Broad gauge railway (National Socialism)

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Route planning 1943 (no contemporary authentic plan)
Models of the double-decker broad gauge cars in the DB Museum

The broad-gauge railway was a broad-gauge railway planned from May 1942 to the last days of the war in 1945 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the German rail technology industry on a gauge of 3000 millimeters. The project was initiated by Adolf Hitler personally, but did not come to fruition.

Planning history

The investment backlog on the German railways in the late 1930s was a consequence of the First World War and the illiquid Deutsche Reichsbahn burdened with reparations payments . After the re-nationalization of the Reichsbahn and the economic boom during National Socialism , Reichsbahn experts sought an escape forwards in large-scale new line programs - at a time when road construction ( motorways ) was favored. Around 1937 z. B. Oberreichsbahnrat Günther Wien presented concepts for a network of four-track long - distance railways with increased axle load and speeds of 200 km / h for passenger trains and 100 km / h for freight trains , which cross-free , without crossing cities, the country in north-south and in East-west direction should pull through.

From 1939 and especially since the beginning of the Russian campaign in 1941, the planned “ living space in the east ” was to be developed primarily for the transport of bulk goods by rail. Hitler considered seagoing vessels and inland waterways to be inadequate means of transport. The self-sufficiency efforts of the hegemonic Europe dominated by Germany and the National Socialist future plans were supposed to lead to a huge increase in the transport of goods anyway; In 1941 it was expected that the turnover of goods would double and the mean transport distance would multiply.

After Fritz Todt 's proposal, which Hitler enthusiastically received , to build a high-performance long-distance railway ("Reichsspurbahn") with a significantly wider gauge than the standard gauge , all the advice from the Reichsbahn and the experts went unheard that all conceivable transport tasks could also be handled with conventional railway technology that nobody knows how to use such a large-sized railway and that the incompatibility with the standard-gauge railway would require considerable additional infrastructure. Alternative plans for a standard-gauge, four-track long-distance line were discarded. From the beginning, the broad-gauge railway was considered a personal “toy of the Führer”.

Krauss-Maffei , Henschel , Borsig , BBC and Krupp were involved in the project .

concept

Scheme of the gauges

After Hitler had given the Reichsbahn and the Ministry of Transport the order to develop the broad-gauge railway in May 1942, a track width of 4,000 millimeters was initially calculated. However, the plans laid down in the later memorandum reduced this to 3,000 millimeters. The clearance profile should be 7500 millimeters high (more if an overhead line is used ) and 8000 millimeters wide.

The superstructure should be designed for a maximum speed of 250  km / h and an axle load of 35  tons . It should run about 500 meters long passenger trains with well over 1500 passengers and 1100–1200 meters long freight trains with a total mass of up to 10,000 tons. None of these numbers are higher than what is regularly used today on standard-gauge railways. The freight should be at 100 km / h top speed is significantly faster than was customary, by large transshipment facilities for bulk goods and swap bodies it should be connected to the supply and Abbringerverkehr. Hitler himself ordered a two-story , extremely luxurious construction for passenger traffic . For the mass transport of forced laborers , double-deck cars with simple equipment were provided.

The lines should be built with four tracks with separation of passenger and freight tracks; Above all, Berlin (the “Reich capital” was to be renamed “ Germania ” after the victory of Nazi Germany ) and Munich were to be nodes . The scope of construction planned in mid-1943 included (additional routes planned for a later date in brackets):

Platform height:

  • Elevated platforms: 1200–1500 millimeters
  • Low-floor platforms: 200–550 millimeters

Alternative track length:

  • At least 1600 meters

Rolling stock

A considerable variety of rolling stock , such as locomotives , multiple units and wagons for the three-meter gauge was designed by the vehicle industry and the Reichsbahnverwaltung . For the running technology of the vehicles , mostly four-axle bogies or double bogies were provided, which combine two two-axle frames in one frame , and six-axle frames for larger freight cars. Since the conventional pulling and buffing devices would not have been sufficient for the high longitudinal forces, automatic central buffer couplings (Janney and SA3 couplings) were provided. The SA3 coupling was favored for passenger transport and the Janney coupling for freight transport . The passenger carriages were to be constructed on two levels, with bell doors and stairs for both high and low-floor platforms.

Locomotives

The memorandum contains 33 energy-own and eight electrical drafts for mainline locomotives , which include all drive types imaginable at the time : Classical steam locomotives are represented as well as steam engine locomotives, steam turbo-electric, steam-turbo-mechanical, gas-turbo-electric, gas-turbo-mechanical, diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric locomotives. The designs range from twelve axles (3'Fo3 ') with a length of 28.4 meters to a 52-axle vehicle with a length of 128 meters ( axle formula 2'Fo'Fo'2' + 5T5 + 5T5 + 2'Fo ' Fo'2 ').

