New railway lines in Germany since 1973
Since 1973 several extensive new lines have been built in the Federal Republic of Germany after hardly any railway lines had been built for a long time. For relief and increased capacity of the railway network created for a number of high-speed lines for high-speed rail and other commuter train -Strecken to relieve the networks in metropolitan areas.
High-speed routes
Hanover – Würzburg
The 327 kilometer long new line was planned since the 1970s, built from 1973 and put into operation in sections between 1988 and 1991. Around 40 million DM per km (20.5 million euros per km) were spent on building the 327-kilometer route, which runs through 63 tunnels and over 34 bridges. Today the route is considered to be the backbone of north-south rail traffic in Germany. On the southern section of Würzburg - Fulda specially prepared for the record run , the ICE-V test train set a world record for rail vehicles as part of the ICE world record run on May 1, 1988 at a speed of 406.9 km / h .
Mannheim – Stuttgart
The 99 km long route can be driven in sections at 280 km / h. The line, which was opened when the ICE started in June 1991, comprises twelve tunnels and six valley bridges and, in addition to the ICE, is also used by InterCity trains and in some cases by regional traffic. Freight trains run at night.
Karlsruhe – Basel (under construction)
The heavily used Mannheim – Basel railway line has been expanded and rebuilt over a length of 182 kilometers in some cases with four tracks, and in part divided into an upgraded line and a new freight train line. The section between Rastatt and Offenburg was opened in December 2004, the question of timing for the rest is open; the largest single structure on the line, the Katzenberg tunnel , was officially put into operation on December 9, 2012 when the timetable changed. The maximum line speed on the newly built tracks is 250 km / h in sections.
Hanover – Berlin
In the 1980s, the Ministry of Transport also thought about an ICE connection from West Berlin . The result of the planning, which was largely completed by the time of the fall of the Wall , was a route through a sparsely populated area. Even if the construction work on this line did not begin until the end of 1992, the two state capitals Magdeburg and Potsdam were not connected to the high-speed line after reunification .
From Hanover to Wolfsburg , the old line has been expanded for speeds of up to 200 km / h; from Wolfsburg to Berlin, up to 250 km / h can be driven on the 190 km long new section. Because of the flat profile, the construction of tunnels and bridges was almost completely unnecessary. On the new line, for the first time, the slab track was mostly installed instead of gravel (on about 91 km of the 163 km). The route was opened in September 1998.
Cologne – Rhine / Main
This new line became necessary due to the overload on the left and right Rhine lines . Since it opened in 2002, the 177-kilometer route has been connecting the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt with a journey time of 1 hour 13 minutes. The route runs via the new long-distance train station at Frankfurt Airport ; Cologne / Bonn Airport is connected via an underground loop, and the state capitals Wiesbaden and Mainz via a branch .
In order to bundle traffic routes , these and all subsequent new routes were laid along existing motorways as far as possible. In order to follow these as far as possible, narrower curve radii with larger canters were required. The route, which largely runs alongside Autobahn 3 , includes 18 bridges and 26 tunnels. For the first time in Germany, a speed of 300 km / h is planned for this route. Because of the steep gradients of up to 40 per mille, the route can only be used by the specially equipped ICE 3 . Due to the increasing popularity of the route, air traffic between Düsseldorf, Cologne and Frankfurt has been reduced since it opened.
Nuremberg – Ingolstadt
The 89 kilometer long new Nuremberg - Ingolstadt line , together with the upgraded line between Ingolstadt and Munich, forms the NBS / ABS Nuremberg – Ingolstadt – Munich and represents the extension of the Berlin – Erfurt – Nuremberg connection. Construction of the line began in 1998. Since the timetable change on December 10, 2006, most of the long-distance trains between Nuremberg and Munich have been using the new route. From May 28, 2006, the Dortmund / Essen – Cologne – Frankfurt – Nuremberg – Munich ICE line was initially run every two hours, as well as individual additional trains on the new route.
