Hornbachbahn

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Zweibrücken – Brenschelbach
Route of the Hornbachbahn
Route number : 3311
Course book section (DB) : 280b (Reichskursbuch 1944)
280e (DB 1959)
Route length: 13 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend
Route - straight ahead
 Schwarzbachtalbahn from Rohrbach (Saar)
Station, station
 0.0 Zweibrücken Hbf
   
 Schwarzbachtalbahn to Landau (Pfalz)
   
 Bundesstrasse 424
   
 State road 471
   
 Federal motorway 8
   
 1.9 Zweibrücken - Ixheim
   
 4.195 Rimschweiler
   
 Atzenbach
   
 5.955 Althornbach
   
 Althornbach
   
 Hornbach
   
 9.343 Hornbach
   
 12.4 Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland border
   
 13.105 Brenschelbach
Railway network in the Rheinpfalz in 1870. Dashed line: Planning of the route Zweibrücken - Landau via Hornbach (not implemented)

The Hornbachbahn - occasionally also Hornbachtalbahn - was a branch line within the Palatinate , which connected Zweibrücken with Brenschelbach . The line was completed in two stages between 1913 and 1916. Since the neighboring Alsace-Lorraine , in which the planned extension was located, fell back to France after the First World War , this was not necessary. Traffic between Hornbach and Brenschelbach ended at the end of the Second World War in 1945 . On the rest of the section, passenger traffic was discontinued in 1967, and freight traffic between Ixheim and Hornbach followed four years later . 1996 came to an end for the remaining part of Zweibrücken – Ixheim. The route between Ixheim and Brenschelbach has now been dismantled.

history

Railway projects around the Hornbachtal

The first plans to connect the Hornbachtal to the railway network were made in the mid-1860s. In the course of the then planning of the route from Landau to Zweibrücken in the Kingdom of Bavaria , the route west of Pirmasens should either reach Zweibrücken via Dellfeld and Contwig or connect the town of Hornbach along the Felsalb via Walshausen and run from there via Ixheim to Zweibrücken. A link with a later railway line that would run from Zweibrücken or Hornbach to France was considered from the outset. The latter should also act as a transit route to Alsace and Switzerland . On August 21, 1865, the ministerial development of this project began. This aroused suspicion in France.

However, it soon turned out that due to the turbulent topography of the region around Pirmasens, the construction costs of the planned east-west thoroughfare would amount to more than 13 million (guilders?). An engineer hired by the planning committee therefore suggested that the route not run through Schuhstadt. Instead, the route should run in the valleys of Rodalb and Schwarzbach and thus miss Pirmasens.

However, Pirmasens continued to demand a direct connection and had two variants of a direct connection worked out. The Bavarian government, however, favored a route along Rodalb and Schwarzbach, with the shoe city being connected via a branch line . The majority of the city council finally voted 24:14 for the government draft. A railway connection for the communities in the Hornbachtal was initially a long way off.

Concrete planning

In 1874, the draft of a line from Zweibrücken to Bitsch followed , which had been ceded to the German Reich three years earlier with Alsace-Lorraine . The railway line should be 32.58 kilometers long; 13.15 kilometers of this should be on Bavarian terrain and the rest on that of the Reichsland. Bavaria incorporated them into a draft law on February 12, 1878 and was ready to provide an interest guarantee as long as the Lorraine stretch of the route was built by the Reich.

Nevertheless, the realization of the railway, which was required for strategic reasons among other things, did not become concrete until around 1900. The residents of Bitscher Land pushed for its realization, as they hoped for economic advantages through easier access to the Saar coal and the cities of Kaiserslautern and Pirmasens . They also received support from the Reichstag deputy Louis Leinenweber , who referred to the barely existing rail connections between north-eastern Alsace-Lorraine and its border area with Bavaria.

In 1902 the imperial government decided to build a railway line from Zweibrücken - Münzthal-St. Louis . It should run in north-south direction through the Schwalbtal and the Bavarian Palatinate with the realm of Alsace-Lorraine and Zweibrücken via Hornbach, Wolmünster and Siersthal with Münzthal-St. Connect Louis with its glass and crystal manufacturers. A connection to the branch line from Wingen an der Moder on the Strasbourg – Saargemünd railway line, completed in 1897, was planned. The Saargemünd – Hagenau railway line should have a 1005 meter long tunnel between Lambach and Münzthal-St. Louis at a height difference of 70 meters. A direct connection between the two routes was not planned, but was requested on various occasions in the form of a connecting route between Siersthal and Kleinrederchingen or Bitsch .

