Pétange – Ettelbruck railway line

Pétange-Ettelbrück
Stretch at bites
Route length:	52 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend by Bois Châtier and by Athus 0.00 Pétange to Esch and Luxembourg grain 4.70 Niederkerschen 8.50 Küntzig according to Autel 14.47 Bald from Luxembourg 0.0 Kleinbettingen to Namur 1.20 16.58 Hagen 18.40 Steinfort 22.70 Eischen Hobscheider Tunnel (690 m) 28.35 Hovelingen- Beckerich 31.08 Nordingen Narrow gauge railway to Martelingen 33.59 Reichlingen-Ewerlingen 37.17 Useldingen 38.91 Boewingen 44.34 bite 47.53 Colmar factory 48.38 from Luxembourg 50.08 Sheer 52.19 Ettelbruck to Grevenmacher to Troisvierges

The Pétingen – Ettelbrück railway line (also known as the Attert line, Attert line, Luxembourgish Atertlinn ) is a largely disused railway line in Luxembourg. Today only two short sections of the formerly 52 km long, single-track, non-electrified route are served by freight traffic.

history

The line was built and operated by the Prince Heinrich Railway Company .

The first section Pétange – Steinfort was opened on August 1, 1873. At first it was necessary to make a headache in Kleinbettingen, in 1877 the hairpin was removed, the railway line crossed the Namur – Luxembourg railway line on a bridge and merged back into the old line shortly before Hagen station. In the same year, after the bankruptcy of the Prince Heinrich Railway Company, the anonymous Luxembourgish Prince Heinrich Railway and Ore Mine Company took over the line and continued the line construction.

Useldingen reception building

The continuation to Ettelbrück was opened on April 17, 1880, on this section of the route was the 690 m long Hobscheider Tunnel, the longest railway tunnel in Luxembourg to date. It was only surpassed in 1889 by the Lengel tunnel on the Vennbahn .

The railway line was built mainly to transport iron ore and coal between Luxembourg and the German Empire. Passenger traffic was always modest, the railway only had a certain importance in rush hour traffic from Nördingen to Petingen or Kleinbettingen. After the opening of the Vennbahn , the volume of transport increased, as the connection via the Attert route and the Vennbahn also received the transports between Luxembourg and the German Empire, which had previously been carried over the longer but inexpensive transport route via Belgium. The heyday lasted only for a short time, however, with the Pétange – Luxembourg railway, opened in 1900, an even shorter connection was created. When the Steinforter Hütte also closed after the First World War, the route lost an important transport customer and traffic fell even further.

The Attert route survived the Second World War largely undamaged, only two bridges at Schieren were destroyed.

In May 1948, the simplified branch line service was introduced and the previous main line was downgraded to a branch line .

Passenger traffic on the entire route was discontinued on September 24, 1967, freight traffic was carried out immediately as required. The realignment of Kleinbettingen carried out in 1877 had a particularly negative effect. Although continuous trains have theoretically been able to run on the route since then, many trains were still led via Kleinbettingen, which meant a considerable increase in travel time.

The remaining freight traffic was stopped on May 19, 1969, only the sections Kleinbettingen-Steinfort and Colmar-Werk-Ettelbrück were still served. Bissen has also been served again since 1975, as a large metalworking company was given a siding there.

literature

• Ed Federmeyer: Railways in Luxembourg - Volume 1 , Wolfgang Herdam Fotoverlag, Gernrode / Harz 2007

Web links

• www.rail.lu route Petingen – Nördingen – Ettelbrück (Attert line)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ed Federmeyer: The railways in Luxembourg - Volume 1 , p 418
2. ↑ Ed Federmeyer: The railways in Luxembourg - Volume 1 , p 419
3. ↑ Ed Federmeyer: The railways in Luxembourg - Volume 1 , p 167