Aalen – Ulm railway line

Aalen Hbf – Ulm Hbf
Route number (DB) :	4760
Course book section (DB) :	757
Route length:	72.476 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Top speed:	160 km / h
Legend from Nördlingen 0.000 Aalen Central Station 431  m to Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt Narrow-gauge railway to Dillingen Aalen-Erlau Connection to the Aalen municipal industrial railway 3.260 Stove 3.883 Undercooking 459  m 8.410 Oberkochen 494  m 13,880 Koenigsbronn 499  m 14.780 Brenz 15.620 Itzelberg 16,511 Brunnenkopf tunnel (258 m) 18.875 Heidenheim- Schnaitheim 494  m 22.121 Heidenheim 491  m 22.300 Brenz 23,384 Heidenheim Voithwerk 25.265 Heidenheim- Mergelstetten 482  m 27.800 Bolheim 28,487 Herbrechtingen 475  m 29.800 Brenz Connection to the Vohenstein industrial area 33.726 Giengen (Brenz) 464  m 37.386 Hermaringen 456  m 39.660 Bergenweiler 39.700 Brenz 39.900 Brenz 41.840 Sontheim-Brenz 445  m to Gundelfingen 46.935 Niederstotzingen 451  m 51.101 Rammingen (Württ) 458  m 56.415 Langenau (Württ) 459  m State border Baden-Württemberg / Bavaria 61.430 Unterelchingen 460  m 62.858 Oberelchingen 65,942 Thalfingen (near Ulm) 464  m State border Bavaria / Baden-Württemberg Industrial main track (east track) 71.001 Ulm Ost (since 1886, originally a train station) Connecting curve to the Ulm – Sigmaringen railway line from Stuttgart Hbf from Wendlingen (high-speed line under construction) from Sigmaringen 72.476 Ulm central station to Friedrichshafen to Augsburg Swell:

The Aalen – Ulm railway , also known as the Brenzbahn , is a main line in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria . It runs from Aalen via Oberkochen and Heidenheim to Ulm .

history

In the 1830s, a commission on behalf of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg identified the railway as a suitable means of connecting the Neckar with Lake Constance and accelerating the movement of goods in Württemberg. For the Eastern Railway from Stuttgart to Ulm, the experts examined a route along Rems and Brenz as well as along the Fils. Although in the latter variant the steep step of the Swabian Alb was an obstacle that was difficult to overcome, the choice fell in favor of the shorter Filstal route, which, in contrast to a route along the Brenz, did not have to go through other Bavarian countries.

The so-called Brenz Railway Clause is historically significant . This was part of the state treaty of February 21, 1861 between the kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg on the continuation of the Remsbahn Stuttgart - Wasseralfingen to the state border near Nördlingen and the connection there to the Bavarian railway line Augsburg-Nördlingen . For this connection, Württemberg had to submit to the condition that from the day the Cannstatt –Nördlinger Bahn opened for a period of twelve years no rail connection was established between it and the Cannstatt – Ulmer Bahn, i.e. the later Brenzbahn. The reason was that the connection from Nördlingen to Lake Constance would have been shorter on the Württemberg (to Friedrichshafen ) side than on the Bavarian side (to Lindau ).

The construction of the Brenzbahn was started on the basis of a Württemberg law of November 17, 1858. The construction work between Aalen and Heidenheim began in 1862. Although it was planned to have two tracks - this can still be seen from various bridgeheads - it was carried out on a single track. The only tunnel leads through the Brünneleskopf (Brunnenkopf tunnel between Schnaitheim and Itzelberg ) and is 257.8 meters long. Just two years later, on September 12, 1864, the Brenzbahn to Heidenheim was officially opened. On July 25, 1875, the line was then extended to Niederstotzingen , and on November 15, 1875 to Langenau . The line to Ulm was not continued until 1875, after the Brenz Railway Clause had expired and on the basis of a new Württemberg-Bavarian State Treaty of December 8, 1872. This section of the line was opened on January 5, 1876.