Construction, opening and follow-up

The construction was done by workers from the Palatinate , Alsace, Lorraine and Italy . Several bridges were built over the Hornbach and its tributaries.

On December 15, 1913, the section to Hornbach was opened. The operator was the Royal Bavarian State Railways , which had been responsible for the entire Palatinate railway network since January 1, 1909. At the end of 1913, the land purchases and expropriations around Wolmünster were completed. The earthworks in the valley reached as far as Weiskirch. The excavation of the 1005 meter long tunnel was tackled near Enchenberg and Lemberg, as was the construction work for various train stations. The construction workers were mostly Italian. After the declaration of war in August 1914 , they were interned because their home country had not joined the Central Powers . The construction work was stopped. On October 1, 1916, the line called Hornbachbahn was extended to Brenschelbach in the middle of the war . The fact that Alsace and Lorraine fell back to France after the war prevented the completion of the railway project for good.

On April 1, 1920, the line became the property of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . In 1922 the line was incorporated into the newly established Ludwigshafen Reich Railway Directorate . When it was dissolved, it moved to the area of ​​responsibility of the Reichsbahndirektion Saarbrücken on April 1, 1937 .

Shutdown

Due to the evacuation of the Red Zone , traffic on the route was suspended from 1939 to 1941 and due to the destruction at the end of the Second World War from 1945 to 1950. After the war, a state and customs border was established between Brenschelbach in Saarland and Hornbach in Rhineland-Palatinate from 1946. For this reason, the line only went back into operation as far as Hornbach in 1950. Previously, several bridges destroyed in the course of the fighting had to be rebuilt. The operator of the route was now the newly founded Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) . This incorporated the Hornbachbahn into the Mainz Federal Railway Directorate , to which it allocated all railway lines within the newly created federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate .

In 1959, seven pairs of trains were still on the remaining route. On September 24, 1967, the local rail traffic was set. In the course of the dissolution of the Mainz directorate, the Hornbachbahn came to the Saarbrücken Federal Railway Directorate in 1971 . On May 23, 1971, freight traffic on the Ixheim – Hornbach section was discontinued and the tracks were dismantled from Ixheim two years later. The short section from Zweibrücken to Ixheim was then used as a siding for an industrial company until June 1, 1996 . On June 1, 1996, the cessation of freight traffic on the remainder followed and then its shutdown.

At the end of the 1970s, a cycle and hiking path was laid out between Rimschweiler and Hornbach on the former railway line , which is now part of the European Mill Cycle Path . From Hornbach to Brenschelbach, the embankment is mostly overgrown and the course of the route can only be guessed at.

Route

Former railway line in Rimschweiler, on the right the former station building

After the Zweibrücker Hauptbahnhof , the Hornbachbahn, whose route is still available to Ixheim , turns south from the Landau – Rohrbach railway line and passes under the federal highway 424 , the regional highway 471 and the federal highway 8 one after the other . Until shortly before Hornbach it is based on the river of the same name , then the rest of the route runs in the Schwalbtal . Here the route crosses the border between Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland . After a total of around 13 kilometers, the route ends at Brenschelbach train station, close to the German-French border.

traffic

In the 1950 years denied railcars of the series 33.2 from Landau the passenger of the Hornbach train.

Operating points

Zweibrücken Central Station

Zweibrücken main station

The station, which initially only bore the name Zweibrücken , was opened in November 1875 and replaced its predecessor from 1857, which was closer to the city. It received its current name on October 1, 1941. The former long-distance stop is now only served by local trains, and its track systems have also been significantly reduced. The importance in freight transport also disappeared completely. In the course of the closure of the Hornbachbahn and the connection to Homburg , it also lost its former function as a junction. In 1991, the Zweibrücken main train station underwent major dismantling: it was reduced from 13 tracks to a total of four (today only three). In the same year, the former Zweibrücken depot , which had served as a branch of its counterpart in Saarbrücken for the past two decades, including the locomotive shed, was given up. In addition, all rail connections within Zweibrücken were dismantled in 2000 .