The travel time between Nuremberg and Munich was reduced in long-distance traffic from around 105 to initially 80 minutes. The expansion of the Ingolstadt – Munich connection made it possible to further reduce travel time. On the new line, which runs for the most part along the Federal Highway 9 , speeds of up to 300 km / h are possible. According to information from Deutsche Bahn, the construction costs for the entire route came to around € 3.6 billion. Critics criticize the high costs: every minute of time saved cost around € 100 million.
Nuremberg – Erfurt
As part of the German Unity Transport Project No. 8 Nuremberg – Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle – Berlin, construction work began in April 1996 on the 107 km long new Ebensfeld – Erfurt line . The construction freeze imposed in 1999 was lifted again in 2002, after which, however, mainly construction work was carried out to safeguard the building law. Towards the end of 2006 new funds were made available and the summit tunnel was set up. The route opened on December 8, 2017.
Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle
As part of the German Unity Transport Project No. 8 Nuremberg – Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle – Berlin, construction work began in April 1998 on the 123 km long new Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle line . In June 2003, the 23 km long section from Leipzig to Gröbers with the connections and the new Leipzig-Halle airport station was completed and put into operation (total cost EUR 370 million). The entire line was put into operation in December 2015.
Stuttgart – Wendlingen – Ulm (under construction)
The two merging lines have been under construction since 2012 as part of the new and upgraded Stuttgart – Augsburg line to cross the Swabian Alb at speeds of up to 250 km / h. They should run largely parallel to the Federal Motorway 8 . Commissioning is scheduled for December 2022.
Rhine / Main – Rhine / Neckar (planned)
The planned route is to connect the existing new Cologne – Rhine / Main (Frankfurt Hbf or airport long-distance train station) and Mannheim – Stuttgart lines and be designed for 300 km / h.
On February 2, 2007, a compromise between Deutsche Bahn and the Darmstadt Regional Council was announced on one of the issues that had been disputed for years - the connection to Darmstadt. Darmstadt will be connected to the new high-speed line via a single-track branch line, over which a train to Darmstadt Hbf will run every hour in each direction. This means that the solutions, which are also being debated, of guiding the route directly via Darmstadt main station or a complete decoupling of Darmstadt from high-speed long-distance traffic are initially off the table.
The route in Mannheim, on the other hand, is still open. Here, too, efforts are being made to avoid a “detour” via Mannheim Hauptbahnhof. However, as in the Darmstadt case, this plan is highly controversial.
Hanover – Bielefeld (in planning)
In order to achieve the planned travel time between Bielefeld and Hanover from currently 51 to 31 minutes, a new line that can be driven at 300 km / h is planned. It should run parallel to the Federal Motorway 2 .
Nuremberg – Würzburg (in planning)
In order to relieve the existing Würzburg – Fürth railway line, a new line designed for 300 km / h is planned. It enables the travel time between Nuremberg and Würzburg of 29 minutes as specified in the 2nd draft report of the Deutschland-Takt.
"Y-Trasse" Hamburg / Bremen – Hanover (in planning)
The planned 90 km long route with an investment volume of approx. € 1.3 billion is to connect Hanover with Hamburg and Bremen . Due to the course with a fork in a Hamburg and Bremen branch, it is also known as the "Y-route". One leg at Visselhövede is to be linked to the Uelzen – Bremen line, the other at Scheeßel or Lauenbrück to the Bremen – Hamburg line. Travel time between Hanover and Hamburg would be about 15 minutes and between Hanover and Bremen about ten minutes.
The most important reason for the construction of the route, however, is to relieve the congested Hanover – Hamburg line, on which additional capacities for local and freight traffic (the latter mainly from the northern German ports to the hinterland) could be created. A route variant with a more shortened route along the federal motorway 7 to the vicinity of Hamburg-Harburg is also being discussed .
Hanau – Gelnhausen – Würzburg / Hanau – Gelnhausen – Fulda – Erfurt (in planning)
Dresden – Prague (in planning)
The planned high-speed line Dresden – Prague ( new line Dresden - Ústí nad Labem with continuation to Prague) is a possible high-speed mixed traffic route for cross-border rail traffic between Germany and the Czech Republic .
