Railway line Eutingen im Gäu – Schiltach

Eutingen in the Gäu-Schiltach
Route number (DB) :	4880
Course book section (DB) :	710.8, 721, 740
Route length:	54.782 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	Eutingen – Horb-Heiligenfeld: D4 Horb-Heiligenfeld – Schiltach: C2
Power system :	Eutingen – Freudenstadt: 15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	<25  ‰
Top speed:	100 km / h
Legend from Stuttgart Hbf 0.000 Eutingen in the Gäu to Horb from Eutingen in the Gäu Em Süd Eutingen in the Gäu Em North 1.500 Connection to the Eutingen airfield tank farm 2,345 Eutingen North K4715 2,345 Eutingen North (since 2019) 4.652 Hochdorf (b Horb) to Pforzheim 9,997 Horb-Heiligenfeld (since 2012) 10.1 K4718 10.15 Withau 10.2 Käppele 10.25 L355 10,300 Connection to industrial area Heiligenfeld 10.4 Tuchmacherstrasse 12.3 Waesinger 12.400 Altheim - Rexingen 13.9 B 28 16.3 Bittelbronn L4703 16,310 Bittelbronn 17.1 L 398 19.6 Schopfloch Bahnhofstrasse 19.757 Schopfloch (b Freudenstadt) 19.8 Schopfloch Bahnhofstrasse / Böffinger Weg 20.5 Lattenberg 20.9 Dornstetten Brunnenbergstrasse 23.530 Dornstetten (since 2019) 24.217 Dornstetten (until 2019) unfinished route to Pfalzgrafenweiler 24.4 Dornstetten Bahnhofstrasse 25.0 Aach Dornstetter Strasse 25,171 Dornstetten- Aach (since 2019) 25.378 Kübelbach Viaduct (276 m) 26,162 Stockerbach Viaduct (276 m) 26,837 Grüntal - Wittlensweiler 27.692 Ettenbach Viaduct (155 m) 28.3 Wittlensweiler industrial park from Rastatt 29.8 + 118 Freudenstadt Hbf 29.8 + 151.4 29.9 + 50.0 30.1 Glashüttenweg Freudenstadt- Lauterbad 31.9 Lauterbad Hardtsteige 32.185 Lauterbad Viaduct (213 m) 35.668 Lossburg - Rodt 651 m 35.7 Loßburg-Rodt Bahnhofstrasse / Bahnhofweg 36.178 Lossburgtunnel (380 m) 39.050 Schwenkenhardt Tunnel (370 m) 40.300 Ehlenbogen Kinzigbrücke at the Farbmühle tunnel 44.865 Color mill tunnel (90 m) 45.3 B294 / Klosterplatz 45.5 B294 / market square 45.8 B294 / Krähenbadstrasse 46.148 Alpirsbach Former state border Württemberg - Baden (until 1952) Kinzigbrücke at the Dais tunnel 49.398 Daistunnel (58 m) 49.798 Stock tunnel (78 m) Kinzigbrücke at the Stocktunnel (60 m) 51.072 Thigh cell 51.821 Schenkenberg Tunnel (100 m) Kinzigbrücke at the Schenkenberg tunnel 54.050 Schiltach middle 54,407 Schiltach Tunnel (117 m) from Schramberg 54.782 Schiltach to Hausach Swell:

The Eutingen im Gäu – Schiltach railway line , also known in sections as the Gäubahn or Kinzig Valley Railway, is a railway line in Baden-Württemberg . It leads from Eutingen in the cultural landscape of the Gäus and in the Black Forest via Freudenstadt to Schiltach .

The line was the link from the state capital Stuttgart to the Hausach – Schiltach railway line . Both lines functioned as main lines until 1974 . Since the mid-1970s, however, the line was repeatedly threatened with closure. It was not until 2006 that extensive electrification and renovation work was carried out in the course of implementing the Freudenstädter Stern regional network . Finally, the Eutingen section in the Gäu – Freudenstadt Hbf was integrated into the Karlsruhe light rail network and direct connections to Stuttgart were reintroduced after more than a decade.

The route planned by the railway engineer Georg von Morlok is characterized by four architecturally sophisticated railway viaducts and deep rock gullies.

Origin and definition of terms

Course of the railway connection from Stuttgart to Freudenstadt

The name Gäubahn goes back to the course of the Stuttgart – Freudenstadt railway connection opened in 1879, which runs between Herrenberg and Eutingen through the cultural landscape of the Korngäus .

However, the term extended to the nearby Eutingen– Horb line , which was previously only part of the Nagold Valley Railway , until the 1930s . From the 1950s onwards, the expression also became common for the route from Horb to Singen . The Stuttgart – Singen line is therefore now also known as the Gäubahn.

