Geislinger Steige

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An ICE 1 towards Stuttgart on the southern edge of Geislinger Steige, near the Amstetten train station

The Geislinger Steige is an old trade route to the Swabian Alb . It connects Geislingen an der Steige at its foot in a south-southeast direction through the valley of the Eyb tributary Rohrach with Amstetten and is one of the most famous Alb ascents .

Today the name refers to two different traffic routes:

  • The trunk road between Geislingen an der Steige and Amstetten, which has existed since Roman times , was expanded between 1823 and 1824 and is now a section of federal road 10 , is the actual Steige
  • The steep section of the railway ramp in the course of the Filstalbahn , part of the main line between Munich and Stuttgart . In some sources it has been called the steepest main railway in Europe.

Railroad ramp

The railway ramp on the eastern slope of the valley is 5.6 kilometers long and overcomes a difference in altitude of 112 meters. The curve radii go down to 278 meters. The route section is thus laid out according to the standards for mountain railways . Between Geislingen and Amstetten, the route climbs by up to 22.5 ‰. It is considered to be the first mountain railway crossing in continental Europe.

Planning and construction

With the law on the construction of railways on April 18, 1843, the construction of the first railway line in Württemberg from Heilbronn - at that time the end point of Neckar shipping - to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance was decided. The biggest obstacle to the construction was the unfavorable topography, because the Swabian Alb had to be crossed between Geislingen and Ulm . After various alternatives had been checked and discarded, the decision was ultimately made for a short and steep ramp near Geislingen, the Geislinger Steige.

Senior engineer Michael Knoll and senior building officer Karl von Etzel , who later became famous for the Brenner Railway in Tyrol , were entrusted with the construction of the railway ramp . Construction began in 1847, involving around 3,000 workers. The line was finally opened in 1850. The company WMF (Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik) in Geislingen an der Steige is closely connected with the construction of the Steige.

As part of the planning, it was initially planned to run the route between Göppingen and Geislingen near Weigoldsberg into the upper Filstal (via Bad Überkingen ) with less gradients; however, these plans were discarded in favor of the steeper solution with the Geislinger Steige. Plans to carry out the Alb descent towards Ulm with the same incline (via Bollingen , Mähringen and the Lehrer Tal) were also rejected after preliminary work had shown that the descent via the Örlinger Tal (with inclines of 1:70) was more expensive but operationally cheaper .

business

Push-pull locomotives in front of the Geislingen train station

The operation was a challenge for the Royal Württemberg State Railways (KWSt.E.) and later for the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the Deutsche Bundesbahn . In the age of steam locomotives, almost every train had to be pushed , which is why the train stations in Geislingen an der Steige and Amstetten are quite large. There was a local railway depot in Geislingen an der Steige for the maintenance and repair of the waiting push locomotives .

In the time of the steam locomotives, the Württemberg T 3 (later class 89.3–4) was used for pushing service from 1891 . Around 1905, two machines often had to be pushed. The locomotives were replaced by the heavy Württemberg T 4 (later 92.1 series) from 1906/1907 to 1921 . From 1917 onwards, the only German six-coupler, the Württembergische K (later the 59 series), was used.

The Deutsche Reichsbahn electrified the line in 1933; that was completed on May 30, 1933. The electric locomotives now used were much more powerful than the old steam locomotives, which is why several pushing trips could be saved. Locomotives of the class E 93 (later 193) and class E 94 (194) were used for the locomotives that were still needed .

From February to April 1945 Allied fighter-bombers shot at the range several times. There was only minor damage to property.

The German Federal Railways hauled trains from the 1960s, mainly with standard locomotives , and later with the DB Class 103 . On May 28, 1967, the first Trans-Europ-Express (TEE) drove over the Geislinger Steige, this was the train pair 10/11 Rembrandt from Munich to Amsterdam.

