Stralsund – Sassnitz railway line

Stralsund Hbf – Sassnitz
The Ziegelgraben Bridge as part of the Rügen dam is the most important engineering structure along the route.
Course of the Stralsund – Sassnitz railway line
Route number (DB) :	6321 Stralsund – Sassnitz 6777 Sassnitz – Sassnitz Hafen 6954 Borchtitz – Mukran
Course book section (DB) :	190
Route length:	53.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	mainly D4
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	<20  ‰
Dual track :	Stralsund Hbf – Stralsund Rügen dam Altefähr – bridge Jasmunder Bodden
Legend from Rostock from Tribsees 223,563 Stralsund Hbf Bundesstrasse 96 to Neubrandenburg and Greifswald 225.200 Stralsund harbor 226,450 Stralsund Rügen dam Ziegelgraben Bridge (133 m) 228.000 Dkst Altefähr Sund Strelasund Bridge (540 m) 229,450 Altefähr Narrow gauge railway to Putbus 235.186 Rambin (Ruegen) 240.547 Velvet 247,486 Teschenhagen from Lauterbach Mole 252,085 Mountains on Rügen Narrow gauge railway to Altenkirchen 255.700 Sabitz Jasmunder Bodden 261.630 Lietzow (Ruegen) to Ostseebad Binz 265.233 0.283 Sassnitz-Mukran / Borchtitz junction 2.8 -0.9 Sassnitz-Mukran gauge change facility 1.1 Sassnitz ferry port Royal line to Trelleborg / Klaipėda Bundesstrasse 96 268,329 Sagard Abzw Kreidewerk 271.681 Lancken 273,890 Sassnitz 38 m Gradient 27 ‰ 275.800 Sassnitz harbor Royal line to Trelleborg Sources: Railway Atlas

The Stralsund – Sassnitz line is an electrified main line in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . It begins in Stralsund , crosses the Strelasund on the Rügen dam and then leads on the island of Rügen via Bergen auf Rügen to Sassnitz . In Sassnitz ferry port there is a transition to the railway ferries to Trelleborg in Sweden and Klaipeda in Lithuania.

course

The route begins at Stralsund Hauptbahnhof . The line branches off the Angermünde – Stralsund railway line and swings to the northeast at the station . A connecting curve ( Berlin curve ) enables trains to run directly to the island of Rügen without changing direction in Stralsund. In the station Stralsund Rügendamm the branches connecting railway to the port of Stralsund from, also here the connection bend of the routes from Angermünde flows and Neustrelitz one.

Strelasund Bridge

Shortly afterwards, the route leads over the 133-meter-long Ziegelgrabenbrücke , a bascule bridge , over the Ziegelgraben to the island of Dänholm off the Strelasund . The Ziegelgrabenbrücke belongs to the Stralsund Rügen train station, so special cover signals are no longer required. Then it goes over the 540 meter long Strelasund Bridge to the island of Rügen. The construction of the Ziegelgraben Bridge, Strelasund Bridge and the dams on the mainland and on Dänholm with a total length of around 2500 meters are combined as the Rügen dam .

The route leads via Altefähr , Rambin , Samtens and Teschenhagen to Bergen on Rügen , the starting point of the branch line to Lauterbach Mole . From Bergen we continue in a north-easterly direction along the north coast of the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden . At Lietzow , the railway crosses the embankment that was raised in 1869 and separates the small from the Great Jasmunder Bodden . Behind Lietzow, the branch line branches off to Ostseebad Binz , which is also used by high-speed passenger trains.

About four kilometers further, the connecting line to the Mukran ferry port branches off in a south-easterly direction near Borchtitz . Both international passenger trains to Sweden , which are hauled along the so-called “ King's Line”, as well as freight trains to Klaipėda in Lithuania , run over this approximately four-kilometer section to the ferry bridge.

Trains in the direction of Sassnitz continue straight ahead from Borchtitz. The route, which previously ran mostly only a few meters above sea ​​level , rises, first passes Sagard and shortly before Lancken reaches its highest point at around 70 meters above sea ​​level . The terminus Sassnitz (to 1993: Saßnitz) is located north of the city center and, as head station applied. From here, the connecting line 6777 led in a long curve to the left to the Sassnitz Hafen station , overcoming a height difference of almost 35 meters over a distance of around two kilometers. Apart from a connection to a fish factory, until the relocation, Sassnitz Hafen station served only the ferry service to Trelleborg. Because of the lack of space, another hairpin was required to operate the two ferry beds .

