Winsen – Hützel railway line
Winsen – Evendorf – Hützel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Route number : | 9112 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Course book section (DB) : | ex 109e | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Route length: | 41.07 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top speed: | 50 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Winsen – Hützel railway line is a standard-gauge railway line operated by the Osthannoverschen Eisenbahnen AG (OHE).
history
The narrow-gauge railway Winsen-Evendorf GmbH opened on July 20, 1906 first the railway line from Winsen to Egestorf. The Egestorf train station was outside the village on the boundary of the Winsen district . An extension was already planned, which was then opened on July 8, 1910 to Hützel. The Kleinbahn changed its name to Kleinbahn Winsen – Evendorf – Hützel . In Hützel the connection to the small railway Lüneburg – Soltau, which opened in 1913, was planned. The line, also known as the “Luhebahn”, represented a connection across the Lüneburg Heath from the main line Hamburg – Lüneburg to the small line Lüneburg – Soltau.
From 1933, the Lower Saxony State Small Railway Authority was in charge of operations. On January 1, 1944, the two Winsener Kleinbahnen merged to form the Winsener Eisenbahngesellschaft GmbH , which was incorporated into the Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG on July 11, 1944.
Since the end of 2008 there has been discussion about whether the line should be expanded to relieve the main Hamburg – Hanover route. Local residents protest against it. If there are major expansions, some places should be bypassed. In 2009 the state of Lower Saxony agreed to provide money for the renovation, as well as for the construction and renewal of sidings, signals and for the safety of the railway lines of the OHE and the EVB .
business
passenger traffic
Although the connection to Soltau was planned, there were never any through passenger trains, they usually ended in Hützel. The connections were also not always available. In the early years, between 130,000 and 160,000 passengers were counted. Excursion traffic played a major role, with more trains running on Sundays than on weekdays, but it was also heavily dependent on the season and weather. From 1933, passenger transport was switched to railcars. This made shorter travel times and a denser timetable possible. In the 1950s and 60s there were between three and five continuous trains, plus trains from Winsen to Salzhausen. In the 1967 summer timetable, from mid-July a pair of trains had through coaches on Sundays and public holidays with the route Celle – Soltau Süd – Hützel – Winsen and back and another pair of through coaches to and from Hamburg, geared towards excursion traffic from the conurbations of Hanover and Hamburg to the Lüneburgers Pagan.
On September 26, 1970, the scheduled passenger traffic was set. Since May 31, 1970, only one working day railcar from Salzhausen – Hützel was listed in the timetable. There are still individual trains in tourist traffic. On some Sundays in summer the " anteater " drives from Soltau (DB) to Döhle.
Freight transport
The transition to the state railway was possible in Winsen and Wulfsen until 1962.
The traffic is predominantly agricultural, due to the migration to the road there are hardly any larger shippers. The loading of sugar beet, once very important, ended in 1992. There was also sand and gravel extraction, until 1972 the OHE operated a sand pit near Neu Garstedt for its own use.
Freight traffic is carried out today (2013) as required. Three times a week a freight train runs through traffic from Celle to (Nieder-) Marschacht, this exchanges freight wagons as required at the intermediate stations (wood loading in Gödenstorf-Oelstorf and Egestorf).
literature
- Gerd Wolff: Deutsche Klein- und Privatbahnen , Volume 10: Lower Saxony 2. Between Weser and Elbe ; Freiburg im Breisgau: EK-Verlag, 2007; ISBN 978-3-88255-669-8 ; Pp. 296-311.
- Ingo Hütter, Thorsten Bretschneider: The East Hanoverian Railways. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-88255-730-5