Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen railway line

Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen
Train at the Schanz tunnel, direction Beuron . On the right the mechanical approach signal for the Fridingen train station
Route number :	4660
Course book section (DB) :	743 (Rottweil / Sigmaringen – Waldshut) 755 (Donaueschingen - Ulm)
Route length:	37.08 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Hattingen from Immendingen 0.00 Tuttlingen 649 m to Stuttgart 0.24 Danube 0.82 Tuttlingen center 2.30 Tuttlingen north 646 m 5.75 Nendingen (b Tuttlingen) 642 m 7.82 Stetten (Danube) 9.09 Mühlheim (b Tuttlingen) 638 m 12.10 Danube 12.95 Bridge over dirt road 13.21 Danube 13.73 Fridingen (b Tuttlingen) 632 m to the hammer mill Fridingen 14.33 Bear 14.38 Schanz tunnel (684 m) 634 m 16.52 Danube 17.36 Beuron 618 m 19.11 Danube 19.26 Käpfle tunnel (180.9 m) 23.65 Hausen in the valley 599 m 30.58 Thiergarten (Hohenz) 595 m 30.96 Danube 31.04 Thiergarten tunnel (275 m) 31.57 Danube 32.30 Danube 33.09 Gutenstein 587 m 34.21 Dietfurther Tunnel (74 m) 34.35 Danube 35.87 Schmeie from Tübingen 37.08 Inzigkofen 580 m to Sigmaringen

The Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen railway is a single-track , non- electrified 37.08-kilometer railway line in southern Baden-Württemberg . The main line connects the Tuttlingen railway junction with the former Inzigkofen branch station , which today is only a branch point where it joins the Tübingen – Sigmaringen railway line . The line runs over entire length along the young Danube and therefore from the Deutsche Bahn as part of the Danube web of Donaueschingen to Ulm arranged.

The Royal Württemberg State Railways and the Baden State Railways opened the Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen line in 1890 under pressure from the German General Staff as part of the strategic railway construction to bypass Switzerland . Together with three other strategic railway lines in southern Baden, the military considered them necessary in connection with another war with France . Since 1901 it has been part of the national rail link from Freiburg im Breisgau to Ulm in connection with the Höllentalbahn and the Ulm – Sigmaringen railway line .

The bridges , signal boxes , embankments, guard houses, tunnels and the railway stations on the line, built according to the Baden or Württemberg “philosophy”, are now a registered cultural monument , but the superstructure with the rails is not protected.

course

The Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen railway line stretches over two districts and is integrated into two transport associations . Between Tuttlingen and Fridingen an der Donau it runs through the Tuttlingen district and its TUTicket transport association , while from Beuron it runs through the Sigmaringen district and is incorporated into the Neckar-Alb-Donau transport association (NALDO).

The connection is best known for its charming location in the Upper Danube Nature Park or on the southern edge of the Swabian Alb , and is considered to be one of the most scenic railway lines in Germany. It is particularly popular with cycling tourists, the Danube Cycle Path from Donaueschingen to Vienna follows the train over large parts.

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  Railway bridge over the Danube near Fridingen

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  The route from Knopfmacherfelsen seen from

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  Beuron stop

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  Inzigkofen train station as seen from the “Känzele” viewpoint in the Princely Park Inzigkofen .

Supraregional importance

The Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen railway is part of the shortest railway connection between the two cities of Ulm and Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg. It is therefore of supraregional importance, especially for connections from Augsburg and Munich to Freiburg and from Ulm via Tuttlingen to Switzerland . But today it does not do justice to this important importance of a supra-regional east-west connection. This is due to the low average speed due to the single track and the associated train crossings . Connections via Stuttgart and Karlsruhe are now the much faster alternative for connections from Munich and Ulm to Freiburg. This fact is currently weakening the national character of the route. To make matters worse, in 2003 the Deutsche Bahn discontinued the Kleber-Express , which since 1954 connected Freiburg with Munich without having to change trains, using the entire length of the Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen route. Since then, it no longer provides direct national connections between large cities.

history

Border problems and first initiatives for railway construction

The situation between the countries Württemberg , Baden and since 1850 to Prussia belonging Hohenzollern lands hampered the construction of the line, which repeatedly crosses the borders of that time. It was built by the Royal Württemberg State Railways following the Black Forest Railway from Offenburg to Singen (Hohentwiel) , which was previously built by the Baden State Railways . Prussia did not take part in the construction of the line, although it partly ran through the Hohenzollern region.