Express locomotives with diesel-hydraulic or turbo-mechanical drives (steam and gas) with SA3 couplings were shortlisted , while steam engines or steam turbo-mechanical locomotives with Janney couplings were preferred for freight train operations . The proposed electric locomotives are all quite similar in their design and correspond to the state of the art at the time.

The selected types provide between around 11,400 and 18,400 kilowatts, depending on their weight  .

Multiple units

Multiple units were designed for passenger train traffic. There are drafts for five-part diesel-electric, diesel-hydraulic and electric multiple units as well as an eight-part electric multiple unit. The two-story designs with their engine rooms, promenade decks, bars, lounges, the porter's lodges and stairwells at the ends of the sleeping cars and the double-high dining room are in places more reminiscent of shipbuilding than rail vehicle construction.

The multiple units designed for 250 km / h were supposed to produce between 12,800 and 18,000 kilowatts in the five-part variants. The eight-part variant, with a drive motor output of 28,800 kilowatts, was probably the most powerful rail vehicle ever planned in the world.

Passenger coaches

The broad-gauge passenger coaches planned for locomotive-hauled trains were all planned with eight axles on double bogies, 42 meters long, 6 meters wide and 7 meters high. They therefore covered around nine times as much space as a four-axle passenger car that was common at the time. There are designs for various day cars:

  • Passenger car 1./2. Class (AB8ü): 12 compartments = 48 seats in 1st class, 24 compartments = 144 seats in 2nd class, bar, lounge, reading room, two luggage compartments, twelve toilets
  • 3rd class passenger car (C8ü): 56 compartments and 2 lounges = 460 places, two companion rooms, twelve toilets
  • Passenger car 1st / 2nd / 3rd Class (ABC8ü): 8 compartments = 32 places in 1st class, 16 compartments = 96 places in 2nd class, 32 compartments = 256 places in 3rd class, two attendant rooms, 16 toilets
  • Dining car 1./2. Class: 130 seats at 24 tables, sideboard, kitchen, washing-up room, work room, staff rooms
  • 3rd class passenger car with 3rd class dining area: 28 compartments = 224 3rd class seats, 176 seats in the dining room, kitchen, sideboard, staff rooms, three toilets

For the luggage and mail services that were common at the time, as well as car loading, which should also be offered:

  • Luggage , mail and car loading trolleys: luggage rooms, parcel room, letter room, staff cabins, canteen, kitchen, washroom, train driver and loadmaster compartment, post accounting office, car garage with approx. Six places, dog stalls
  • Luggage, mail and car loading wagons with flak equipment: two car garages, two baggage and post rooms, canteen, dog stalls, crew room, compartment for train drivers, load conductors and flak personnel, ammunition chamber, flak dome (2 cm multiple cannons)

Sleeping car:

  • Sleeper 1st / 2nd Class: 16 compartments = 16 beds in 1st class (= 32 beds in 2nd class), 19 compartments = 41 beds in 2nd class (= 82 beds in 3rd class), breakfast room, kitchenette, two washrooms, two trunk rooms, companion room, ten toilets
  • Sleeper 1st / 2nd Class with lengthways and transverse beds: 50 compartments = 50 beds 1st class (= 100 beds 2nd class), breakfast room, kitchenette, sideboard, dressing room, waiting room, supervisory room, staff bedrooms and watch rooms, trunk, five toilets
  • Day and night car, 2nd class: 104 compartments = 104 2nd class seats (= 208 3rd class seats), two companion rooms, twelve toilets
  • 3rd class day and night car: 44 compartments = 264 3rd class seats, breakfast room, coffee room, two washrooms, three companion rooms, two luggage compartments, ten toilets

Special car:

  • Bathing car: women's and men's hairdressing salon, 4 baths, 20 showers, two waiting rooms, companion room, two laundry areas, four toilets
  • Cinema car : 196 seats
  • End car: 4 compartments = 16 seats in 1st class, 8 compartments = 32 seats in 2nd class, 20 compartments = 160 seats in 3rd class, viewing room with cold buffet, gallery, 2 luggage compartments, 10 toilets

The end car was intended as an aerodynamic closure at the end of the train, the flat rear should be designed as a viewing dome.

