Voralbbahn

Goeppingen-Boll
Route number :	4730
Course book section (DB) :	902
Route length:	12.4 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Filstalbahn from Stuttgart Hohenstaufenbahn from Schwäbisch Gmünd 0.00 Goeppingen Filstalbahn to Ulm 1.10 Connection to Gutmann weaving mill 1.45 Connection to Leonhard Weiss 1.6   today's end of the route 1.75 Fils 1.9   Ulmer Straße (L 1214, former B 10 ) 2.65 B 10 and L 1218 3.01 Göppingen- Holzheim 4.73 Goeppingen-St. Gotthardt 5.74 Goeppingen- Schlat 7.41 Eschenbach (Württ) 9.06 Heiningen 10.92 Dürnau 12.19 Boll 12.4   Boll freight yard

Remains in Dürnau

The 12.4 kilometer branch line from Göppingen to Boll , which opened in 1926 and on which passenger traffic was discontinued in 1989, is known as the Voralbbahn or Boller Bähnle . The difference in altitude between Göppingen and Boll station is 105 meters. The railway was popularly called “Boller Mariele” or just “Mariele”, analogous to the “Josefle” from Göppingen to Schwäbisch Gmünd .

history

The community of Boll was located at a railway connection in order to be able to offer its spa guests a better way of traveling. In 1901 a so-called railway committee was founded in Boll, which worked out a first plan for a route from Göppingen to Boll by 1904. The plan was initially rejected because the introduction to the Göppingen train station was considered too time-consuming. But as part of the construction of the Hohenstaufen Railway from Göppingen to Schwäbisch Gmünd, which opened in 1912 , the station was rebuilt anyway and the route to Boll was considered. In 1913 the construction of a standard-gauge railway to Boll was approved. The First World War delayed construction and could only begin after its end.

The opening took place on May 13, 1926. Initially, freight trains with passenger transport took over the operation of the route, so the journey time was 87 minutes. It was only through the introduction of pure passenger trains that it was subsequently reduced to 50 minutes. The line survived the Second World War without damage.

Uerdinger rail buses were used from 1952 , the last scheduled steam locomotive ran in 1965. The rail buses were usually in triple traction. In addition to rail buses, locomotive-hauled trains with silver coins were also used in school and commuter traffic . While the rail buses in Göppingen ran on the non-continuous platform 13, the locomotive-hauled trains stopped at platform 7 because they were also used on other routes. In 1972 a journey time of 25 minutes could be achieved.

But even the shorter travel times could not stop the decline in passengers. While in the mid-1960s over 2500 people used the train every day, in 1985 there were only a little over 1000. In 1975 rail operations on Saturday afternoons as well as on Sundays and public holidays were discontinued; instead, rail buses were used. A cessation of passenger traffic was foreseeable. The district of Göppingen and the neighboring communities commissioned studies to increase the attractiveness. Measures such as regular traffic , optimization of the transfer options from connecting buses and to other trains in Göppingen, additional stops and cheaper placement of individual stations should help to develop a greater passenger potential. However, it was not possible to secure sufficient funding.

Shutdown

The last scheduled passenger train ran on May 27, 1989. Freight traffic was possible until September 25, 1994. With effect from December 15, 1997, the route infrastructure was formally shut down after a sale by tender had failed. The tracks were not dismantled. The association A new train in the district is trying to resume traffic. The first 1.6 kilometers of the route were sold as a siding to the track construction company Leonhard Weiss . In addition, the goods station area in Bad Boll was built over (approx. 150 meters) to the west of the station building that still exists today at the corner of Bahnhofallee and Bühlstrasse.

Reactivation considerations

The regional traffic plan of the Stuttgart region of 2001 classified the construction of a rail connection between Göppingen and Kirchheim unter Teck with the connection of the Boller Bahn and the reactivated Kirchheim (Teck) Süd – Weilheim (Teck) railway as a high priority . In the meantime, the municipality of Bad Boll has examined various routes for the continuation to Kirchheim in the course of the development of the freight station.

In 2011 the railway line in Heiningen was interrupted as part of a sewer rehabilitation at a level crossing. The remaining tracks are still completely in place. In Heiningen, however, these were partially covered with concrete slabs to create parking spaces.

Another attempt to link the Weilheim route with the Voralbbahn took place in March 2018. However, an expert report confirmed that the project was not profitable, despite the forecast of up to 1,800 daily passengers. This is mainly caused by the cost-intensive new line between Bad Boll and Weilheim. Even reactivating the Voralbbahn on its own would not cover costs due to insufficient passenger numbers.

particularities

Schlat train station was located two kilometers from the outskirts of the eponymous municipality on the outskirts of the city of Göppingen. From 1962, the Ursenwang settlement was built in the vicinity of the station , and its residents predominantly used the station. Nevertheless, the station kept the name Schlat until passenger traffic ceased.

simulation

The Voralbbahn was reproduced in great detail for the Rail Simulator by a user.

Web links

• Website of the association A new train in the circle
• Route description on www.vergessene-bahnen.de
• Site of the builder for the Railsim

Individual evidence

1. ^ Regional traffic plan for the Stuttgart region from 2001. Appendix 3, Figure 2.1.
2. ↑ Heiningen - Boller railway line is interrupted for the first time ( memento from April 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Göppinger Kreisnachrichten from September 29, 2011
3. ↑ Karen Schnebeck: From Göppingen Kirchheim. New hope for the old railway line. Stuttgarter Nachrichten , March 1, 2018, accessed on May 18, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Philip Braitinger: rail link Göppingen - Kirchheim. The rail is probably too expensive. Stuttgarter Nachrichten , March 8, 2019, accessed on May 18, 2019 .