The track is over entire length on the upper line with AC powered by 15 kilovolts at 16.7 Hertz and expanded to double track with exceptions of complaints dam between Stralsund Rügendamm and Altefaehr and between the crossing of the Jasmund and Sassnitz. The connecting line to Sassnitz Hafen station was closed in 1997 and dismantled in 2000.

history

When the Angermünde – Stralsund railway was opened in 1863, efforts were made to continue traffic beyond Rügen in the direction of Sweden. However, another 20 years passed before the first short section between the places Altefähr and Bergen on Rügen could be opened on July 1st, 1883 . A fixed Strelasund crossing was considered, but no variant was convincing, so that the Prussian State Railways set up a trajectory between the Stralsund harbor and Altefähr for the crossing of the Strelasund .

The ferry Stralsund led from 1890 to 1936 the ferry traffic on the Strelasund by.

Eight years later, on July 1, 1891, the railway was extended from Bergen via Lietzow to Sassnitz . In order to commence mail shipping between Sassnitz and Trelleborg , the railway was extended from Sassnitz station by two kilometers to the port on May 1, 1897 . For space reasons, the tracks from Sassnitz had to feed out to the southwest, allowing trains to and from the port in Sassnitz making head must. The route, which overcomes a height difference of over 30 meters, has a maximum gradient of 27 per thousand.

Twelve years later, the Kingdom of Sweden and the German Empire agreed to start rail ferry services between Sassnitz and Trelleborg. Each side had two ferries built for operation. The port facilities in Sassnitz were adapted accordingly. After another change of direction at the port, the trains were able to switch to the ships via two ferry bridges. The connection was referred to as the " royal line " because of the presence of both monarchs at the opening . At the same time, a pair of night trains was set up between Berlin and Stockholm , which covered the distance in around 22 hours. In 1904 the line was upgraded from the branch line to the main line ; it is one of those to this day.

Due to the ferry traffic in the direction of Sweden, the traffic on the train increased steadily, so that the question of a fixed crossing of the Strelasund came up again. The first concrete proposals were submitted in 1927, with the variants of a high bridge and a tunnel being ruled out because of the higher costs for the ramps . In 1931 the decision was made in favor of a crossing combined with dams and bridges, the Rügen dam . The connection, intended for both rail and road traffic, was built between 1933 and 1936 and consists of five sections:

• Mainland dam stretch
• Ziegelgraben Bridge (133 meters, bascule bridge)
• Dam stretch in Dänholm
• Rügen dam bridge (540 meters)
• Rügen embankment

The five sections have a total length of around two and a half kilometers. With the commissioning of the Rügen dam for rail traffic on October 5, 1936, the ferry traffic between Stralsund Hafen and Altefähr was discontinued. The journey time was shortened by around an hour.

In the Second World War , the systems in the Stralsund area in particular were damaged. On May 1, 1945, the Ziegelgraben Bridge and two days later the Strelasund Bridge was blown up by retreating Wehrmacht soldiers. The Rügen dam was therefore not passable for the next two years and was opened again on October 15, 1947 after temporary bridges had been installed. International traffic to Sweden could also be resumed. The temporary bridges existed until 1961 and were then replaced by Stahlbau Dessau.

To further increase ferry capacities, the GDR leadership decided to build a new ferry port in the Sassnitz district of Mukran. Initially, after its completion, it only started freight traffic to the port of Klaipėda in the Soviet Union (today in Lithuania ). The ferries for the connection to Klaipėda should be equipped with Russian broad gauge of 1520 millimeters due to the larger capacity of the wagons , therefore reloading and re-gauging facilities were built in Mukran . A branch line was created from Borchtitz to connect the ferry port . Shortly after the junction, the facilities expand to form the Mukran marshalling yard, with the northern part being laid out in standard gauge and the southern part in broad gauge. One standard and two broad gauge bridges are available for ferry operations.

