Local transport in Giessen

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The central Hessian city ​​of Gießen has a long history of transport. On the one hand, this affects long-distance traffic , because Gießen was located on old trade routes, is very extensively equipped with highways , played an important role as a railway junction (earlier than it is today) and has an architecturally ( Art Nouveau ) and structural shape ( wedge station ) very interesting train station . But the local transport in the city and its immediate surroundings, now a simple bus operation , has an eventful history: Gießen previously owned horse-drawn buses , electric trams , trolleybuses and a narrow-gauge small train .

history

Horse omnibus (1894–1909)

Giessen has had a railway connection since 1850. The first stop on the Main-Weser Railway was right in front of the Neustädter Tor, at the former Oswaldsgarten (now buried under a shopping center) . Just four years later, the station was relocated to its current location south of the city center. The connection between the city and the train station thus became the first task for Giessen local transport.

In 1894, at the instigation of local merchants, the Giessen bus company was founded to set up a horse-drawn bus company . Three used vehicles were purchased, an administration building and a small depot were built at Marburger Strasse 34, which later moved to house number 66. The two lines opened on August 1, 1894

  • A : Bahnhof – Selterstor – Seltersweg – Marktplatz – Walltorstraße – Walltor – Marburger Straße (depot)
  • B : Bahnhof – Bahnhofstraße – Marktplatz – Neuen Bäue – Ludwigsplatz – Grünberger Straße ( old cemetery )

The bus stop at the train station was right in front of the main entrance, where there is now a parking lot.

A year later, another excursion line was set up that ran almost exclusively on Sundays:

  • C : Marktplatz – Ludwigsplatz – Schiffenberger Weg– Schiffenberger Wald

Around 1896 another line was added to the neighboring community of Wieseck:

  • D : Walltor (Line A) –Marburger Straße – Wiesecker Weg – Wieseck

In 1908, the city ​​council decided to build an electric tram that was supposed to replace omnibus traffic. The routes were built shortly afterwards, and on December 1, 1909, the farewell trip of the horse-drawn buses took place. In the end, the company owned 17 horses, four open and six closed omnibuses, which were auctioned off to the public.

Tram (1909–1953)

On November 20, 1909, the Giessen tram was officially opened. The two lines largely corresponded to the bus lines A and B, whose stops were also taken over:

  • Green line: Bahnhof – Bahnhofstraße – Marktstraße – Marktplatz – Lindenplatz – Walltorstraße – Walltor – Marburger Straße – Friedhofsallee – Neuer Friedhof
  • Red line: Bahnhof – Bahnhofstraße – Liebigstraße – Frankfurter Straße – Selterstor – Seltersweg – Kreuzplatz – Mäusburg – Marktplatz – Schulstraße – Neuen Bäue – Berliner Platz – Ludwigsplatz – Grünberger Straße – Schützenhaus (Volkshalle or Miller Hall)

Only every second train went to the terminus, the others ended at the corner of Wiesecker Weg (green) and the corner of Moltkestrasse (red).

The tram was standard gauge and ran on a single track with a turnout. The piece between the train station and the corner of Bahnhofstrasse / Liebigstrasse, which was used by both lines, was double-track, as were all of the terminus. At the market square there was a double crossing switch, which made it possible to swap the line branches without any problems. Both lines ran every 7.5 minutes. The tram depot was located on Gabelsbergerstraße, where the administration building and bus depot of the Giessen public utility are currently located. It was connected to the line in Bahnhofstrasse via a 400-meter-long operating line through Gabelsbergerstrasse and Westanlage.

The tram after the First World War

Between October 27, 1923 and June 29, 1924, for economic reasons ( inflation ) and a lack of coal in the power station, tram operations were stopped.

In 1927 the red line was extended by 200 meters, from the Volkshalle to the former artillery barracks (at the height of today's sports center).

In 1932 the most important expansion since the opening followed, the connection of the community of Wieseck (which was already served by horse-drawn buses and which had been using its own buses since 1925). The first day of operation was on December 22nd. The two lines exchanged their branches between the train station and the market square:

  • Green line: Bahnhof – Seltersweg – Marktplatz – Walltor – Marburger Straße / Wiesecker Weg; from there one branch led on to the cemetery, the other via Wiesecker Weg – Grabenstrasse – Kornblumenstrasse to Lindenplatz in Wieseck.
  • Red line: Bahnhof – Bahnhofstrasse – Marktplatz – Ludwigsplatz – Artillery barracks

This expansion was the maximum of tram operations. The intent of the city of Giessen, neighboring the course of their efforts Heuchelheim einzugemeinden and the tram on the route of Biebertal track to extend there, failed in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II .