Berlin north-south long-distance railway
All head stations of the Berlin long-distance traffic went out of service after the Second World War, some even before. Trains from the north or south had to take long detours to get to the stations ( Charlottenburg , Zoologischer Garten , Friedrichstrasse , Alexanderplatz and Ostbahnhof ) of the Stadtbahn. This west-east connection could neither take up the traffic during the German division nor that which was to be expected after the reunification. As a substitute, the Berlin-Schöneweide and Berlin-Lichtenberg stations had to take on long-distance transport tasks since the 1950s , but these stations, which are located far outside the city center, were even less suitable for this after the unification of the two parts of the city, especially since the detours would have remained.
In 1992, the construction of a new north-south line with the four-track, 2.7-kilometer-long north-south long-distance railway tunnel and the new main station on the site of the destroyed Lehrter station next to the listed, now demolished Lehrter city station (S-Bahn) decided. With the railway tunnel under the Tiergarten , a new regional station was built next to the Berlin Potsdamer Platz S-Bahn station . The S-Bahn junction stations Gesundbrunnen and Südkreuz (formerly Papestrasse) also received long-distance platforms. Tunnels and train stations were opened for the 2006 World Cup .
New S-Bahn lines
Tunnel sections
In the 1970s, new underground S-Bahn routes were built in Frankfurt am Main , Hamburg , Munich and Stuttgart , which made it possible to travel directly to the city center. The Berlin north-south tunnel , which was opened in 1939, served as a model for the new S-Bahn tunnel routes.
- In 1972 Frankfurt am Main Airport was connected to the German railway network with the construction of the Kelsterbacher Spange. The inner-city tunnel route between the main train station and the Hauptwache was only opened in 1978 and marked the start of operations for the Rhein-Main S-Bahn . This tunnel section was extended to Konstablerwache in 1983 and to the Südbahnhof in 1990 .
- The Munich S-Bahn started operations in 1972 with the opening of the underground trunk line.
- The Hamburg S-Bahn was set up in 1907 as a purely above-ground system. In 1975 the first underground new line was opened between the main train station and the Landungsbrücken . In 1979 this line was extended to Hamburg-Altona . In 1983/84 a new underground line was also built in Harburg for better development of the Harburg city center. The S-Bahn line to Hamburg Airport , which went into operation in 2008, is also mostly underground.
- The Cologne S-Bahn line S 11 (Bergisch Gladbach – Köln Hbf – Köln-Chorweiler), opened in 1975, was extended in 1977 with the construction of a new tunnel to Cologne-Chorweiler Nord.
- The Stuttgart S-Bahn has been running on the new underground line between the main station and Schwabstrasse since 1978 . This tunnel section was extended to the university in 1985 (see connecting railway (Stuttgart) ).
- Between Bochum and Dortmund , a new line went into operation in 1984 for the development of the University of Dortmund , which partly runs on the route of former colliery railways.
- Most of the Hanover S-Bahn was set up above ground for EXPO 2000 ; the only tunnel section opens up to Hanover-Langenhagen Airport .
- The S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland started in December 2013 with a completely new network compared to the predecessor S-Bahn Leipzig-Halle. There are two tunnels in this network. One of them, the City-Tunnel Leipzig , crosses the entire city center of Leipzig and contains four tunnel stations as well as one station on the minus 1 level in the southern surface area of the tunnel. In addition, the S-Bahn runs through the Halle-Neustadt S-Bahn tunnel in Halle - a tunnel section with a station in the center of the district of the same name.
- Dresden Airport has been integrated into the Dresden S-Bahn since 2001 . A line from Dresden-Klotzsche train station was extended for the connection . The Dresden-Klotzsche – Dresden Airport railway dips into a tunnel shortly before the airport and ends in a double-track tunnel station .
- Since 12 December 2008, is Hamburg airport to the S-Bahn Hamburg connected. For the connection, two tunnels were built shortly behind the Ohlsdorf train station, which lead into a track crossing structure shortly before the airport, which in turn is connected to the tunnel station . The travel time from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof to Hamburg Airport is 23 minutes (see also Hamburg Airport S-Bahn ).