In February 1975, the two-way track switching operation between Geislingen (Steige) and Amstetten went into operation, in March 1986 between Geislingen West and Geislingen (Steige). In 1987 the series 140 (briefly) and 150 replaced the series 194 as push-pull locomotives . The 150 series has now also been retired. Replenishment has largely become unnecessary for passenger trains because of the ICE and stronger locomotives that have been in service since 1991 (e.g. series 101 , series 120 ). On October 15, 1999, an ICE 3 drove over the Steige to Munich for the first time . The IRE continues to run every two hours and runs four times a day during the week as a sprinter with two class 218 diesel locomotives , otherwise with class 146.2 , from Lindau to Stuttgart and back. The sandwich covering does not hold up the Geislinger Steige much longer. Heavy freight trains, on the other hand, are being pushed as before, and two class 151 locomotives are available for DB Cargo trains in Geislingen . Since more and more private railway companies have been carrying goods in Germany, private pushing locomotives can also be found on the Geislinger Steige (e.g. Class 66 of the HGK ).

Around 1991 up to 40 freight trains were being pushed on the Geislinge Steige every day.

outlook

The maximum speed in this section is currently 70 km / h, trains with uncoupled push locomotives travel on the path at only 60 km / h. The planned new Wendlingen – Ulm line , a high-speed line for speeds of up to 250 km / h, is to replace the Geislinger Steige for high-speed traffic. On it, the difference in altitude near Geislingen is to be overcome in two 8 km long tunnels. The construction work has started.

Since the new line with the planned gradient of up to 35 ‰ is only suitable for light freight trains, critics of the new line suggest building a tunnel with a maximum gradient of 12.5 ‰ on the existing line between Süßen and Lonsee . Only about 130 meters in altitude have to be overcome with about 11 km of tunnel. The route between Ulm and Stuttgart would then be fully suitable for heavy goods traffic.

literature

  • Korbinian Fleischer: Around the Geislinger Steige. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-86680-766-2 .
  • Karlheinz Bauer et al .: The Geislinger Steige - a Swabian building of the century . City archive Geislingen an der Steige, Geislingen an der Steige 2000.
  • Bernhard Stille: Filsthalbahn and Alp crossing. Memories of the construction of the Geislinger Steige. Publications of the Geislingen City Archives, Volume 4, Geislingen 1985.

media

Modelling
Videos
  • Around the Geislinger Steige (105 min, alphaCam, Blaustein, 1988)
  • 150 years of Geislinger Steige - Part 1 (57 min, alphaCam, Blaustein, 2000) Railway construction history, modern train operation
  • 150 years Geislinger Steige - part 2 (56 min, alphaCam, Blaustein, 2000) nostalgia up to 25 years old (E194 / steam locomotives etc.)
  • 150 years Geislinger Steige - Part 3 (56 min, alphaCam, Blaustein, 2000) The 2000 anniversary with a ceremony and Special trips
Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Use of the old Geislinger Steige as an interim street in the event that the new Steige must be closed (construction of the new Steige 1823-1824)  in the German Digital Library
  2. ↑ a b c 50 years of electric train operation on the Geislinger Steige. “Full speed ahead” . In: Die Bundesbahn , 8/1983, p. 534 f.
  3. ↑ Geislingen History Association, p. 75.
  4. ^ Geislingen History Association, p. 89.
  5. ^ Wolfgang Watzlaw: Preliminary planning for the upgraded / new line Plochingen – Günzburg In: The Federal Railroad. Vol. 63, No. 10, 1987, ISSN  0007-5876 , pp. 919-924.
  6. ^ A b c Albert Mühl, Kurt Seidel: The Württemberg State Railways . 2nd edition, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 1980, ISBN 3-8062-0249-4 , pp. 40-42.
  7. ↑ Werner Willhaus: The 89 3-4 series - the Württemberg T 3 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg, 2001, ISBN 3-88255-219-0 , p. 47.
  8. ^ Albert Mühl, Kurt Seidel: The Württemberg State Railways . 2nd edition, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 1980, ISBN 3-8062-0249-4 , p. 150.
  9. ↑ Deutsche Bundesbahn, NBS project group of the Bahnbauzentrale (publisher): Information on the expansion and new construction line Stuttgart - Augsburg . Twelve-page leporello , Stuttgart, June 1991.
  10. ↑ Hans Hermann: The problem is the project: Stuttgart 21 and the express route to Ulm . In: ZEVRail - Glaser's Annals . Volume 132 (2008), Issue 4 (April), pp. 140–149.

Coordinates: 48 ° 35 '48.9 "  N , 9 ° 51' 3.8"  E