Railway line Zwiesel – Grafenau

Zwiesel-Grafenau
Route number :	5821
Course book section (DB) :	906 (formerly 866 / 426f)
Route length:	31.520 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	A.
Maximum slope :	approx. 22  ‰
Top speed:	50 km / h
Legend by Bayerisch Eisenstein 0.000 Zwiesel (Bay) 578 m to Bodenmais to Plattling Black rain (150 m) 3.565 Lichtenthal Flanitz 6.458 Zwieselau (formerly Bf) 593 m Zwieselau Forest Railway 9.148 Frauenau 615 m Initially the Poschinger glassworks Instead of loading wood 16.088 Klingenbrunn (formerly Bf) 756 m Spiegelau Forest Railway 19.495 Spiegelau 732 m At the Spiegelau glassworks Big Ohe (30 m) 24,413 Big arm blow 683 m FRG 22 Neuschönau – Grafenau-Reismühle 28.130 Rosenau (b Grafenau) Instead of BayWa 31,520 Grafenau (previously Bf) 578 m Swell:

The Zwiesel – Grafenau line is a single-track, non-electrified branch line in the Bavarian Forest in Lower Bavaria . It branches off the Plattling – Bayerisch Eisenstein railway line in Zwiesel and leads via Frauenau and Spiegelau to Grafenau .

history

Zwiesel station before the renovation (2006)

The basis for the construction of this railway line was the “Law on the Treatment of the Existing Vizinalbahns and the Construction of Secondary Railways”, or Local Railway Act for short, which came into force on April 26, 1882 . Based on this, a law on construction was passed on April 21, 1884. After four years of detailed planning, construction began in 1888 by the Royal Bavarian State Railways . The local glass and forest industries in particular supported the construction of the railway line, which cost 2.46 million marks. On September 1, 1890, the line was put into operation. With a length of 31.52 km, it connects the cities of Zwiesel and Grafenau in the Bavarian Forest . At Zwiesel station it has a connection to the Bavarian Forest Railway from Plattling to Bayerisch Eisenstein, which was built by the Bayerische Ostbahn and opened on September 16, 1877, and to the railway line from Zwiesel to Bodenmais, which opened on September 3, 1928 .

An originally planned extension to Freyung to the local Ilz Valley Railway with a connection to Passau was prevented by Grafenau's resistance to a route via Riedlhütte and St. Oswald with a train station on the Schwaimberg. In Grafenau, a train station near the center of the village promised a higher profit. The line was led through the Grafenau urban area with two stops in Großarmschlag and Rosenau to the terminus. Later plans to extend the route to Fürstenstein in order to establish a connection with Passau were also dropped.

At the beginning, two DX tank locomotives were used . Just two days after the opening, one of the two machines fell down the embankment shortly before Grafenau. There was only material damage.

From 1930 to 1958 the private Zwieselau Forest Railway ended at Zwieselau station , which supplied wood to the railway line with steam and diesel locomotives on a large track network on a 600 mm gauge . The loading tracks have now been dismantled. There is only one stop on the only remaining track. The former Klingenbrunn timber loading station with extensive track systems and connection to the 600 mm narrow-gauge Spiegelauer Waldbahn has now been dismantled to just one track and downgraded to the stopping point.

Reception building in Spiegelau

It was not until 1953 that the continuous connection between Cham, Zwiesel, Grafenau and Passau, which had been planned at the beginning , was established with a rail-road bus . However, due to the complex procedure, the two changes from rail to road, as well as a turn on the road in Zwiesel, this connection was discontinued in 1956.

On August 27 and 28, 1988, a large forest railway festival was held in Zwiesel. Marion Zeitler, the wife of the District President of Lower Bavaria, baptized Dr. Herbert Zeitler this route including the railway Zwiesel-Bodenmais in the name Forest Railway to distinguish it from the Bavarian Forest Railway .

In April 1952, the Plattling depot , which provided the vehicles for this route, received the first rail bus of the VT 95 series. These were followed in September 1955 by their more powerful successors, the VT 98 series. After just 13 years, in May 1965, the VT 95 on this route. In the summer timetables from 1980 to 1987, an Alpen-See-Express from the class 601 ran on this route once or twice a week between Dortmund and Grafenau. This operated between Gemünden and Zwiesel combined with the Alpen-See-Express Hamburg Altona – Bodenmais. In Frauenau, due to the short platform, there was a curious situation that only the rear powered end car and the three connecting intermediate cars could be disembarked. In the 1980s, a planned closure of the line was discussed repeatedly. In the 1985/86 winter timetable, all rail bus services on this route were replaced by locomotive-hauled car trains. Around 1990, as the successor to the rail buses, locomotives of the V100 series pulled or pushed one or two commuter cars with control cars .