Zweibrücken-Ixheim

The station Zweibrücken-Ixheim whose track systems are still in place, was located on the southern outskirts of Ixheim . During the time of the Bavarian State Railways , it was listed as a type 2 station, which meant that it had "passenger, luggage and express goods traffic" . Originally it was only called Ixheim , before it was renamed Zweibrücken-Ixheim on October 1, 1941 . This took into account the incorporation of the place into Zweibrücken three years earlier. From 1971 it was the end point of the route. Until 1996 it was used in freight traffic. Until it was closed in 1992, the station was also operated in autumn as part of the beet campaign for loading sugar beets .

Rimschweiler

The Rimschweiler train station was on the northwestern outskirts of Rimschweiler . During the time of the Bavarian State Railways, it was listed as station type 2, which meant that it had "passenger, luggage and express goods traffic" . His reception building now serves as a residential building.

Althornbach

Formerly Althornbach station

The station Althorbach was on the northwestern outskirts of Althornbach west of the railroad tracks. During the time of the Bavarian State Railways, it was listed as station type 2, which meant that it had "passenger, luggage and express goods traffic" . His reception building now houses the local rifle club.

Hornbach

From 1913 to 1916 and from 1950 to 1971 Hornbach station was the terminus of the line. During the time of the Bavarian State Railways, it was listed as station type 2, which meant that it had "passenger, luggage and express goods traffic" . After passenger traffic ceased in 1967, the station continued to be used for goods traffic for four years . A coal wagon was last unloaded in it.

Brenschelbach

The Brenschelbach train station was about two kilometers east of Brenschelbach . It was in operation from 1916 to 1945. Here is the group of houses at the station . The state border with France runs a few meters to the east .

literature

  • Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2008 ( Online (PDF; 4.1 MB) [accessed July 1, 2019]).
  • Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways (= publications of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science. Volume 53). New edition. pro MESSAGE, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-934845-26-6 .

Web links

Commons : Hornbachbahn  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The Hornbachtalbahn. In: naturatrails-rlp-saar.de. Retrieved October 22, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Of murderers, robbers and fraudsters. In: pfaelzischer-merkur.de. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013 ; Retrieved October 22, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 177 f .
  4. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 247 .
  5. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 178 .
  6. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 179 f .
  7. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 247 f .
  8. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 248 .
  9. ↑ a b Minutes of the Reichstag session of April 29, 1912
  10. ^ Commission report of the Reichstag, November 9, 1911
  11. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 248 f .
  12. ↑ Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2007, p. 13 .
  13. ↑ a b c The railway in Zweibrücken in brief. In: pfaelzer-eisenbahnseiten.homepage.t-online.de. Retrieved July 22, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2007, p. 28 .
  15. ↑ Railroad cycling - details - Germany> Rhineland-Palatinate> left bank of the Rhine: south of the Nahe - RP 3.15 Zweibrücken - Hornbach (- Volmunster). In: bahntrassenradeln.de. Retrieved July 22, 2013 .
  16. ↑ Route plan 4 for VT 33.2 of the Landau depot. In: db58.de. Retrieved November 24, 2013 .
  17. ↑ a b Deutsche Reichsbahn - change of station names in 1941. In: hs-merseburg.de. Retrieved October 22, 2013 .
  18. ↑ a b The railway stations of the Royal Bavarian State Railways - on the left bank of the Rhine (Bavarian Palatinate) - Galgenschanze to Jockgrim. In: kbaystb.de. Retrieved October 22, 2013 .
  19. ↑ Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2007, p. 37 .
  20. ↑ The railway stations of the Royal Bavarian State Railways - on the left bank of the Rhine (Bavarian Palatinate) - Pirmasens to Steinenken. In: kbaystb.de. Retrieved October 22, 2013 .
  21. ↑ Five days that are tough. In: pfaelzischer-merkur.de. Retrieved October 22, 2013 .
  22. ^ The railway stations of the Royal Bavarian State Railways - left bank of the Rhine (Bavarian Palatinate) - Albersweil.-St. Johann to Burgalben. In: kbaystb.de. Retrieved October 22, 2013 .
  23. ↑ Railway stations and their pictures in Bavaria (left bank of the Rhine) - Railway station: Althornbach - Local railway line: Zweibrücken - Hornbach - Brenschelbach (opening December 15, 1913). In: kbaystb.de. Retrieved October 22, 2013 .