The first considerations for the construction of a railway line from Ulm up the Danube arose in the 1850s. As in many other places, railway committees were founded in the towns and communities along the Danube to support the construction of such a route. In 1861, 17 of these railway committees went public with a memorandum promoting an east-west connection from Ulm via Ehingen , Mengen, Meßkirch and Singen to Schaffhausen in Switzerland with a connection to Tuttlingen and the Black Forest Railway, which was still in the planning phase. The construction of a railway line along the Danube as part of a European main line from Vienna to Paris was also discussed at this time . Since a railway line from Ulm to Vienna already existed at the beginning of the 1860s and Paris in the east was already connected to Chaumont , a gap was closed from Ulm along the Danube to Donaueschingen and on through the Black Forest to Freiburg im Breisgau, across the Rhine and the Vosges discussed after Chaumont as the shortest connection between Paris and Vienna and especially promoted by cities along the Danube. In addition to the considerable topographical problems that would have caused the construction of such a railway line with the resources of the time, there were also the many national borders that would have had to be crossed with such a route.

Construction on military pressure

The route from Tuttlingen to Inzigkofen as part of the strategic railway construction between Weil am Rhein and Inzigkofen, including the border lines at that time

Branch of the railway line to Tuttlingen near Inzigkofen, which has been reached from Tübingen since 1878

In 1873, the Ulm – Sigmaringen railway line already existed , but there was no continuation to the west and thus a connection to the Upper Neckar Railway in Tuttlingen. In order to remedy this situation, Württemberg and Baden signed a state treaty on May 22, 1875 , which authorized Württemberg to build a railway line from Inzigkofen to Tuttlingen within the next 15 years, but without setting a date for the start of construction.

Although the communities between Sigmaringen and Tuttlingen and the city of Tuttlingen itself kept pushing for the railway to be built, very little happened after that for more than ten years. Only the 5.1 kilometer long section between Sigmaringen and Inzigkofen was built by the Royal Württemberg State Railways as part of the Tübingen – Sigmaringen line ; it was completed in 1878.

This only changed fundamentally when the German General Staff began to take an interest in the route in the mid-1880s . The generals had above all the experience of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 in mind. The railroad had proven extremely useful in this war, and in the event of another war against France it was believed that an efficient east-west link would be essential to victory. The troops and equipment from Bavaria and Württemberg to Alsace, annexed in 1871, were particularly problematic for the military . A rail connection from the federal fortress of Ulm to the Belfort citadel was of central importance for this. The existing Hochrheinbahn , however, ran through the canton of Schaffhausen and Basel and thus through Swiss territory. Military use of this route had already been excluded in the State Treaty between Baden and Switzerland in 1865. This line was useless in the event of war. The German General Staff therefore considered building so-called strategic railways to bypass Swiss territory in the event of war. In this context, the construction of the Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen line, which was to become part of this militarily motivated rail network, became interesting.

Water tower in Hausen in the valley

A route to bypass the canton of Schaffhausen to Waldshut was to be created, which led to the construction of the Wutach Valley Railway . From Waldshut to Säckingen you could use the Hochrheinbahn, which runs exclusively on German territory in this section. In Säckingen this should leave again and a connection with Schopfheim should be established, which resulted in the construction of the Wehratalbahn . From Schopfheim to Lörrach , the Wiesentalbahn was once again a passable line, and all that was left was the Weil am Rhein – Lörrach line as a connection to the line to Saint-Louis, which had existed since 1872 , where there was a connection to Belfort . Due to military pressure, these military lines, also known as cannon tracks, were built. In 1887 the General Staff secured the gap between Tuttlingen and Inzigkofen by contract and on November 26, 1890, 15 years after the State Treaty between Württemberg and Baden, the line was inaugurated. This was done with a special train ride in which, in addition to the Württemberg Prime Minister Hermann von Mittnacht , representatives from Baden and Hohenzollern, above all leading generals of the German General Staff took part. The German Reich , whose generals had most emphatically urged the construction of the line, financed a large part of the construction costs. But Württemberg, which had a great civil interest in closing the gap between Tuttlingen and Inzigkofen, also made considerable contributions. The line was built around 1890 with the help of Italian guest workers.

1890–1950: Between expansion and war destruction

However, neither in the First nor in the Second World War could the connection meet the high expectations of the military that were placed on the route in connection with the strategic bypasses in southern Baden .

Plans by the Deutsche Reichsbahn from 1937 to completely double-track the line because of its strategic military importance attracted a lot of attention during the Second World War, but were not taken up after the end of the Second World War. In Tuttlingen, which became a hub when the line to Inzigkofen was completed, the Stuttgart Railway Directorate replaced the old station with a new one between 1928 and 1933.

