Katzbachbahn

	Baden-Kurpfalz-Bahn from Karlsruhe	S 3 S 31 S 32
	West Railway from Stuttgart	S 9
-0.8	Bruchsal terminus S 33 S 4 / S 9
	Bruhrainbahn to Germersheim	P. 33
	Baden-Kurpfalz-Bahn to Heidelberg	S 3 S 4
0.8	Bruchsal castle garden
1.3	Bruchsal Stegwiesen
2.2	Bruchsal curve of the SFS Mannheim – Stuttgart
3.0	Mannheim – Stuttgart high-speed line
3.3	Ubstadter curve of the SFS Mannheim – Stuttgart
4.5	Ubstadt place
	Kraichtalbahn to Menzingen S 32
5.2	Ubstadt Uhlandstrasse
7.3	Stettfeld (Baden)
9.3	Zeutern sports field
9.8	Twitch
11.7	Zeutern Ost
14.4	Odenheim West
15.2	Odenheim terminus S 31
15.9	Odenheim East
19.6	Tiefenbach (Baden)
21.6	Eichelberg
21.8	Eichelberger Viaduct
23.2	Elsenz
26.5	Hilsbach

The Katzbachbahn is a branch line from Bruchsal to Odenheim that was opened in 1896 and was extended to Hilsbach in 1900 . In 1960 the traffic between Tiefenbach and Hilsbach was stopped, in 1975 the section between Odenheim Ost and Tiefenbach followed and in 1986 the 600 meter long section Odenheim Bahnhof –Odenheim Ost. Since 1994 the line has been operated by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), which electrified it in 1998 and integrated it into the Karlsruhe light rail network.

The route follows the eponymous Katzbach from Stettfeld to Odenheim . Together with the neighboring Kraichtalbahn Bruchsal – Menzingen, with which it runs to Ubstadt Ort station, it has formed an operational unit since it opened.

topography

S31 light rail car in Odenheim station

Route

After the Bruchsal train station , the Katzbachbahn runs together with the Kraichtalbahn on a single track parallel to the Baden-Kurpfalz-Bahn and serves the Bruchsal Schlossgarten and Bruchsal Stegwiesen stops there before it turns right to Ubstadt Ort, where it separates from the Kraichtalbahn. The Katzbachbahn continues straight on to the Ubstadt Uhlandstraße stop , then turns and follows the Kraichbach until shortly before Stettfeld , then the Katzbach from Stettfeld and passes the hilly landscape of the Kraichgau . After driving through Zeutern , she reaches today's end point, Odenheim .

While the section of the route, which is still in operation today, follows two river valleys, the topographical conditions in the disused section to Hilsbach were much more difficult, which is why it was built later.

The places along the railway line from Bruchsal to Odenheim belonged to the district of Bruchsal before the administrative reform in Baden-Württemberg , whereas the other municipalities (Tiefenbach, Eichelberg, Elsenz and Hilsbach) were part of the district of Sinsheim . For this reason, as well as because the connection to Sinsheim never came about (see story ), the demand on the rear section of the route remained rather low, which ultimately led to its closure.

Since the administrative reform, both the municipality and the district membership of the places along the route looks a little more complicated: from Ubstadt to Zeutern, the Katzbachbahn runs within the municipality of Ubstadt-Weiher ; Odenheim, Tiefenbach and Eichelberg are now districts of Östringen , Elsenz now belongs to Eppingen and Hilsbach to Sinsheim. Thus, three districts are affected along the historic Katzbachbahn: The Karlsruhe district from Bruchsal to Eichelberg, the Heilbronn district within Elsenz and the former end point of the line in Hilsbach as part of the Rhein-Neckar district .

Traces of the disused section Odenheim – Hilsbach

Bike path on the disused Odenheim – Hilsbach section

Immediately after the end point in Odenheim, after crossing the street on the former railway line, a cycle path begins. Only a few meters after it began, there is still a train signal that was forgotten when this section of the route was dismantled. The Odenheim Ost stop , which was the end point of the route from 1975 to 1986, was at the level of the nearest road crossing . On the eastern outskirts of Odenheim, the route fell victim to the re-routing of state road 552 over a length of around three hundred meters. In addition, a street in Odenheim called Alte Bahnrasse keeps memories of the disused section alive.

In Tiefenbach , the former railway line has also been converted into a cycle path. The railway viaduct over the Katzbachtal near Eichelberg is still preserved today. It was renovated in 1988 by the city of Östringen at a total cost of 155,000 DM and also converted into a cycle and hiking trail . The station building of Elsenz was now to house rebuilt, otherwise in Elsenz the railway line is built over, but some wooden sleepers are available in Elsenz. Between Elsenz and Hilsbach it has almost completely risen up in meadows and fields. There are also other smaller bridges over streams in Tiefenbach and Hilsbach , which are now used for hiking trails.

history

Light rail from Odenheim at the entrance to the station "Ubstadt Ort"

Planning, construction and opening of the line (1870–1898)

In the seventies of the nineteenth century, Bruchsal and the towns of Ubstadt, Unteröwisheim , Oberöwisheim , Münzesheim and Gochsheim on the Kraichbach had tried in vain for a railway connection.