Dismantling of the bascule bridge in 2007

Open Ziegelgraben Bridge, the overhead conductor rail protrudes over the bridge

The electrification of the Stralsund – Sassnitz and Borchtitz – Mukran lines, which was completed on May 27, 1989, went hand in hand with the construction of the port . For the Ziegelgraben Bridge, a rigid contact line rail was installed instead of the normal catenary catenary due to the necessary opening option, which could be driven on up to 15 km / h with the pantograph attached. Ironing had to be carried out at higher speeds in the area of ​​the Ziegelgraben Bridge. At the same time, the Deutsche Reichsbahn built a high-voltage line across the Strelasund to supply the island network when the Ziegelgraben Bridge is open.

Shortly after the electrification, the Deutsche Reichsbahn began in 1990 with the renovation of the Rügen dam and the complete replacement of the superstructures. The continuous girder superstructure of the Strelasund Bridge was completely replaced in five parts between 9th and 13th May 1990 in an 84.5-hour shutdown by the Dessau steelworks. The new superstructure parts had previously been prefabricated in Mukran, transferred to the Strelasund with pushing units and then installed with two floating cranes . The Ziegelgraben Bridge was renovated two years later. During a two-week shutdown between May 6 and 22, 1992, all essential bridge elements were removed and replaced with new parts. The mechanical bridge drive was replaced by a hydraulic system. As with the Rügen dam bridge, floating cranes took over the replacement of the bridge segments. After completion of the work, the maximum line speed on the Rügen dam, which was only allowed to last 30 km / h due to wear and tear, could be increased again to 90 km / h.

On January 7, 1998, the ferry service to Sweden was relocated from the old Sassnitz Hafen station to the Mukran ferry port after it had previously been expanded. About three years later, on December 1, 2000, the steep section of the Sassnitz – Sassnitz harbor was closed.

On July 26, 2013, for economic reasons , DB Netz put the approximately five-kilometer section from the Borchtitz junction to the new Sassnitz ferry port to tender for other railway infrastructure companies to take over . DB Netz launched another tender for the infrastructure of the standard gauge systems in summer 2016. The broad gauge systems had already been purchased in 2013 by Fährhafen Sassnitz GmbH.

Train traffic and vehicle use

An ICE on the railway line near Lietzow

The railway line is used for both long-distance and local passenger traffic as well as freight traffic. In long-distance traffic , individual circuits of the lines ICE 26.1 , IC 27 , IC 30 and IC 51 stop at the Stralsund and Bergen stations and continue to Ostseebad Binz . The ICE trains usually run with class 411 multiple units ; the IC trains are usually hauled by class 101 or 120 electric locomotives. In addition, a night train consisting of couchette and sleeping cars runs seasonally between Berlin and Malmö, Sweden, without a stop on Rügen.

In regional transport which runs regional express - route RE 9 between Stralsund and Sassnitz or Binz every hour. Until the changeover to class 429/829 multiple units , the trains were made up of class 143 electric locomotives and double-decker cars.

In the 1960s , Putbus was primarily the destination of overnight holiday express trains from Leipzig , Dresden and Berlin , because in Putbus it was possible to transfer to the seaside resorts of Sellin , Baabe and Göhren . They only ran in the summer months. Since the 1970s , night trains have been running all year round from Leipzig and Dresden to Binz, the pair of trains D 710/711 for several years asymmetrically in the opposite direction, first from Stralsund, later from Sassnitz.

Freight traffic is mainly determined by transit traffic to Lithuania and Russia as well as to Sweden . Although this decreased drastically after 1989, it still accounts for the largest proportion of the total volume of goods. The trains are usually hauled by class 155 electric locomotives. For broad gauge operation in Mukran, shunting locomotives of the 347 series are still available, a variant of the 346 series that has been converted for operation on the 1520 millimeter broad gauge .

Railway stations and stops

Stralsund main station

→ Main article : Stralsund Hauptbahnhof

The Stralsund Hauptbahnhof , together with the section Anklam -Stralsund of -Stralsund Angermünde railway opened on November 1st. 1863 The Berlin Northern Railway (1878), the main line to Rostock (1888) and the branch line to Tribsees (1900) followed one after the other . Due to the increasing traffic, the facilities were converted from 1903 to 1905.

Stralsund harbor

The port of Stralsund was also connected to the Prussian railway network from 1863. Initially reserved for freight traffic only, from 1883 passenger trains were also hauled to Altefähr, from where they continued to Bergen. With the construction of the Rügen dam, the ferry traffic was given up, since then the station has been used exclusively for freight traffic again.

