Völklingen – Thionville railway line

Völklingen – Thionville
Bouzonville train station in July 2009
Route number (DB) :	3290
Route number (SNCF) :	174,000 (Anzeling – Hargarten-Falck) 177,000 (Thionville – Anzeling)
Course book section (DB) :	634 267b (before 1970)
Route length:	70.815 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Saarbrücken from Lebach 70.3 Völklingen to Trier Saar Rosseltalbahn from Saarbrücken 67.3 Hostenbach Connection to Bous (until 1945) Federal motorway 620 Are Connection of Bous (until 1945) 65.4 Wadgassen 63.7 Advertising 62.1 Differten Are 58.8 Linslerhof 56.3 Overriding 55.2 State border between Germany and France 51.6 from Béning / Sarreguemines 50.6 Hargarten - Falck (Falck-Hargarten) two tunnels 45.7 Téterchen (Teterchen, Keilbahnhof ) Kurzel – Teterchen railway line to Kurzel 42.2 Brettnach Niedtalbahn from Dillingen 37.0 Bouzonville (Busendorf, start of PV ) Nied 33.0 Freistroff (Freisdorf) 29.6 Anzeling (Anslingen) to Bettelainville 25.6 Ébersviller (Ebersweiler) two tunnels 20.9 from Bettelainville 20.2 Hombourg-Budange (Homburg-Bidingen) to Merzig 16.7 Kédange (Kedingen) 11.8 Metzervisse (Metzerwiesen) 9.1 Distroff (Diesdorf) 6.0 Kuntzig (Künzig) 2.8 Manom (Mackenhofen) 1.8 Thionville – Trier railway from Trier 0.7 from Luxembourg 0.0 Thionville (Diedenhofen) after Mohon to Metz Swell:

The Völklingen – Thionville railway was one of seven railway lines that connected the Saarland with France .

A special feature was that immediately after leaving the Völklingen train station, the factory premises of the Völklinger Hütte were crossed, before federal territory was reached again on the other side of the Saar (after about 800 meters).

history

business

The Völklingen – Diedenhofen railway was one of seven railway lines that linked the Saarland with France . These were (seen in west-east direction):

• Trier – Perl – Apach – Diedenhofen – Metz (formerly 263e, today 692), route again / still in operation
• Merzig – Waldwiesen – Bettsdorf (formerly 267b), route overbuilt
• Dillingen – Hemmersdorf – Niedaltdorf – Busendorf – Metz (formerly 267c)
• Völklingen – Diedenhofen (formerly 267b), tracks still available, no regular traffic
• Forbacher Bahn (formerly 267, today 682), today's ICE connection Paris –Saarbrücken
• Saarbrücken – Saargemünd (formerly 284, today 684), today Saarbahn and some connections to Strasbourg
• Homburg – Blieskastel – Saargemünd (formerly 280d), route today cycle path

Hombourg-Budange train station

The Völklingen – Diedenhofen railway initially belonged to the "Railway in Alsace-Lorraine" and was opened on April 1, 1880 from Teterchen (Téterchen) via Hostenbach to Bous , and the Hostenbach – Völklingen connection will be completed on October 15. On June 1, 1883, the last gap between Teterchen and Kedringen was closed. A high frequency of use requires the double-track expansion of the line, whereupon a further increase in the transport loads can be determined. From the beginning, the Diedenhofen – Völklingen line was designed as an ore railway and quickly became the “most profitable route in Germany of its time”.

Of course, the construction of this route was also strategically motivated, as it made it possible  to quickly reach the deployment area off France from the industrial centers on the Saar - if necessary by bypassing Saarbrücken . The free imperial city of Metz had finally become German again after winning the war in 1870/71.

In 1912, the only accident with personal injury that can still be proven occurred: On February 17th, the Diedenhofen – Völklingen express train derailed below the lime kiln near Überherrn. There were a few slightly injured.

Sectional shutdown

The Überherrn – Hargarten border section has not been served since October 1, 1972, and the longer Überherrn – Völklingen section after May 30, 1992 no longer. The line has not been electrified since 1995. By 2003, occasionally perverse nor freight trains from DB Cargo Germany before the Federal Railway Authority the infrastructure manager DB Netz on 21 May 2003, the decommissioning of the section Völklingen-Überherrn (border) approved, which was completed as of September 30 of 2003. The Überherrn - Falck-Hargarten border section was closed on April 30, 2001.

Incidents

On 4 September 1945 occurred in the railway station of Kédange a serious railway accident , who had a large fire. 39 people died and 34 were also injured.

→ Main article : Kédange railway accident

Current operation

passenger traffic

Local rail passenger transport no longer takes place on the route today. The remaining pair of trains has now been converted to a bus connection.

Freight transport

Germany

The automotive logistics company Mosolf leased the Hostenbach – Überherrn section in 2003 in order to ensure the rail link to its Überherrn location using the Saarbrücken – Fürstenhausen – Hostenbach railway instead of the Saar bridge in Völklingen. Every week, several block trains with brand-new cars ran on the now single-track, non-public connecting railway to Überherrn. In July 2016, however, traffic was stopped due to the poor structural condition of the route.

France

In France , the section between the national border and Falck-Hargarten has been closed, while the Falck-Hargarten - Thionville section is part of the ( Sarreguemines  -) Béning - Thionville connection , which is used for freight traffic. The route is also used for diversion during construction work. For example, on December 27, 2012, the City Night Line connection Paris - Berlin / Hamburg / Munich was run over this route.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ^ Roell: Alsace-Lorraine Railways
4. ↑ KBS 267b Völklingen - Falk
5. ^ Decommissioned railway lines in Saarland - list by the Federal Railway Authority
6. ↑ Development of the Fürstenhausen / Völklingen – Hostenbach – Überherrn and Fürstenhausen – Grube Warndt routes ( memento of the original dated January 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on a private website 
7. ^ " Clear the way for trains to Überherrn": Article in the Saarbrücker Zeitung of February 11, 2003
8. ^ Railway report . tape 5/2016 , p. 54 .