Grafenau terminus in November 2006 (before the renovation)

VT22 of the forest railway in front of the Ohebrücke near Spiegelau (2010)

From May 24, 1993, the Regentalbahn took over scheduled traffic on the route with its Esslingen railcars on behalf of DB Regio Bayern. The VT 09 and 10 , former ETA 150 of the DB, which had been converted to diesel multiple units, were also used here for a short time . Operation has been carried out with modern Regio-Shuttle sets under the brand name Waldbahn since the beginning of 1997 . Freight traffic ceased on October 1, 1994.

In the 1999/2000 and 2001/2002 timetable years, a total of 92 train journeys per week were carried out on this route. These were distributed differently. Of these, 32 train journeys were between Zwiesel and Frauenau, 16 train journeys between Zwiesel and Spiegelau and 44 over the entire route.

Current situation

Grafenau stop

The route is operated in train control . Frauenau and Spiegelau are still formally train stations, but are only used as stops. In the course of ordering an hourly service, Spiegelau could serve as a crossing station. The route is served by the WBA3 line every two hours.

Route rehabilitation

After the line was completely renovated in 2002 for 9.6 million euros, since 2003 it has been possible to travel every two hours with a travel time for the entire Zwiesel – Grafenau line of 50 minutes, which now all trains run. Since then, a total of 32 train journeys have been made from 6:00 a.m. to 8:50 p.m. This reduced the number of vehicle kilometers by 2%. A proposed operating sequence with a combined management of the trains from Zwiesel onwards in the direction of Plattling, which would have enabled a connection between Grafenau and Plattling without changing trains, has not yet been implemented.

In the summer of 2007, the 4.7 km long Zwiesel – Zwieselau section was completely renewed for 2.3 million euros. In October and November 2008, a further 2.9 km between the Frauenau and Spiegelau stations were renewed. After this renewal, a slight acceleration of this route could be achieved with the timetable change in 2008. According to the timetable, travel times of up to 47 minutes can be achieved. There are already plans for further renovations on the Klingenbrunn – Grafenau section for the next few years. Smaller level crossings in particular are to be abandoned in order to save travel time.

Stop renovation

Location of the platform and the new bus station (in the background) in October 2007

Grafenau station was fundamentally rebuilt in 2007 and 2008. The track systems have been reduced to a shortened track as part of a redesign of the station area. The bus station on the station forecourt was completely redesigned. Likewise, the freight halls in the immediate vicinity of the station, which were no longer needed since the cessation of freight traffic in 1994, were demolished. A shopping center and parking facilities were built on these areas. The city of Grafenau and the district of Freyung-Grafenau invested a total of 1.3 million euros in this conversion, which also included a change in the road layout. In the summer of 2008, the construction of a new 500,000 euro platform began, which was built east of the previous one directly at the end of the line opposite the bus stop and was completed in November 2008. This enabled shorter transfer routes between bus and train and barrier-free access to public transport. Frauenau train station was renovated in 2009 by building a new shelter with seating and asphalting the access. The platform on track 1 of the Zwiesler train station was to be rebuilt for 600,000 euros by summer 2013 with a length of 90 m. This means that the train station is fully equipped with platforms 55 centimeters high, making it possible to access the trains at ground level.

Hourly

As of December 2013, the Bavarian Railway Company ordered an hourly service on this railway line with the regional train network Eastern Bavaria . Currently there is only a two-hour cycle on the route, as well as irregular parallel bus traffic.

Currently, the route can only be used by one train. In order to make a crossing in Spiegelau, the Zwiesel – Spiegelau section must have a current travel time of 32 min. on 27 min. be accelerated. For this purpose, the closure of level crossings and the renovation of the railway bridge in the Zwiesler urban area, which is currently only passable at 10 km / h, are planned. In addition, the line must be equipped with safety technology for two-train operation.

