräutlstein Bridge

The line branches off in Passau-Voglau from the Wels-Passau railway line . On the banks of the Inn, the railway line initially runs on the edge of the Passau district of Innstadt .

From the Rosenau train station, the route moves away from the Inn and, shortly before the state border with Austria near Achleiten, leads in an arch to the Kräutelstein Bridge. This was built from 1900 to 1903 by the Hellinger and MAN company across the Danube . On the left bank of the Danube, the route passes the ZF Passau plant in Lindau.

After the former Löwmühle and Erlau stop , the route turns north from the route to Wegscheid. Despite its function as a separating station for the lines to Hauzenberg and Wegscheid, the station in Erlau was only equipped with one platform track. This later hindered operations and made transfer relationships more difficult.

The line reaches the Schaibing stop through the 34 m long Schloßberg tunnel. However, this was about 5 km from the village of Schaibing itself. It served mainly as a transshipment point for goods for the surrounding towns and as a loading station for the Kropfmühl graphite mine . This was connected to the breakpoint via a narrow-gauge railway. The route follows the Erlautal to Kaindlmühle and from there following the Staffelbach to Oberdiendorf. Here, too, the stopping point in the valley was removed from the village itself, which was situated on a hill. By a cable car goods were transported to the railway station here. From there the route leads via Knödlsöd to the Hauzenberg terminus.

Hauzenberg is 177.7 meters above Passau Central Station. Since the route initially runs downriver as far as Erlau, almost 250 meters in altitude have to be overcome from the station there. Thus, the route had with slopes of Eger to Kaindl Mill 1:50 and continue until 1:40 Hauzenberg traced out to be. In addition, the ramps to the Kräutelstein Bridge have a steep incline.

literature

• Siegfried Bufe: Roads to Passau . In: Eisenbahn Geschichte 93 (2019), pp. 12–27.
• Englberger, Bernhard; Gehring, Ulrike; Heineck, Heidi: Granite railway Hauzenberg - Passau. 60 ideas for reactivating a regional train . Ed .: Klühspies, Johannes. 1st edition. Deggendorf Technical University, Deggendorf 2014, p. 87 ( Lokalbahn-hauzenberg.de [PDF; accessed on January 3, 2015]).
• Association for Tourism eV Hauzenberg (editor): The Hauzenberger Bockerl. The local train from Passau to Hauzenberg . Regional traffic history, EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2002, ISBN 3-88255-452-5
• Walther Zeitler: Railways in Lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate . Buch & Kunstverlag Oberpfalz, Weiden 1985. ISBN 3-924350-01-9

Web links

Commons : Passau – Hauzenberg railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Route description Passau – Hauzenberg on spurensuche-eisenbahn.de
• Friends of the local railway Hauzenberg-Passau eV
• Passau Railway Friends: Railways around Passau
• Course book 1944

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Branch line history. Passau Railway Friends, archived from the original on February 11, 2013 ; accessed on June 21, 2017 . 
2. ↑ List of the disused lines in Bavaria (since January 1, 1994). (Excel; 16 KiB) In: eba.bund.de. Federal Railway Authority, accessed on June 4, 2018 . 
3. ^ Passauer Neue Presse - Passau City from September 23, 2009
4. ^ Passauer Neue Presse: "Förderverein: The Granitbahn Will Come", December 16, 2011
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Passauer Neue Presse, local section of the Passau district: "City sends positive signal for Granitbahn", February 7, 2013
6. ^ Passauer Neue Presse: "The timetable is set: trains should start running again from 2013", November 28, 2012
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Passauer Neue Presse, local section of the Passau district: “Bumpy road for the granite track”, June 29, 2013
8. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse, local section of the Passau district: “Thyrnau is supposed to put granite railway on the tracks”, January 24, 2013
9. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse local section of the city of Passau: "City does not want to promote granite railway for the time being", January 31, 2013
10. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse local section of the Passau district: “Application on the siding”, February 5, 2013
11. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse local section Untergriesbach: "We are in good shape as Hauzenberg", May 8, 2013
12. ↑ Frank Limmer: A big step towards reactivation. In: Passauer Neue Presse . December 30, 2014, accessed January 1, 2015 . 
13. ^ Johannes Munzinger: Inaugural trip: The Passau Granite Railway is running again. Retrieved August 15, 2020 . 
14. ↑ After 20 years: Granitbahn Passau runs again. August 14, 2020, accessed on August 14, 2020 . 
15. ^ Railway infrastructure of the German regional railway group. (PDF) German Regional Railway , April 20, 2020, accessed on August 15, 2020 .