More than a decade later, in 1888 the city, together with the communities in the Kraichbach and Katzbachtal valleys, took the initiative to build a narrow-gauge branch line with two branches. The branch should begin in Ubstadt. The northern branch should run via Odenheim to Elsenz, the southern branch through the Kraichbachtal to Gochsheim.

Originally planned as far as Elsenz, due to the hilly terrain between Odenheim and Elsenz, the decision was made to initially only run the route to Odenheim. However, it was now decided to use standard gauge .

On March 5, 1896, the now so-called Katzbachbahn from Bruchsal to Odenheim was opened together with the Kraichtalbahn Bruchsal – Menzingen, with which it forms an operational unit. The route was initially operated by the West German Railway Company (WeEG) .

In the first years of operation, there was high demand for passenger traffic on the route, and freight traffic also developed positively. This is why the communities of Tiefenbach, Eichelberg, Elsenz and Hilsbach became interested in being connected to the railway line. In the long term, the railway line should even be extended towards Sinsheim.

former railway line in Odenheim

The years under BLEAG (1898–1931)

In October 1898 the WeEG transferred the Katzbach- and Kraichtalbahn to the subsidiary Badische Lokal Eisenbahn Aktiengesellschaft (BLEAG) . On September 7, 1899, the approval for the extension to Hilsbach was available. However, the construction work turned out to be very difficult, as the terrain there was significantly more hilly than that between Bruchsal and Odenheim. There was a difference in altitude of around seventy meters between Tiefenbach and Elsenz alone. That is why a three-arched viaduct had to be built between Eichelberg and Elsenz, for example. In addition, some terraced houses had to be demolished especially for the route extension in Odenheim.

On September 3, 1900, the Katzbachbahn was then extended from Odenheim to Hilsbach; the plans to continue the route to Sinsheim , however, were no longer implemented. In the early years of the twentieth century, the Kraichtal and Katzbachbahn were actually the two most profitable of the routes operated by BLEAG.

After the First World War , however, both railway lines got into a crisis because BLEAG ran out of funds to maintain their lines. However, after the Karlsruhe district had agreed to contribute its share to maintaining various BLEAG routes, the routes were temporarily saved. In the following years operations normalized. In 1931, however, BLEAG had to report bankruptcy in the wake of the global economic crisis.

Stop "Ubstadt Uhlandstraße"

The years under the DEBG (1932–1963)

In the course of the bankruptcy of BLEAG, both the Kraichtal and Katzbachbahn were taken over by the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebsgesellschaft AG (DEBG) on January 1, 1932 . The DEBG initially succeeded in re-advancing the two routes that had been affected by the global economic crisis.

The outbreak of the Second World War meant that the number of passengers rose significantly, as individual traffic had to be restricted due to the war. Due to fighting, however, operations had to be stopped on April 2, 1945. In contrast to many other railway lines, the war damage on both lines was limited. Operations between Bruchsal and Odenheim could be resumed on June 7, 1945, and two weeks later it was possible again to Hilsbach.

From the mid-1950s, the steam locomotives and passenger cars on the line, some of which were up to fifty years old, were gradually replaced by diesel engines. In 1955 DEBG acquired a diesel locomotive and in 1956 six former DB diesel railcars from 1936 and 1937. However, on July 7, 1958, DEG requested the closure of all railways in southern Germany that it owned. Above all, however, the state of Baden-Württemberg offered resistance.

Odenheim Ost stop in 1986

Especially between Tiefenbach and Hilsbach, demand for both passenger and freight transport fell sharply in the post-war years. On October 1, 1960, the Tiefenbach-Hilsbach section was shut down for passenger traffic, twelve days later after a derailment also for freight traffic. The weak superstructure made further operation no longer seem sensible, and in the following years the rails on this section were dismantled.

The years under the SWEG (1963-1994)

On May 1, 1963, DEBG ceded both routes to the Südwestdeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH (SWEG) . The SWEG was founded on December 10, 1962 by the state of Baden-Württemberg to protect various private railways from being closed down. The SWEG tried to modernize the line. The remaining steam trains were then completely replaced by diesel multiple units. In addition, she made improvements to the superstructure, which also significantly shortened travel times. A trip from Bruchsal to Tiefenbach only took 39 minutes compared to the previous 48 minutes.

In 1968, the Odenheim Ost stop was opened in the east of Odenheim . Other additional stops that had been set up on the Katzbachbahn in the following years were Ubstadt Nord (from the mid-1990s: Ubstadt Uhlandstraße ), which mainly served to develop the school center in Ubstadt, Zeutern Ost and Odenheim Weberei (from 1977: Odenheim West ).