Stralsund railway station, Rügen dam, station building

Stralsund Rügen dam

The Rügen dam station is located a few meters before the Ziegelgraben Bridge at Platz des 17. Juni. The station has a partially covered island platform. It was opened together with the Rügen dam on October 5, 1936.

Altefähr station, island platform

Altefähr

→ Main article : Altefähr station

Altefähr station is the first station on Rügen. It is located immediately behind the northern end of the Rügen dam. Altefähr's first train station was opened on July 1, 1883; it was located southwest of today's train station. He owned two ferry beds for the ferry service. Extensive facilities for freight traffic were available to the north. Today's train station has an island platform with the entrance building at the entrance . The station of the Rügen Kleinbahn was located south of the facility until it was closed .

Rambin (Ruegen)

The Rambin stop has an outside and an intermediate platform. Until 1982 it was still a train station . Because of the level access to the platforms for the direction of Stralsund – Sassnitz, Rambin is now a cover point .

Velvet

The Samtens station had three platform tracks, two of which were used in scheduled traffic. With the construction of two outer platforms, the former platform tunnel was also filled. In 2017 the station was included in the Lietzow electronic signal box .

Mountains on Rügen

→ Main article : Bergen train station on Rügen

Bergen was the first end point of the line in 1883. The station is northwest of the city center. In 1891 the extension in the direction of Sassnitz took place from here. Two years earlier, the Prussian State Railways had built a branch line to Lauterbach . Between 1896 and 1970, a stretch of the Rügen small railway ran from the narrow-gauge railway station Bergen Ost on the north side towards the Wittower ferry .

Sabitz

A Sabitz operating point is shown on individual maps about halfway between Bergen and Lietzow. Details are not known about the station. Apparently it was never used for public travel.

Lietzow train station , behind it the small Jasmunder Bodden

Lietzow

→ Main article : Lietzow train station (Rügen)

The Lietzow train station is located east of the town center not far from the meeting point of the small and large Jasmunder Bodden . Until the construction of the railway line in 1891, both bodies of water were naturally connected, and there was a swing bridge for road traffic. Instead, a dam was built for the construction of the railway, but the two lagoons are still connected to one another via a narrow passage. The line to Ostseebad Binz , built in 1939, branches off in Lietzow, and the branch line to the Mukran ferry port branches off a few kilometers to the northeast . In the area of ​​the Bodden crossing, the line is still single-track today.

Borchtitz junction

The branch line to the Sassnitz-Mukran ferry port branches off between two level crossings in Borchtitz . The operating point is mainly used to park freight trains. Passenger trains don't stop here.

Lancken

Lancken station is still fully equipped with mechanical security technology. It has two tracks, one of which is mainly used for shunting. At the head of the station in the direction of Lietzow, the connecting line branches off from the Rügen chalk factory.

Sassnitz train station

Sassnitz

→ Main article : Sassnitz train station

Sassnitz has been connected to the railway network since July 1, 1891. After the construction of the port line in 1897, Sassnitz became a Spitzkehrbahnhof . Trains ran to the Sassnitz harbor until 2000. Sassnitz is the terminus for trains coming from Stralsund.

Sassnitz harbor

→ Main article : Sassnitz Hafen railway station

The Sassnitz harbor station is located directly at the old Sassnitz harbor basin. The trains reached the port from the station via a steep ramp with a maximum gradient of 27 per thousand. After another change of direction, the trains could switch to a parking facility or to the ferries via one of the two ferry bridges. The VEB Fischwerk production halls were located in the immediate vicinity of the goods facilities until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Web links

Commons : Stralsund – Sassnitz railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} The railway network in Stralsund and the Stralsund depot ( Memento from May 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 15, 2009
3. ^ Hans-Joachim Kirsche, Hans Müller: Railway Atlas GDR . VEB Tourist Verlag, Berlin, Leipzig 1987, ISBN 3-350-00293-5 , p. 105 .
4. ↑ Bahn Report , 5/2013, pp. 39–40
5. ↑ Bahn-Report , 4/2016, p. 37
6. ^ Map of the Reichsbahndirektion Greifswald, 1948