With the completion of the Höllentalbahn from Donaueschingen to Freiburg in 1901, the connection from Ulm to Freiburg, which had already been discussed in the 1850s, was possible for the first time, which was established from 1909 by express trains , some of which even ran to Colmar from 1912 . In addition, from 1913 also reversed express trains from Munich to Freiburg. Some of these even had dining cars . Despite this long-distance traffic function, the average speed along the Danube remained quite low at normally less than 50 kilometers per hour. Despite some restrictions during the world wars, the timetable remained relatively stable until 1945 with a mix of long-running express trains and local trains that stopped at all stations. Initially, the Württembergische Fc in particular was used , which continued to shape operations until the mid-1920s and which was replaced by the DR series 38.4 from around 1926 . Between 1929 and the end of the Second World War, more modern vehicles dominated with the 24 series . The freight was due to the still low industrialization along the route of little importance.

Towards the end of the Second World War, the Allied aerial warfare against Germany also destroyed Tuttlinger Bahnhof. The route itself was only slightly damaged and remained passable with restrictions almost until the end of the war. In 1945, however, the Wehrmacht , which was in retreat, did severe damage by blowing up some railway bridges and thus making continuous traffic impossible until 1950. However, sections of the route were operated again from 1946.

Since 1950: between dismantling and improving the range of services

There were hardly any major improvements in the transport infrastructure after 1950. Although the Deutsche Bundesbahn modernized the signaling systems, it also removed many sidings and closed low-traffic stations. In the early 1990s, the Deutsche Bundesbahn increasingly sold railway systems to private owners. Large parts of the Tuttlingen train station are now privately owned. A decommissioning but the track did not happen. In the 1950s and 1960s, an obsolete and rapidly changing stock of steam locomotives of different origins was used. The Württembergische C dominated until 1955, and from 1953 it was gradually replaced by the Bavarian S 3/6 , which served on the line until 1961 and was then replaced by the 03 series . The 03 series remained in use until 1971, but from 1966 was more and more replaced by the diesel- powered V 200 series.

Until 1963, the Württemberg T 5 was important for covering local transport services, which from 1961 onwards was increasingly taken over by the 64 series . As before the Second World War, freight traffic was low and was normally handled by the 50 series until 1976 . From 1969 the diesel- powered V 90 series gradually replaced the 50 series. Since the 1950s, however, diesel multiple units have also been used in individual passenger transport. The VT 60.5 was the first diesel vehicle to drive the route. From 1961, the Uerdinger railbus units, which dominated the 1970s, were added, which operated until 1995, but were increasingly replaced from 1988 by the 628 series , which performed a large part of the operation until the beginning of the new millennium and to a small extent until today is in use. The V 160 series took over many of the long-running trains from 1966, and the 218 series was added from 1975 .

On December 25, 1959 came across the Danube bridge at Gutenstein the passenger trains P 3400 and P 3421 head-on. The reason was that both the engine driver and the train driver had forgotten that the Sunday schedule was due to the Christmas holiday and therefore they had to wait for the crossing with the opposite train in Thiergarten . In the head-on collision on the bridge, the first car of one train rose and crushed the driver's cab of the tank locomotive 75 048 that had stopped in front of him. The engine driver was killed and three other railway workers were seriously injured. Only because of the relatively low speed of both trains, none of the vehicles fell from the bridge.

The 1950s timetable was similar to the one that existed before 1945. Non-stop trains from Ulm to France were discontinued, as did direct trains from Munich via Ulm to Freiburg from 1953, which from 1954 were run with the Kleber Express via Memmingen - Aulendorf - Herbertingen instead of Ulm.

None of the trains was operated anymore. The express train service remained more or less stable until the 1980s, with the average speed of express trains increasing to 70 kilometers per hour until the 1980s. The Deutsche Bundesbahn thinned out the local transport offers on the route until the beginning of the 1990s. In 1988 the Deutsche Bundesbahn introduced a regular schedule , but this was reinforced by some trains running outside the regular schedule . The trains now operated as RegionalSchnellBahn (RSB) and ran every two hours from Ulm to Neustadt (Schwarzw) . In 2003, the section between Tuttlingen and Fridingen was also integrated into the ring train concept, so that this section also benefited from better rail connections after the service deterioration during the Bundesbahn era.

business

passenger traffic

The Tuttlingen – Fridingen section as part of the Ringzug system

Regional Express from Ulm to Donaueschingen / Neustadt (Schwarzw) at the Beuron stop

Ring train in triple unit at the Tuttlingen center stop

It run in the two-hour clock , Monday to Friday, partly hourly regional express trains between Ulm and Donaueschingen (sporadically continue to Villingen). Their average speed in the Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen section is less than 70 kilometers per hour. The route between Tuttlingen and Fridingen is integrated into the Ringzug concept. Trains of the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL) run from Fridingen to Tuttlingen, some of which are carried on to Immendingen. The train service is not synchronized with six train pairs on working days. At the weekend, the Ringzug traffic stops completely. Between May and October, however, the Nature Park Express runs between Gammertingen , Sigmaringen, Tuttlingen and Blumberg-Zollhaus on the weekends , which means that additional capacity is available for taking bicycles with you.

