Steinsfurt – Stebbach railway line

Steinsfurt – Stebbach
Route number (DB) :	4115
Course book section (DB) :	665.5 (up to 2009: 714; up to 1992: 564; up to around 1970: 321b; 1939: 304b)
Route length:	10.7 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	C2
Power system :	15 kV, 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	<5  ‰
Minimum radius :	417 m
Top speed:	80 km / h
Train control :	PZB
Legend from Meckesheim 0.000 Steinsfurt to Bad Friedrichshall Hbf 2.521 Rows 6.191 Ittlingen (formerly Bf) 8,437 Richen (b Eppingen) 9.500 Stebbach 10,080 Infrastructure border DB Netz / AVG 10.365 from Heilbronn Stebbach (Bft) to Karlsruhe

The railway Steinsfurt-Stebbach is a 1900 opened, 10.7 km long, single-track and electrified branch line along the Elsenz in Kraichgau in Baden-Württemberg , between the Sinsheim district Steinsfurt and Stebbach a connection between the railway Meckenheim-Bad Friedrichshall and Kraichgaubahn manufactures. The Baden-Württemberg local transport company has been marketing the route as the Kraichgau-Stromberg-Bahn since 2006 . The route is served by the S5 line of the RheinNeckar S-Bahn , which started operating on December 12, 2009 from Heidelberg to Eppingen .

history

The route owes its creation in particular to the construction of the Kraichgau Railway through Baden . Since it was not initially clear at the time of their planning whether a connection to the Württemberg railway network in Heilbronn would be established in the continuation of the Karlsruhe – Eppingen line , the Baden government justified the sense of the project in the bill at the time by stating that, in case of doubt, it would also be continued Baden territory from Eppingen to the north with a connection to the western fork lift near Sinsheim and possibly even further to the Odenwaldbahn . For the latter extension, the construction of a tunnel near Neckarbischofsheim would have been necessary.

Due sensed by these efforts, many on and surrounding communities their chance and submitted in 1873 and 1878/1879 inputs for the construction of a stretch Eppingen- Steinsfurt-Neckarbischofsheim- Helmstadt or - Waibstadt one. In the context of these submissions, the railway commission of the Baden state parliament for the construction of the line crystallized strongly particularist arguments: The connection was not only viewed as a required local line , but it should also be part of a Baden through line with an extension to Waibstadt on the Badische Odenwaldbahn the relation Karlsruhe - Mosbach and further in the direction of Würzburg . It was hoped that this would solve two problems at the same time: On the one hand, the planned extension of the Kraichgau Railway to Heilbronn would mean that traffic on the Karlsruhe-Würzburg route would be brought to Württemberg; on the other hand, the expensive Odenwald Railway between Neckargemünd and Würzburg was threatened at this time Mosbach to sink into insignificance due to the upcoming construction of the Neckar Valley Railway. Both effects should be mitigated by a new, purely Baden Eppingen – Mosbach axis using the Odenwald Railway between Waibstadt and Mosbach.

Station building in rows (April 2007)

In a statement in 1879, the Baden government agreed to a line Eppingen – Steinsfurt in order to better connect the Kraichgau to the Heidelberg / Mannheim area, but questioned the Steinsfurt – Helmstadt section as uneconomical. However, a fundamental financial crisis now prevented further expansion of the Baden railway network. It was only when the financial situation had relaxed again that a government decision was taken in 1897 to build the Eppingen – Steinsfurt side line as a single-track main line ; the corresponding law was passed on February 25, 1898.

Construction work began on June 15, 1898, and after construction progressed according to plan, the line was inaugurated on November 15, 1900. Contrary to the law, however, it was not designed as a main, but as a branch line. The construction costs amounted to around 1,600,000 marks, which also included an expansion of the Sinsheim station , which instead of Steinsfurt was the starting point for train traffic in the direction of Eppingen.

The Baden railway historian Albert Kuntzemüller retrospectively described the line as being overpriced at a time of economic prosperity. A committee report of the second chamber of the Baden state parliament from 1909/10 expressed itself more clearly: "You can only take the train from Eppingen to Sinsheim and look at the castles that have been put up as station buildings."

In 1976 the Deutsche Bundesbahn wanted to stop traffic on the route, which was prevented by the local authorities on the route.