From May 1, 1911 to 1956, there was a connecting line from Sontheim to Gundelfingen in Bavaria on the Danube Valley Railway .

expansion

From 2003 to September 2007, platforms and level crossings were modernized along the entire route, and tracks and signal systems were renewed, at a total cost of around 75 million euros. In November 2006 the last form signal on the Brenzbahn went out of service; the electronic interlocking Heidenheim has taken over the control of the route from Oberkochen to Thalfingen (near Ulm). When equipping the line for tilting operation were Eurobalises installed.

There are currently 44 level crossings on the route .

The regional plan for the East Wuerttemberg region provides for the line to be kept free for double-track expansion and electrification . In November 2009, the regional association commissioned a feasibility study to examine the electrification and two-track expansion of the line, which, according to the region, is being operated at its capacity limit.

The state of Baden-Württemberg registered the double-track expansion and electrification of the line for the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 . The estimated cost was given as 100 million euros. The country has repeatedly signaled its willingness to help finance electrification.

A preliminary study for a partially double-track expansion of the Brenzbahn is to be commissioned in 2015 (status: October 2015). In 2016 a basic assessment and preliminary planning are to follow. A total of 475,000 euros have been earmarked for this, of which the Alb-Danube district and the neighboring communities will assume a total of 15 percent. Among other things, a two-track expansion between Langenau and Rammingen and between Sontheim / Brenz and Bergenweiler is planned. The aim is to achieve an IRE hourly service as well as shorter travel times for RE and RB trains. The total costs were estimated at up to 24 million euros.

The southern end of the line, in Ulm Central Station, was relocated to a new location in 2017. The track crosses the trough in front of the Albabstieg tunnel on an approximately 55 m long truss bridge. The new route was put into operation on October 4, 2017.

There is a planning draft for the expansion of the existing rail network within the Danube-Iller local transport network to the regional S-Bahn Donau-Iller .

passenger traffic

Renewal of the signal systems at Heidenheim

Regional express trains on the Aalen - Ulm line and regional trains between Ulm and Langenau run every hour on the route . Every two hours , Interregio-Express trains (IRE) connect Aalen and Ulm in less than an hour.

Regional express and regional train connections

This passenger transport was awarded to the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HZL) in January 2016 as part of the tender for the network 12 "Ulmer Stern" for operation from June 9, 2019 , which has now been merged to the SWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-AG . The vehicles used are LINT 54 diesel railcars from the manufacturer Alstom . These have a (mostly) barrier-free entry height of 55 centimeters and 18 bicycle parking spaces as well as WiFi. With the change of operator, improvements and expansions of the connections at the weekend and in the outskirts of the day took place. The transport contract was signed on September 7, 2017.

Previously, the operator was DB ZugBusRegionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee GmbH (RAB). Regio shuttles of the 650 series or railcars of the 628/629 series were used . With the timetable change at the end of 2015, diesel multiple units of the 644 series should also run on this route . These are labeled "Brenzbahn". Until mid-March 2016, these vehicles were on the sidings in Ulm Central Station because the operating permit from the Federal Railway Authority was missing. The trains have been in use between Ulm and Aalen and Crailsheim since March 2016. The 52 meter long and 86 ton heavy trains have 159 seats and twelve bicycle parking spaces. They had previously been used in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Interregio-Express connections

The Interregio-Express trains between Aalen and Ulm are driven by tilting railcars - class 612 . Converted class 612 railcars, which are equipped with free WiFi and have eighteen bicycle parking spaces, have been in use since October 2017 . Before that, multiple units of the 611 series were also used.

The operation of the IRE trains was awarded to DB ZugBusRegionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee GmbH (RAB) as part of the tender for Netz 5 “Donau-Ostalb” from December 2016 for a period of ten years.