Odenheim West stop

On January 31, 1975, the Odenheim Ost – Tiefenbach section was closed. The Odenheim Ost stop, which was only set up in 1968 , thus became the new end point of the route. If two platforms were built when the stop was opened , each of which had been created to cross roads on both sides, the rear platform in the direction of Tiefenbach was abandoned and the remaining platform was provided with a buffer stop .

From October 1981 diesel multiple units of the type NE 81 , which had been built by Waggon Union, were increasingly used on the Katzbachbahn . However, despite the modernization measures taken by SWEG, the line was increasingly threatened by total closure. On June 1, 1986, the section Odenheim Bahnhof –Odenheim Ost also ended.

Takeover by AVG and expansion into a light rail system (since 1994)

In order to save both the Katzbach and the neighboring Kraichtalbahn from being completely closed, the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) took over both lines from the SWEG in 1994. Initially, the diesel multiple units, including those of the NE 81 type , which last operated under the direction of SWEG, were taken over. When the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV) was founded, the Katzbachbahn was given the name R31 .

NE 81 involved in the 1998 accident

After the AVG had taken over the timetable that last existed under the SWEG, it improved it six months later and also introduced a clock timetable; no such had existed before. With the takeover by the AVG, it was decided to expand the line to the light rail. After light rail operations had already been opened on the Kraichtalbahn in 1996, there were some improvements in the timetable for the Katzbachbahn, as more rolling stock was available from now on. In addition, in connection with the opening of the Kraichtalbahn between the Bruchsal train station and the Ubstadt Ort train station, with Bruchsal Schlossgarten and Bruchsal Stegwiesen, two new stops were put into operation, at which the Katzbachbahn trains now also stopped. In the summer of 1998, a few months before the tram started operating, two diesel multiple units (AVG VT 453 and VT 454) collided in Zeutern because one of the drivers had entered a single-track section without permission.

"Zeutern Sportplatz" stop

On September 26, 1998, the opening of the light rail service on the Katzbachbahn took place, which was then integrated into the network of the Karlsruhe light rail as line S31. Two weeks earlier, light rail vehicles were used in school traffic on the route. With the opening of the tram, a new stopping point was also put into operation: Zeutern Sports Ground . The Odenheim station in particular was completely rebuilt for light rail operations: the station building was demolished and a wagon hall was built.

Since there were not enough light rail vehicles available at the time the line was opened, a diesel multiple unit had to be purchased for a pair of trains, an Esslingen multiple unit from SWEG, which could be replaced by light rail vehicles after a few years.

business

Timetable

Light rail to Odenheim in Karlsruhe main station

The Katzbachbahn is integrated into the Karlsruhe light rail network as the S31 ( Odenheim - Bruchsal - Karlsruhe Hbf ) (and then as the S81 Malsch - Rastatt - Forbach (Black Forest) - Freudenstadt Hbf ) . Trains that go to Baden-Baden or Achern instead of Forbach change the line number to S71 in Karlsruhe Hbf . At rush hour the trains run every 20 minutes, otherwise usually every hour. Crossing possibilities exist in Ubstadt Ort, Stettfeld, Zeutern and Odenheim, whereby actual train crossings mainly take place in Zeutern and are rather rare in Stettfeld. All other stops on the Katzbachbahn are demand stops . Two-system light rail cars of the types GT8-100C / 2S and GT8-100D / 2S-M are used .

The Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV) tariff applies to the entire route .

Platforms and station buildings

In Bruchsal station and at all stops on the way from Ubstadt Uhlandstraße to Odenheim station - with the exception of Zeutern station - the platforms are 55 centimeters high, at the other stations Bruchsal Schlossgarten , Bruchsal Stegwiesen , Ubstadt Ort and Zeutern station it is only 38 centimeters.

With the expansion to the Stadtbahn the station building of Odenheim was demolished. The von Zeutern building has been preserved and is now used as a residential building. In Stettfeld, the old platform and goods loading ramp along with the goods shed were demolished and the station building was incorporated into a larger residential complex.

literature

Daniel Riechers: From branch line to light rail: 100 years of the railway from Bruchsal to Menzingen and Odenheim . Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 1996, ISBN 3-929366-26-6 .
Hans-Wolfgang Scharf: The railway in Kraichgau. Railway history between the Rhine and Neckar . EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2006, ISBN 3-88255-769-9 .
Gerd Wolff, Hans-Dieter Menges: German small and private railways. Volume 2: Bathing . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1992, ISBN 3-88255-653-6 .
Peter-Michael Mihailescu, Matthias Michalke: Forgotten railways in Baden-Württemberg . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0413-6 , p. 49-51 .

Web links

Commons : Katzbachbahn - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Section Odenheim – Hilsbach at verkehrsrelektiven.de ( Memento from May 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Excerpt from the course book from 1944

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 12, 2006 .