According to DB Netz AG , the railway line should be equipped with GSM-R and signaling technology for hourly intervals by the end of 2013 . To speed up the line, it was planned to remove around 20 of the 62 level crossings. Negotiations were held here with the neighboring communities of Zwiesel, Frauenau and Spiegelau with the right of way holders. This should reduce the travel time between Zwiesel and Spiegelau in regular traffic from 30 to less than 25 minutes. The communities of Zwiesel and Spiegelau decided in August and September 2012 to create the conditions for the closure of several level crossings by building parallel paths to the railway line. In 2013, the city of Zwiesel invested a total of 466,000 euros in the preparation of the hourly service in its municipality. By the end of September 2013 it was possible to close six level crossings between Zwiesel and Klingenbrunn Bahnhof, particularly in the Frauenau municipality, and to negotiate eleven other agreements. In the urban area of ​​Zwiesel, there was a struggle to dissolve the more heavily trafficked level crossings at Einsiedermedasse and Glasberger Weg. The financing of the necessary replacement road failed due to objections from residents who feared road expansion contributions. By the end of 2013, a total of 18 level crossings had been closed. In spring 2015, DB Netz AG and the city of Zwiesel agreed on an alternative solution. They shall to the timetable change on December 9, 2018 ^[date] the Zwieseler crossings glass Weg and Lohmann Mühlweg be resolved, the bridge over the Regener Str. To be refurbished so that they h with 50 km / can be driven h instead of today 10km / , in Frauenau the main road level crossing is to be technically secured and another level crossing is to be dismantled, further level crossings in the Spiegelau municipality are to be dismantled or technically secured and the line's maximum speed is to be increased to 60 km / h. This would reduce the travel time from Zwiesel to Spiegelau to 26 minutes. A refurbishment of the Klingenbrunn – Spiegelau section is planned for additional buffer time so that it can be driven at 80 km / h.

In October 2018, the DB Netz formally applied for the dismantling of the Frauenau station to the stop.

Introduction of the GUTi

In the course of 2010, several municipalities introduced the free use of public transport called GUTi with a tourist card. As a result, the capacity utilization of the trains on this line increased to 80-100%. In addition to school traffic in the morning and at noon, there were other traffic peaks due to tourists in the late morning and late afternoon . In the course of this, double traction is increasingly being used on this route . This intensified efforts to introduce an hourly service on this route.

Others

• As it was built in 1983, the route is part of the “German Railroads Volume 7 Der Bayerische Wald” expansion of the Microsoft Train Simulator that was published on October 22, 2006 .

Web links

Commons : Zwiesel – Grafenau railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Zwiesel – Grafenau - Illustrated information on the railway line

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ^ House of Bavarian History: Edition Bavaria "Railways in Bavaria 1835-2010"
4. ^ Railroad Journal Railways in the Bavarian Forest 2/96
5. ^ Rüdiger Block: The TEE railcars of the Deutsche Bundesbahn. VT 11.5 series
6. ↑ Ebel, Högemann, Löttgers: Rail buses from Uerdingen - Volume 2
7. ↑ Gerd Wolf: German small and private railways - Volume 7 Bavaria
8. ↑ Route opening times according to the SNB / occupation times of the interlockings for the use of service facilities according to the NBS from November 15, 2017
9. ↑ Stredax , accessed on February 18, 2018
10. ^ Bayerwaldbote Zwiesel: Platform will be renewed May 6, 2012
11. ↑ ^{a b} Passauer Neue Presse - Local Zwiesel: “Level crossings: Expert opinion should convince residents”, September 21, 2013
12. ^ Passauer Neue Presse: “A GUTi also for locals?” (PDF; 76 kB), March 14, 2012
13. ↑ PNP issue F October 7, 2009: Make way for the hourly service
14. ↑ Bayerwald Bote Regen October 30, 2010: "GUTi success rolls over the railway"
15. ↑ Bayerwald Bote Zwiesel January 24th, 2012: "Hourly planning gets going"
16. ↑ Bayerwald Bote Zwiesel: “Forest road construction also helps with hourly intervals”, September 27, 2012
17. ^ Grafenauer Anzeiger: "Alternative to 'Lindauer' Straßl found", August 14, 2012
18. ↑ Bayerwald Bote Zwiesel: “Investment 2013”, April 20, 2013
19. ↑ Deutsche Bahn AG (Ed.): Performance and Financing Agreement Infrastructure Status and Development Report 2013 ( Memento of March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 2, 2014, p. 19
20. ↑ Grafenauer Anzeiger: "Setting the course for the hourly cycle", April 24, 2015
21. ↑ Project “Track and switch dismantling in Frauenau station”. (PDF; 183 kB) Application from DB Netz AG from October 16, 2018, AZ. I.NVR-SA. Federal Railway Office , accessed on December 18, 2018 . 
22. ↑ Bayerwaldbote local part Zwiesel July 29, 2010: "GUTi: The last date to join is January 1, 2011"