At the end of the 2000s, the passenger transport systems on the line were modernized to S-Bahn standard and the line was electrified.

traffic

Regional train from Eppingen at the entrance to Steinsfurt station (April 2007), before electrification

passenger traffic

After the line was opened, the Grand Ducal Baden State Railways initially operated trains in the early years that were hauled by class III b , III a , VII a , VII c , VII d or VIII d steam locomotives . A special feature in the 1901 summer timetable was the use of a Kittel steam powered rail car based in Heidelberg . In the years from 1955 to 1957, the steam-hauled passenger trains were replaced by Uerdinger rail buses , which were used until 1990. The successor was the class 628.2 , some push- pull trains hauled by class 218 locomotives . These in turn were replaced by class 425 electric multiple units in order to commence S-Bahn traffic , which will be replaced by Siemens Mireo in December 2020 as a result of the new tender .

The S-Bahn runs on this route, like the regional trains before, every hour, but two minutes faster. Instead of at 9 p.m., the last train arrives in Sinsheim shortly after midnight.

When from December 2014 to May 2015 line S 42 of the Heilbronn Stadtbahn was only able to run between Sinsheim and Bad Rappenau due to the unfinished construction work in Bad Wimpfen , two empty trains of the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft drove over the route early in the morning and at night .

Freight transport

The route was of great importance every year during the beet campaign , in which sugar beet , which is grown in the fertile landscape of the Kraichgau, was loaded for further processing in the subway stations . The last sugar beet shipments in Richen (194 wagons) and Ittlingen (447 wagons) were in 1991. When the delivery of the Offenau sugar factory by lorry was changed in 1993, this task was no longer required for the route. As part of MORA C , the service of the last remaining tariff point in Ittlingen was discontinued on June 16, 2002 , so the route has since been without freight traffic . As a result, the subway stations were converted into stops , so that no more train crossings are possible on the entire route .

Operating points

Steinsfurt

→ Main article : Steinsfurt train station

In Steinsfurt train station, the line begins at point 1.

Rows

The reception building , built in 1899, is a three-part complex consisting of a waiting room , railway officials' residence and goods shed in the historicist style . It is a listed building and was renovated from 2001 to 2005.

Ittlingen

→ Main article : Ittlingen stop

The Ittlingen stop, formerly a crossing station with goods loading, is located southeast of the town center. A residential area has emerged to the east. There used to be a train at lunchtime that went from Eppingen to Ittlingen and back as an empty train. On February 1, 1990, Ittlingen was transformed from a class 4 train station to a stopping point.

The municipality of Ittlingen demanded a second stop further north for the S-Bahn-compatible conversion, the DB suggested a stop in the middle as a compromise.

Richen (b Eppingen)

The Richen stop (b Eppingen), formerly a train station with loading street , is located west of the village, on the other side of the Elsenz. An industrial area has emerged to the northwest . The fuel factory to the southeast, founded in 1906, used to have a siding .

Stebbach

The former train station is on the border between Eppingen and Gemmingen , north of the Staudbach. Today there is a protective route in this area. Today, with the same name, the confluence with the Kraichgaubahn is a rail station Part of the station Eppingen .

literature

• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf: The railway in Kraichgau. Railway history between the Rhine and Neckar . EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2006, ISBN 3-88255-769-9 .

Web links

Commons : Steinsfurt – Stebbach railway line  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Excerpt from the course book from 1944

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.deutsches-kursbuch.de/4_41.htm
2. ↑ Kraichgau-Stromberg-Bahn ( memento of the original from March 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the NVBW . Retrieved May 8, 2012.  
3. ↑ Garrelt Rippelmeier: Sinsheim (Elsenz) Hbf (= Erich Preuß [Hrsg.]: Railway stations A - Z: The large archive of German railway stations . No. 5 ). GeraMond Verlag GmbH.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Heß, Herbert Hoffmann, Siegbert Luksch: No. 5: Looking back at 150 years of the Meckesheim railway location: 11: Chronology. (PDF; 568 KiB) November 29, 2013, accessed January 2017 . 
5. ^ ^{A b} Rhein-Neckar-Kreis: Sinsheim-Serien, Am Bahnhof 1. In: Thematic portal for sale cultural monuments. Karlsruhe Regional Council, accessed on November 17, 2017 . 
6. ↑ https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?17,5150927,5150927
7. ^ Deutsche Reichsbahn: Official station directory 1944 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the Bohemian-Moravian Railways, the private railways as well as the small railways with goods traffic and the Ostbahn (Bfv) Valid from June 1, 1944
8. ↑ http://www.stimme.de/kraichgau/wirtschaft/Richener-Spritfabrik- geht-in-die-Insolvenz; art17126,1592760
9. ↑ https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?17,7449983