Closures, war destruction, reconstruction and permanent closure

Although it achieved very high passenger numbers due to the many military facilities in World War II, the decline of the Giessen tram began at that time.

On April 18, 1941, the first tram line was shut down: the section from the train station to the market square via the main shopping street Seltersweg. Both lines therefore used Bahnhofstrasse temporarily. The end of the red line followed on June 2 of the same year, when the route from Marktplatz to Grünberger Strasse was also discontinued and replaced by buses.

The new bus routes were given route numbers, including the tram on the green line, which became route 6, and route 5 from 1945 onwards. This number is still used today on the bus to Wieseck.

The devastating air raid on St. Nicholas Day in 1944 meant the temporary end of local traffic in Gießen. Rails , overhead lines and depot were destroyed, the city ​​center largely wiped out and covered with rubble.

The reconstruction began with the invasion of American troops on March 27, 1945 . The tram service between Walltorstrasse and Wieseck was resumed on August 31, the line between the train station and Marktstrasse on December 1. The route around the market square was still interrupted due to the mountains of rubble, the gap could only be closed on February 15, 1947. The tracks were extensively renewed and completely rebuilt on the market square in 1951.

Despite the high investments, the tram between the market square and the cemetery or Wieseck was shut down a year later (October 21, 1952). The rebuilding of the tram, a great effort given the difficult economic conditions, had been in vain.

On the last remaining section of the route between the train station, Bahnhofstrasse and Marktplatz, trams ran until March 31, 1953. The story of the Giessen tram ended with a farewell trip on April 3rd.

Tram vehicles in Giessen

At the beginning, twelve two-axle railcars were acquired from the Hannoversche Waggonfabrik , and four more in the following two years. In 1913 four sidecars were added.

In 1929, this time from the Wismar wagon factory , six two-axle motor vehicles and another trailer were bought.

In 1941, after the red line was closed, all six sidecars were sold, four to Hanauer Straßenbahn AG and two to Katowice . Eleven of the 22 railcars were sold; seven to Dessau , two to Bingen am Rhein and two in 1944 to Hanau. Another railcar was scrapped after an accident in 1941.

The 19 and 22 railcars fell victim to the attack on Gießen on December 6, 1944. The others were not hit because they weren't parked overnight in the depot near the train station and therefore very endangered, but at the terminus at the Neuer Friedhof.

In 1949 two KSW sidecars were bought from the Uerdingen wagon factory , which only stayed in the city for three years and were sold to the Rheinbahn in Düsseldorf after the Wiesecker line was closed . From there they were taken to the Frankfurt am Main tram , where they were retired in 1977. The remaining eight railcars could no longer be passed on and were scrapped from September 1953.

Sidecar No. 11 was bought back by Stadtwerke Gießen in 1977 and erected on its premises as a technical monument . In 1998 it came to a tram museum in Schwerte. After its bankruptcy, it was sold again to the Rheinbahn in Düsseldorf through a foreclosure auction, and it was part of their portfolio from 1952 to 1967.

Trolleybus (1941–1968)

The first two trolleybus lines in Gießen began operating at the end of April 1941. They mainly served the connection between the numerous military facilities and the train station. In November 1942 there were already five trolleybus routes:

  • 1: Bahnhof – Südanlage – Ludwigsplatz – Grünberger Straße – Volkshalle – Air Base
  • 2: Railway station – Südanlage – Ludwigsplatz – Licher Straße – Graudenzer Straße – Verdunkaserne
  • 3: Schubertstrasse ( hospital ) –Ludwigstrasse – Ludwigsplatz – Verdunkaserne
  • 4: Selterstor – Frankfurter Strasse– Kleinlinden
  • 5: Ring line Bahnhof – Wallanlagen (clockwise) –Bahnhof

The sections destroyed in the bombing

  • Graudenzer Straße – Verdunkaserne and
  • Schubertstrasse – Ludwigsplatz

as well as the ring line were not put back into operation after 1945. For this purpose, a line was built in 1949 to the western suburb of Heuchelheim . The network thus comprised three lines:

  • 1: Klein-Linden – Rödgener Straße (former air base)
  • 2: Bahnhof – Graudenzer Straße
  • 4: Bahnhof – Liebigstraße – Selterstor – Goetheschule– Oswaldsgarten - Hessenhalle –Heuchelheim Ost – Bahnstraße – Ludwig-Rinn-Straße – Haag in Heuchelheim

Line 4 to Heuchelheim was economically unsuccessful and was discontinued at the end of 1957.