Freight transport

DB Cargo

The majority of the freight traffic on the Brenzbahn is carried out by the DB subsidiary DB Cargo AG , which uses class 294 locomotives for this . Giengen (Brenz) is the most important train station. From there, a class 294 locomotive drives to Aalen in the morning to take over part of a freight train from Kornwestheim Rbf , until May 30, 2007 the connection to the Hartmann company in Heidenheim was served on the way. This was connected to the municipal industrial main track , which was closed on June 1, 2007 due to lack of track and dismantled in early March 2009.

The Vohenstein industrial area near Herbrechtingen is served at least twice a day . These trips take place on weekdays except Saturdays.

The largest customer in freight transport on the Brenzbahn is the logistics center of BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte in Giengen. Around 100 trolleys are processed daily from the BSH logistics center, corresponding to around 35 percent of its transport volume, with an increase to 50 percent planned. For this purpose, a container terminal was built as well as another industrial track (350 meters long, corresponding to 40 containers) for loading container trains. By 2010, the existing nine tracks were supplemented by another two. This means that 1.4 kilometers of tracks are available in the logistics center. Freight trains with 40 wagons or 600 meters in length can be served with it.

Another important customer is the Schwenk cement works in Heidenheim-Mergelstetten. The plant is supplied with coal wagons at irregular intervals; trains run on demand. From November 2006 new trains were added to transport cement clinker to Novi Ligure in Italy and to Tyrol . These ran about once a week. Used cars were the genres Tds of DB Cargo (biaxial, trains to Italy) and Tad / Tadgs the ÖBB (four axes, trains to Tyrol). The transports ended after about one to two years. New in September 2008 were cement transports to France, which were initially carried out with wagons of the Ucs type and then from mid-2010 with wagons of the Uacs type and run about every two weeks. In the meantime, there was still spot traffic with cement clinker to Gent Zeehafen in Belgium with wagons of the type Talns.

Undercooking is served from Aalen on weekdays. A class 294 locomotive brings a few sliding wall or sliding tarpaulin wagons to the station there and then pushes them into the sidings of the Palm paper mill and Munksjö Paper . The unloaded wagons are then brought back to Aalen, from where they are brought to Kornwestheim in the evening in a class 152 locomotive .

Due to the construction work on the Remsbahn, numerous freight trains were diverted via the Brenzbahn in 2009. They were mostly drawn with a 225 .

Other railway companies

A special service was carried out from April 2007 to March 2008: Every week from the Westphalian town of Arnsberg , a block train with storm wood due to the Kyrill hurricane , consisting of around 30 Eas-z wagons, was carried out by OHE and LTH Transportlogistik on behalf of Rent-a -Rail drove to the Vohenstein industrial area in Herbrechtingen. Locomotives of the type Blue Tiger (series 250) were used. The first train ran on April 7, 2007, the last in March 2008.

Since July 8, 2009, a wing train of the container train Hamburg-Waltershof - Stuttgart Hafen has been running to the BSH container terminal on the premises of BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte in Giengen (Brenz) . This train runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and is operated by the LOCON company . It takes the route from Stuttgart Hafen via Stuttgart-Untertürkheim and Aalen to Giengen. As far as Aalen, the train usually runs with a class 185 electric locomotive , from there a V 100 type locomotive ( class 203 or 211 ) usually takes over for the non-electrified section. The services are normally distributed over the afternoon, and the train runs four times a day between Aalen and Giengen. The wing train reaches capacities of up to 80 TEU .

Since April 2018, Captrain Deutschland trains have been running from Giengen (Brenz) to Ulm on Wednesdays and Fridays .