More new lines
- Karlsruhe : New building between Grötzingen and Söllingen ( Karlsruhe – Mühlacker railway line ) for the S5
- Leipzig : Construction of a new S-Bahn line between Leipzig-Stötteritz station and the south entrance of the Leipzig City Tunnel , used by the new S 1 and S 4 S-Bahn lines
- Limes Railway : Bad Soden – Niederhöchstadt near Frankfurt
- Munich : S 1 ( Neufahrner Spange ) and S 8 ( Munich East – Munich Airport railway line ) to the airport (with a tunnel under the airport)
Other new lines
Bird airline
- Fehmarnbelt tunnel : According to the result of the regional planning procedure in May 2014 - in contrast to the previous plan - a new stretch of around 55 kilometers in length is planned near the federal motorway 1 . The existing single-track line is then to be closed .
- In the course of the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel, the Lübeck – Puttgarden railway line was to be electrified until it was commissioned and , with the exception of the Fehmarnsund Bridge, two-track expanded from Bad Schwartau seven years later .
- For the opening of the Vogelfluglinie a short new route from Großenbrode to Puttgarden with the Fehmarnsund Bridge was built in 1963 .
Created as a result of German reunification
- Closing the gap between Mellrichstadt and Rentwertshausen , route to Meiningen
- Closing the gap between Neustadt near Coburg-Sonneberg
- Closing the gap in the Arenshausen – Eichenberg section of the Halle – Kassel / Göttingen line
- The Stendal – Uelzen railway line between Salzwedel and Wieren was reopened on December 18, 1999.
- Heudeber-Danstedt – Vienenburg railway line between Stapelburg and Vienenburg on a largely new route
- Berlin-Tegel - Hennigsdorf ( Berlin-Schönholz – Kremmen line ): reopening on a partially new route, as the old embankment was partly removed for the construction of the motorway to Hamburg. Line of the Berlin S-Bahn, electrified with 750 volt direct current busbar.
Main railway lines
- Railway line Węgliniec – Roßlau : re-routing in the area of the Lohsa opencast mine in 1962
- Cottbus - Peitz Ost : Two-track new construction of the main line to Frankfurt / Oder as part of the use of the old line by open-cast lignite mining, commissioning in 2003
- Junction point Borchtitz - Sassnitz ferry port: Relocation of the ferry service from Sassnitz to the new ferry port Sassnitz / Mukran
Branch lines
- Halligbahn Dagebüll – Oland 2005–2009
- Nördlingen – Dombühl railway line : On December 8, 2006, a 1.6-kilometer new line was put into operation between the level crossing at Knittelsbach and Wilburgstetten, which means that train traffic will pass the east side of the new sawmill site. In a four-month construction period, this first new branch line was built in Bavaria after the Second World War at a cost of 1.5 million euros for the pure track system. This amount was taken over by the timber company, which uses this new route for its freight transport and can now expand its premises.
- Railway line Quedlinburg – Gernrode: On the standard-gauge railway line Quedlinburg – Gernrode – Ballenstedt – Frose , after a signal box fire in Ballenstedt, train traffic already ended in Gernrode. As a result, Deutsche Bahn AG no longer saw itself in a position to operate the line economically, and a closure procedure and the closure of the Gernrode – Frose section took place. The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways took over the Quedlinburg – Gernrode section and began building the approximately 8.5-kilometer-long extension of the Selketalbahn to Quedlinburg on April 18, 2005 at Gernrode station by converting the line to 1000 mm gauge. The route approved by the Saxony-Anhalt railway supervisory authority on February 17, 2006 was opened on March 4 with a festive event and special trains. Since at the beginning of the summer timetable on April 29, 2006, various work still had to be carried out, initially only several special trains drove. The regular passenger train service began on June 26, 2006. Since then, six trains have been running between Gernrode and Quedlinburg every day, two of which are steam-covered.
- Connecting curve Eschweiler-Weisweiler-Langerwehe : The single-track, non-electrified branch line with a length of 2.5 kilometers was put into operation in mid-June 2009.