Models of a sleeping car and a transport car for " Eastern workers " of the broad-gauge railway planned by Hitler in the DB Museum in Nuremberg

Furthermore, "Eastern workers' wagons" and large kitchen wagons were planned for their food supply:

  • Day and night car for so-called Eastern workers : 58 full and 4 half compartments = 480 seats, food counter, washing area, sales stand, staff room, dining room, two companion rooms, 18 toilets
  • Large kitchen, mail and baggage trolleys: luggage room, mail room, dining, washing and sleeping rooms for staff, dog stalls, large kitchen with cold rooms

From the description, these are not cars for the transport of forced laborers and prisoners, they should correspond in comfort to the front vacation trains of the Wehrmacht in World War II and serve the transport of seasonal workers.

stretch

Superstructure

Various concepts were considered for the superstructure of the broad-gauge railway, including conventional cross-sleeper superstructures with sleepers made of all materials known at the time (solid wood, wooden double-sleepers, steel, reinforced concrete), half-sleeper superstructures (each rail would be laid on its own narrow sleepers and these would be supported by an inclined grate of Crossbars have been connected) as well as the longitudinal sleeper superstructure or "track wall", roughly what is now referred to as slab track . The superstructure-related part of the broad-gauge railway memorandum comes to the conclusion that, in view of the loads and the future maintenance costs, the type of track wall should be implemented most likely.

Here would be the Planum , two, joined at the top by a transverse plate prestressed concrete walls have been admitted. A rail should be elastically mounted on every wall, either on a continuous stainless steel spring or on rubber strips. Point-shaped bearings with helical spring or rubber elements, as used in the fixed concrete superstructures implemented in Germany today, were considered and discarded in favor of the continuous "oscillating plate superstructure".

As an advantage of the continuous concrete superstructure it was claimed that the wide transverse space between the rails could have been used as an entertainment route and a military road.

Power supply

A power supply had to be designed for the electrically operated locomotives, the so-called "non-energy powered locomotives". The electrification of European railways was only just beginning to develop in the 1930s and 1940s. In Germany, this happened with the single-phase alternating current system , which is still mainly used today, with a voltage of 15  kilovolts and a frequency of 16 2 ⁄ 3   Hertz in an overhead line spanning the route . According to a decree of the Reich Minister of Transport Julius Dorpmüller from 1941, this system should also be used for the broad-gauge railway. However, since the power of the planned locomotives was considerably greater than that of all standard gauge electric locomotives, the usual contact wire cross-section would no longer have been sufficient for the necessary amperage. It was therefore considered to increase the contact wire voltage to 50 kilovolts or even 100 kilovolts and the frequency to 50 to 60 Hertz ( three-phase or single-phase alternating current).

The plans became obsolete in April 1943 when Hitler ordered that the power of the broad-gauge railway was not allowed to be supplied via an overhead line, but had to be fed by a lateral conductor rail . The reason given was military transport tasks and the operational capability of the flak wagons, which were also carried by the driver's decision . The transmission of the required power of up to 22,000 kilowatts via a lateral busbar is practically impossible due to the high voltages required and the resulting large safety distances (three meters safety distance at 50 kilovolt voltage). These planning inconsistencies were not resolved until the end of the war. The plans to build the power plants required for traction current along the planned routes also did not go beyond planning considerations.

Connection with Hitler's town planning

The idea of ​​the superlative railroad corresponded to the monumental style of the building projects for the imperial capital, some of which were realized but mostly foiled by the war. An example of this planning was the Berlin north-south axis .

In Berlin , two gigantic train stations at the north and south ends of the aforementioned monumental axis were supposed to replace the existing terminal stations. Due to the expected excessive accumulation at two stations, an east and west station were later planned at the locations of the Westkreuz and Ostkreuz stations . The Südbahnhof was supposed to be bigger than Grand Central Terminal in New York, then and still the largest train station in the world. For at least a time there was also the plan to run the broad-gauge railway from station to station over this axis.

The introduction and crossing of the broad-gauge lines in Munich should be planned in the new central station on the express orders of the driver in the middle of the track hall, not on the edge or even in a basement. The building, which was already misplaced as a gallery station on the embankment, was very unfavorable in terms of traffic in its execution as a circular dome construction with the dome circumference as the only track crossing option (with a hall diameter of almost 300 m), was delayed further because the hall will not be significantly larger due to the new tracks could. The introduction of the electrified broad gauge tracks could not be accomplished satisfactorily either with overhead lines or with busbars , since in the first case the height of the hall and in the second case the distance between the platforms became problematic due to the necessary protective distances. The "solution" was therefore not to lay any catenary and to shunt the broad gauge trains in the track hall with steam storage locomotives .

In Nuremberg , the Nazi party rally grounds were to have a broad-gauge railway connection in addition to the conventional one.

A large-scale new station building was also planned in Linz , through which the broad-gauge railway was to run.

literature

  • Anton Joachimsthaler : The broad gauge railway. The project for the development of the greater European area 1942–1945. 6th, revised and expanded new edition. F. A. Herbig Verlagbuchhandlung, Munich et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7766-1352-1 .

Web links

Commons : Broad gauge railway  - collection of images, videos and audio files