Route

In Eutingen, the line to Schiltach branches off from the Stuttgart – Horb line in order to run in a westerly direction through the wide Gäu Plain and to connect to the Nagold Valley Railway in Nagold-Hochdorf. With a south-westerly approach, a few short wooded areas and clearings are driven through on the Horber district until Bittelbronn is reached. Continuing to the northwest, the town of Schopfloch is touched by the route on the edge. From here on, massive rock cuttings and exposed rock formations characterize the further course. Shortly before Dornstetten , a wide, unobstructed view of the foothills of the Black Forest opens up . Mainly heading westwards, crossing three large viaducts over the valleys at Dornstetten-Aach , Freudenstadt-Grüntal and Freudenstadt-Wittlensweiler leads to Freudenstadt's main train station in the south of the city.

history

The idea and its implementation (1865–1879)

A government bill of April 28, 1865 already mentions a “Gäu Railway” Stuttgart – Freudenstadt as a route to be built. It should connect the Württemberg capital Stuttgart with the Black Forest and future railway lines in the Murg and Kinzig valleys. Any problems caused by a 1.56-kilometer route through the Hohenzollern region between Bittelbronn and Schopfloch were circumvented with foresight by agreeing this construction option in the State Treaty between Württemberg and Prussia of March 13, 1865.

The Economic Commission of the Second Chamber stated that “Württemberg [with the Gäubahn] is preparing to join the ranks of competitors [in particular Baden is meant] on the way to St. Gotthard .” In addition, with the Gäubahn there is an almost straight line which cuts through "the country from one end (Freudenstadt) to the other (border near Crailsheim )". In its 116th and 117th session, the Chamber decided to build the railway line.

The government entrusted the Württemberg architect and railway engineer Georg von Morlok with the construction management of the Gäubahn . Morlok himself described the necessary large-scale incision in the marshy rock formations near Schopfloch and the construction of the Ettenbach Viaduct near Wittlensweiler as particularly tricky, and even, according to experts, sometimes "almost impossible".

Nevertheless, the Royal Württemberg State Railways were able to inaugurate the approximately 88 km long Gäu Railway from Stuttgart via Herrenberg and Eutingen to Freudenstadt on September 1, 1879. A “Gäu-Bahn opening march” was composed especially for the inauguration. The new railway line was extended in 1886 at Freudenstadt main station in the direction of Schiltach, where it merges into the Hausach – Schiltach railway line and connects to the Nagold Valley Railway in Hochdorf . This closed the alternative connection from Stuttgart to Freudenstadt via the Württemberg Black Forest Railway. But over time, the new, shorter connection via Böblingen won the competition despite considerable inclines lost.

Development up to the Second World War (1879–1945)

Since the track of the Gäubahn Stuttgart – Freudenstadt was introduced into the Eutingen station on the Nagoldtalbahn, which was already in existence at the time, the trains from Stuttgart to Freudenstadt had to make head in Eutingen. Initially, only three scheduled trains per day ran on the route and the signals and points were set by hand. However, it quickly became apparent that this was causing problems with the increase in traffic and increased safety standards. A signal box was built at Freudenstadt Central Station by 1891.

Around 1900 Freudenstadt became the destination of the bath train from Frankfurt and Wiesbaden via Karlsruhe , Pforzheim and Hochdorf.

At the end of the 1920s, construction began on a branch line to the Gäubahn, which was to lead from Dornstetten via Dornstetten-Hallwangen to Pfalzgrafenweiler . The project was never completed for financial reasons. Converted embankments are a reminder of this chapter today.

Location of the old and new Eutingen train station

In 1933 the Eutingen train station was relocated to its current location. At the same time, a connecting curve was created , which means that trains on the Stuttgart – Freudenstadt route no longer need to change direction . The double-track railway operation between Eutingen and Hochdorf also began at that time. Previously, one track was used by the Nagold Valley Railway and one by the Gäubahn.

A few days before the end of World War II and four hours before the French troops marched into Freudenstadt, the German Wehrmacht senselessly blew up the three half-timbered viaducts of the Gäubahn. Railway operations had to be idle for a long time.

Steam operation on the then double-track section between Eutingen and Hochdorf in 1973

Recommissioning and imminent closure (1945–1990)

It was not until September 1, 1949, after the last viaduct had been repaired, that the line could be used again. Also from September 1949, the so-called French train, an express train with the somewhat unusual route Offenburg-Hausach-Freudenstadt-Horb-Tübingen, ran. It got its name because it mainly served French military traffic.