- Wolgast Hafen – Wolgast Ferry: Merger of the Züssow – Wolgast Hafen and Heringsdorf – Wolgast Ferry lines , thus connecting the Usedomer Bäderbahn to the mainland
- Ahlbeck - Świnoujście Centrum : new single-track construction of the Usedomer Bäderbahn on a line that has been dismantled since the end of the war (Ducherow – Heringsdorf – Wolgaster ferry)
Connecting curves, freight bypasses and the like
- Connecting curve Weißig – Böhla : Linking the railway lines Leipzig – Dresden near Weißig and Berlin – Dresden near Böhla
- Drütte– Salzgitter -Bad: New construction of 13.6 km freight railway v. a. for the transport of liquid metals (1956)
- Eichenberger curve: Connection of the lines from Thuringia ( Halle – Hann. Münden railway ) and from Göttingen ( Göttingen – Bebra railway ) in front of Eichenberg station
- Western introduction of the Riedbahn (WER): New connection from Mannheim-Waldhof through the port area to Mannheim Central Station, so that trains do not have to turn their heads (1985)
- Nantenbacher curve , connection of the Main-Spessart-Bahn to the new Hanover – Würzburg line
- Hildesheim loop , single-track connecting curve between the new Hanover – Würzburg line and the Hanover – Hildesheim railway line
- Weddeler Loop , connection from Braunschweig to the high-speed line Hanover – Berlin (1998)
- Riffelriss - Zugspitzplatt : establishment of a new mountain station on the Bavarian Zugspitzbahn (1990)
- Schlömener bend : Bypass the Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg train station between Bayreuth and Hof to connect the routes from Hof ( Bamberg – Hof ) and Bayreuth, both of which flow from the east into Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg train station. Built in order to be able to relocate the Nuremberg - Hof - Chemnitz - Dresden intercity connection from the Nuremberg– Marktredwitz - Hof main line to the Nuremberg – Bayreuth – Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg– Hof line , for which the Schlömener curve was puzzled in Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg would have been necessary. As a result of this relocation, Bayreuth was integrated into the Franconia-Saxony Magistrale (2001). The ICE line was discontinued after a short time.
- Rosenheim curve : bypassing Rosenheim train station on the " corridor route " between Salzburg and Innsbruck (1982). As a result, these inner-Austrian trains no longer have to change direction when crossing German territory in Rosenheim.
- Schifferstadt bypass ( Mannheim – Saarbrücken railway line ): Construction of a 9 km direct connection from Neustadt to Limburgerhof past Schifferstadt. The route cost 140 million euros and was opened in 2003. It is a prerequisite for the rapid connection Paris – Saarbrücken – Mannheim and relieved the old route, which is used by the RheinNeckar S-Bahn , which was opened at the same time .
- South curve Laupheim West: Connection of the Laupheim Stadt-Laupheim West railway line to the Southern Railway in the direction of Biberach in the area of the Laupheim West train station (2008).
- North curve Eschwege West: Connection between the reactivated remnants of the Leinefelde – Treysa railway line and the Göttingen – Bebra railway line , enables direct journeys between Eschwege city station and Göttingen (2009).
- Connection of the Leipzig – Probstzella and Gera Süd – Weischlitz railway lines at Gera-Röppisch via a "bypass" with the closure of a section of the Gera Süd – Weischlitz railway line (2016)
literature
- Knut Reimers, Wilhelm Linkerhägner (ed.): Paths to the future. New construction and expansion lines for the Deutsche Bundesbahn . Hestra-Verlag, Darmstadt 1987, ISBN 3-7771-0200-8 .
Web links
- Current expansion and new construction projects of DB AG
- Home page of the BMVI for the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030
- ICE trains and routes
Individual evidence
- ↑ Switzerland urges Germany to expand the Rhine Valley Railway
- ↑ Lothar Friedrich, Albert Bindinger: The components of the route for the ICE system in the test . In: Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau , 1992, issue 6, pp. 391–396.
- ↑ Much faster with the ICE between Erfurt and Halle / Leipzig ( Memento from December 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Fehmarn Belt Crossing: Relief for the bathing areas. (No longer available online.) The Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, archived from the original on May 6, 2014 ; accessed on May 6, 2014 (information on the conclusion of the regional planning procedure).
- ↑ Timetable on Harz narrow-gauge railways (PDF; 816 kB)