Freight transport

Freight train in Hausen im Tal , in the background Werenwag Castle

In freight transport, the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL) operates the Fridingen hammer mill and the Börsig sawmill , also in Fridingen .

vehicles

Nature Park Express in Tuttlingen station

The Regional Express trains are mainly driven by class 612 railcars . The ring trains are Stadler regional shuttles . The Naturpark-Express , on the other hand, runs with two NE-81 multiple units and a former mail car coupled in between for transporting bicycles . Freight traffic is handled primarily by class V 90 locomotives .

Signal boxes and signal systems

The train stations at Hausen im Tal and Fridingen still have standardized mechanical signal boxes. The switches , the entry and exit signals and the barriers are set and operated by the dispatcher via wire cables. An electronic interlocking of the Lorenz type has been installed in Tuttlingen train station since 2004 , which is remote-controlled from the Karlsruhe operations center.

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  The mechanical signal box in Fridingen station (2018)

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  Einfahr distant signal of Bf Fridingen as a shape signal
  (before the Schanz tunnel)

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  Form of entry signal of the train station Fridingen (2018)

Planning

Inner-city route of the proposed Tuttlingen light rail

Although the line was even considered to be in danger of being closed in the short term due to the reduction in regionalization funds, its existence can now be considered secure. There are even expansion plans for some sections of the route. By expanding the route for tilting technology, travel times could be greatly reduced. The Bodan Rail 2020 study , which examines the potential of rail traffic in the Lake Constance border area between southern Germany , Vorarlberg , northern Switzerland and Liechtenstein , predicts that the number of passengers between Tuttlingen and Ulm will triple to quadruple by 2020 if travel times are reduced, in particular using tilting technology.

Shorter travel times and a relocation of the train crossings would also be the prerequisite for the model of a "Stadtbahn Tuttlingen", which has been discussed since 2006, which would use the route in Tuttlingen, which runs largely through the city center, residential areas and industrial areas , as an inner-city train and the cities and communities east of Tuttlingen, which so far has hardly benefited from the Ringzug, would be connected to Tuttlingen.

At the end of September 2015, Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Transport, Winfried Hermann, announced that he wanted to implement an hourly service with additional regionalization funds. To do this, parts of the line would have to be expanded to double tracks. Electrification is being considered.

literature

• Willi Hermann u. a .: The Danube Valley Railway , collected essays on the history of Fridingen, Volume 16, published by Heimatkreis Fridingen e. V., Tuttlingen: Typodruck, 2004.
• Richard People: 100 Years of the Danube Valley Railway ; in: “Tuttlinger Heimatblätter” (1988), pp. 8–26.
• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf: The railway in the Danube valley and in northern Upper Swabia . EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1997, ISBN 3-88255-765-6
• Zweckverband Ringzug Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg (publisher), The 3er Ringzug: An investment for the future of the Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg region , Villingen-Schwenningen 2006.

Web links

Commons : Donautalbahn (Baden-Württemberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Route description on www.ulmereisenbahnen.de (vehicle use, pictures)
• Side to the tunnels of the route
• Excerpt from the course book of the Deutsche Reichsbahn 1944/45

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Falko Hahn (fah): Danube Valley Railway is a cultural monument . In: Südkurier from September 16, 2006
2. ↑ Migration and integration in the Sigmaringen district. Kulturschwerpunkt 2010 , ed. from the district of Sigmaringen and Kulturforum district of Sigmaringen eV, p. 20.
3. ↑ The use of vehicles in the early days of the route is difficult to understand today. Particularly for the period before 1894, the literature does not make any statements about vehicle use. For the time after that, Hans-Wolfgang Scharf derives the use of vehicles on the route from the location of the vehicles in various depots.
4. ↑ Hans-Joachim Ritzau, Jürgen Höstel: The catastrophe scenes of the present = railway accidents in Germany Vol. 2. Pürgen 1983. ISBN 3-921304-50-4 , p. 111
5. ↑ Holger Kötting: List of German interlockings on stellwerke.de, from October 26, 2015, accessed on December 19, 2018.
6. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of September 27, 2006
7. ↑ see CD-ROM (full version) of the Bodan Rail 2020 study ( Memento from September 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), in particular Plan 6.7 and Plan 9.14. The figures compare the 1997 passenger volume with that of 2020. The study was completed in 2001.
8. ↑ Local edition of the Schwäbische Zeitung Tuttlingen (Gränzbote) from August 21, 2006, ( page on the Tuttlingen city railway ).
9. ↑ Christian Gerads: The desire for the hourly cycle is unbroken . In: Gränzbote . September 28, 2015, p. 15 .