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  Heidenheim 1902

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  Thalfingen train station 1903

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  Class 650 on the Brenzbahn

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  Class 628.2 railcars

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  Private freight train from Stock Transport on the Brenzbahn

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  DB freight transport on the Brenzbahn

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  OHE's private timber train in the Vohenstein industrial area

literature

• Uwe Siedentop: The Brenz Valley Railway. Publishing house Uwe Siedentop, Heidenheim (Brenz) 1984.
• Turntable 197 (1/2007), ArGe turntable e. V. 2007, www.drehscheibe-online.de .
• The Brenzbahn from Aalen to Ulm - fit for the future. Press release 474/2007 of the DB ( no longer available online ).
• Bahn-Report 1/10, p. 76 and 5/10, IG Eisenbahnverkehr e. V. 2010, www.bahn-report.de .
• Hannes Ortlieb: From the Ostalb to the Danube. The Brenzbahn. In: Bahn-Report . tape 226 , no. 4 , July 2020, ISSN  0178-4528 , p. 82-87 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Brenzbahn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Information about the route
• Representation of the route on the OpenRailwayMap
• Images of the tunnel portals

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Route directory (Microsoft Excel; 371 kB), eisenbahnsignale.de.
2. ^ DB Netz AG: Infrastructure Register. In: geovdbn.deutschebahn.com , accessed on July 2, 2020.
3. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
4. ↑ https://eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de/lb/inhalt/tunnelportale/4760-brunnenkopf.html
5. ↑ Railway route plan ( Memento from July 16, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Private website.
6. ^ Section in the regional plan , accessed on April 9, 2018.
7. ↑ "Schnellen Eppmann" more often , Gmünder Tagespost from November 27, 2009.
8. ↑ Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (Ed.): Registrations of the State of Baden-Württemberg for the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2015 (BVWP 2015) - long version - . Stuttgart April 30, 2013, p. 5 ( PDF file ).
9. ↑ Tanja Oechsle: “You can't just open your hand.” In: Heidenheimer Zeitung . March 16, 2020, p. 9 ( online for a fee ).
10. ↑ Thomas Steibadler: Only partially free travel . In: Südwest Presse . October 22, 2015, ZDB ID 1360527-6 , p. 31 (among other titles online ).
11. ↑ Brenzbahn runs over the new bridge in Ulm Central Station . Deutsche Bahn press release from October 5, 2017.
12. ↑ Stefan Kielbassa: Stuttgart – Ulm rail project: Crossing the Alb plateau and integrating the new line into the Ulm Hbf train station. (PDF) Guest lecture at Ulm University Part 3: Building on the existing - Ulm train station. Deutsche Bahn, December 7, 2016, p. 26 f. , accessed December 29, 2016 . 
13. ↑ Karin Fuchs: New Trains - This is how the premiere on the Brenzbahn went. In: Heidenheimer Zeitung. June 12, 2019, accessed June 19, 2019 . 
14. ↑ A fresh wind is blowing in the Danube Valley and on the Brenzbahn . In: Schwäbische.de . ( szo.de [accessed on April 26, 2017]).
15. ↑ Local rail transport on the Brenzbahn and in the Danube Valley will be more attractive from 2019. Ministry of Transport Baden-Württemberg, September 7, 2017, accessed on June 19, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Karin Fuchs: New cars still on the siding. In: swp.de. Accessed March 9, 2016 (German). 
17. ↑ The "Talent" comes to the Brenzbahn. In: Schwäbische.de. Retrieved March 24, 2016 . 
18. ↑ Modern trains for the Brenzbahn . In: Südwest Presse . March 18, 2016, ZDB -ID 1360527-6 , p. 28 .
19. ^ Südwest Presse Online-Dienst GmbH: Brenzbahn: New trains with free WiFi from December . In: swp.de . March 7, 2016 ( swp.de [accessed January 12, 2017]).
20. ↑ State awards contract for tilting technology in the "Danube-Ostalb" network until 2026 to DB Regio. Retrieved August 23, 2016 . 
21. ^ Heidenheimer Zeitung of September 17, 2008.
22. ↑ New tracks for freight and container trains , brenzbahn.de, accessed November 24, 2009.
23. ↑ Train drivers leave Mugele containers behind , Gmünder Tagespost, article from November 7, 2014