After the Gäubahn was taken over by the Deutsche Bundesbahn , an electromechanical signal box was built in Freudenstadt. A period of prosperity for tourism in the Black Forest followed, from which Freudenstadt in particular benefited. In 1954, the Hochdorf signal box in the direction of Eutingen was decommissioned and a central signal box was built. This was accompanied by a simplification of the track plan.

Among other things, the increasing popularity of long-distance travel destinations and a shift in traffic to the road led to a sharp decline in passenger numbers in the 1960s. Towards the end of the decade, considerations arose to close the line. However, this could be averted through the cohesion of local politics and interest groups as well as with the support of federal politics. However, for a long time hardly any investments were made in rolling stock and infrastructure. In 1974 the line was downgraded from a main line to a branch line , and one year later the Freudenstadt-Grüntal stop was closed.

In 1985 the second track between Eutingen and Hochdorf was dismantled. The remaining track has been used by both the Gäu and Nagoldtalbahns since then. In 1988 goods loading in Hochdorf was stopped. Also in 1988 the Eutingen train station was renamed from Eutingen (Württ) to Eutingen im Gäu .

Karlsruhe light rail network

Development in the "Freudenstädter Stern" (since 1990)

Schopfloch crossing station

In the mid-1990s, plans arose for a regional network called Freudenstädter Stern . These envisaged cost reductions through extensive rationalization of personnel and infrastructure, the introduction of an integral timetable and train services at least every hour.

Major steps towards the completion of the Freudenstädter Stern were the electrification of the Murgtalbahn as part of the extension of lines S 31 (since 2016 S 81) and S 41 (S 8) of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn to Freudenstadt in 2003, and the takeover of train operations on the Kinzigtalbahn by the Ortenau-S-Bahn (OSB) in 2005 and the construction of an electronic interlocking (ESTW) at Freudenstadt main station.

One of the last projects in the regional network was the electrification of the Gäubahn in 2006 and the new construction or renovation of the Schopfloch and Hochdorf crossing stations . In this way, the route could be integrated into the Karlsruhe light rail network with the then S 41 line. The changeover was accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of passengers. In 2005, only around 500 passengers per day used the train service on the Gäubahn; in 2007 there were already 1,300 and in 2008 1,400 passengers.

In order to also connect the population of the eastern Freudenstadt district to the railway as well as possible, following the example of the Murgtalbahn, new stops in Grüntal / Wittlensweiler (near Freudenstadt), Dornstetten-Aach, Dornstetten-Heselwiesen (as a replacement for the old train station), Horb- Heiligenfeld and Eutingen planned in the Gäu North. Of these, the first Horb-Heiligenfeld stop was finally opened in December 2012 in the industrial area of ​​the same name. One year later, in December 2013, the former Freundstadt-Grüntal stop was reactivated under the new name Grüntal / Wittlensweiler . Furthermore, the Bittelbronn stop was made barrier-free. The two new stops in Dornstetten were delayed for a long time due to the consideration of variants at the municipal level in the planning approval procedure. In February 2017, the planning approval notice was issued by the Federal Railway Authority and in December 2019 the Eutingen Nord , Dornstetten (new) and Dornstetten-Aach stops were finally opened.

Structural features

The greatest challenge in building the Gäubahn was overcoming the valleys near Aach, Grüntal and Wittlensweiler. This required the construction of three elaborate half-timbered viaducts:

• The Kübelbach Viaduct leads near today's Dornstetter district of Aach over the Kübelbach valley and the federal road 28 . Construction took place from 1875 to 1879. The bridge is 279 meters long, has five openings, four central pillars and is about 45 meters high.
• The Stockerbach Viaduct used to be identical to the Kübelbach Viaduct, but was restored in a more modern design after its destruction. At Grüntal it leads over the Stockerbach, which gives it its name. The length is also 279 meters, the height approx. 43 meters. It was built at the same time as the Kübelbach Viaduct.
• As the smallest of the three railway bridges on the Gäubahn near Freudenstadt, the Ettenbach Viaduct , built between 1877 and 1878, runs over the Ettenbach in what is now Freudenstadt's Wittlensweiler district. It has a length of 171 meters, the height is 25 meters.

Large quantities of stone from quarries in the region were used for the construction. The iron structures were delivered from Horb-Neckarhausen.

• 

  Kübelbach Viaduct

• 

  Stockerbach Viaduct

• 

  Ettenbach Viaduct

• 

  Lauterbad Viaduct

business

Freudenstadt Central Station

Empty wooden train from Horb-Heiligenfeld on the Gäubahn

RE Freudenstadt – Stuttgart in Eutingen

General

The line is operated by Deutsche Bahn AG . A regional express (RE) runs from Freudenstadt to Stuttgart every two hours . In the intervening hours, the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) extended the S 8 and S 81 Karlsruhe – Freudenstadt light rail lines to Bondorf on behalf of Deutsche Bahn . In Bondorf there is a connection to the IC / RE Stuttgart– Singen in the direction of Stuttgart with the tram . In the direction of Singen you have to change trains in Hochdorf and Horb, with short connection times in each case. As a feeder for the S 1 of the Stuttgart S-Bahn , the S 8 / S81 also goes to Herrenberg in the morning .

In Hochdorf there is a connection to the regional train (RB) Pforzheim - Horb - Tübingen , in Freudenstadt to the Ortenau S-Bahn to Offenburg and the urban railway lines S 8 and S 81 to Karlsruhe Kronenplatz or Hbf .

In 2007, the AVG built an operating hall for staff and rolling stock at Freudenstadt main station. A total of six of our own vehicles and two Deutsche Bahn railcars have a protected parking space here.

Freight traffic plays a decreasing role on the Gäubahn. Only in the industrial area of ​​Horb-Heiligenfeld there are tracks specially designed for freight traffic. The last time a large amount of timber was transported was after the storm damage caused by hurricanes Lothar and Kyrill . Particularly problematic with freight traffic is the high utilization of the Gäubahn in the short section between Eutingen and Hochdorf, where trains of the Nagold Valley Railway also run.

The passenger traffic between Freudenstadt and Hausach, previously operated by Deutsche Bahn AG , was taken over on December 12, 2004 by Ortenau-S-Bahn GmbH (OSB). Since then there have been hourly trips from Freudenstadt Hbf to Offenburg . The train crossing usually takes place in Alpirsbach during the usual minute of symmetry .

vehicles

• Class 442 railcars operate as RE Stuttgart – Freudenstadt .
• Between Eutingen im Gäu and Freudenstadt there is an hourly change to the RE light rail vehicles of the type GT8-100D / 2S-M .
• On the route from Freudenstadt to Schiltach and on to Offenburg, the Ortenau S-Bahn regional shuttles are used.

Rates

In addition to the Deutsche Bahn tariff, tickets from the Verkehrs-Gemeinschaft Landkreis Freudenstadt (vgf) are valid on the entire Gäubahn . In addition, the RegioX ticket from the Karlsruhe Transport Association (KVV) can be used.

See also

• History of the railway in Württemberg with maps for the completion of the Gäubahn compared to the growth of the entire Württemberg rail network.

literature

• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf, Burkhard Wollny: The railway in the northern Black Forest . tape 1 : Historical development and railway construction . Eisenbahn-Kurier, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, ISBN 3-88255-763-X .
• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf, Burkhard Wollny: The railway in the northern Black Forest . tape 2 : Design, operation and machine service . Eisenbahn-Kurier, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, ISBN 3-88255-764-8 .
• Jürgen Gaßebner, Claus-Jürgen Jacobson: Railway systems from the air. Baden-Württemberg . Transpress, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-71098-6 .

Web links

Commons : Gäubahn (Eutingen – Freudenstadt)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ Hans-Wolfgang Scharf, Burkhard Wollny: The railway in the northern Black Forest . tape 1 : Historical development and railway construction . Eisenbahn-Kurier, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, ISBN 3-88255-763-X , p. 129 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Hans-Wolfgang Scharf, Burkhard Wollny: The railway in the northern Black Forest . tape 1 : Historical development and railway construction . Eisenbahn-Kurier, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, ISBN 3-88255-763-X , p. 131 .
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Hochdorf special, history of the Hochdorf train station, accessed on August 30, 2009 ( Memento from March 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ ^{a b} The history of today's Freudenstadt district Grüntal-Frutenhof. Retrieved August 30, 2009 . 
7. ↑ Regina Schwenk: Dornstetten: Where does the S-Bahn stop? In: Black Forest Messenger. February 6, 2015, accessed June 2, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Plan approval decision according to § 18 General Railway Law for the project "New construction of two stops in Dornstetten". (PDF) February 9, 2017, accessed June 2, 2019 . 
9. ^ Jörg Schlaich: Engineering construction manager Baden-Württemberg . 1st edition. Bauwerk, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-934369-01-4 , p. 46-48 .
10. ↑ Kübelbach Viaduct. In: Structurae
11. ↑ Stockerbach Viaduct. In: Structurae
12. ↑ Ettenbach Viaduct. In: Structurae

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 20, 2008 .