As with the tram 25 years earlier, line 5 to Wieseck was the last extension of the trolleybus (1963) before it was closed:

  • 5: Bahnhof – Bahnhofstrasse – Westanlage – Neustadt – Marktplatz – Walltor – Marburger Strasse – Wieseck

which was the first time a trolleybus reached the city center at the market square.

Shortly afterwards, the end of the Giessen trolleybus operation approached. In the following year (1964) line 2 was converted to diesel buses. Line 1 followed in 1966. On December 23, 1968, after only five years of electrical operation on this line, the 5 was finally converted to diesel buses. This was the end of 59 years of electric track-bound city traffic in Gießen and 27 years of trolleybus operation, the first and for a long time the largest in Hesse.

In Giessen, trolleybuses of the types ÜHIIIs (three cars, numbers 16 to 18) and HS 160 OSL were used.

Biebertal Railway (1898–1963)

In 1898, an 8.9-kilometer-long meter- gauge small railway from Gießen along the Bieber river to the village of the same name (now a district of Biebertal ) was put into operation. The opening of trolleybus line 4 to Heuchelheim on April 14, 1952 meant that the railway stopped passenger traffic.

Local transport in Giessen today

City bus transport

The Stadtwerke Giessen (SWG) operate today with its subsidiary MIT.BUS a pure bus network with 14 lines in the Rhine-Main Transport Association . There are also two lines with different routes between Gießen and Wetzlar: Line 11 of the Wetzlarer Verkehrsbetriebe (WVB) and Line 24, which has been operated independently by ESE Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (a company owned by Erletz and Schwalb) and previously by SWG since April 2009 and WVB was driven on together. The operation of the lines 800, 801 and 802 was carried out until December 13, 2009 by the SWG together with the Regionalverkehr Kurhessen GmbH.

The most important hubs are the Marktplatz and Berliner Platz. In autumn 2005 the lines were rearranged after the reopened market square. The reason was that the buses are no longer at the new, narrow Marktplatz stop and this is therefore not suitable for breaks or as final stops. The previous rendezvous system was given up during rush hour. Another important change was the abolition of the university ring line, which had no connections with too long a circulation and was also uneconomical. For the new line 10 through the southern district to the university locations, on the other hand, two buses instead of three were sufficient. Since the winter semester 2013/14, the timetable for line 10 has been condensed with additional trips during the semester and until 10:30 p.m. With the timetable change in December 2014, line 1 was extended to Lützellinden, as line 11 of the Wetzlar transport company has not served the districts of Lützellinden and Allendorf since then. Between the timetable change on December 13, 2015 and June 5, 2016, line 13 no longer ran on the dialysis center - tax office section. From the Georg-Haas-Straße stop, it ran through the queue number to the terminus of the same name there. After residents protests, line 13 was returned to the dialysis center on June 5, 2016. As a replacement for line 13, line 3 has now been extended to the number of snakes during rush hour beyond the Schwarzacker stop. Due to increasing violence and attacks on bus drivers and other passengers, especially on Line 1, some vehicles have been equipped with video surveillance since summer 2015 . Since October 1st, the municipal utilities have been testing a new ticket system in 9 vehicles on lines 3, 12 and 13, which requires a WiFi router that also provides free WiFi for passengers. This trial run lasted until the end of January. Since the timetable change in December 2017, line 10 has also been running every 60 minutes on weekends.

Today's lines are:

line
route
comment
 		Tact

(Mon-Fri)

1 Lützellinden → Allendorf → Kleinlinden → Friedrichstrasse → Berliner Platz → Rödgen 15 minutes.
2 Train station → Marktplatz → Berliner Platz → Eichendorffring → (Rivers-Automeile → Europaviertel) On weekdays during rush hour every hour with a regular taxi; Weekdays line swap at the train station, continues as line 5 to Wieseck 15 minutes.
3 Number of snakes → Schwarzacker → Berliner Platz → Marktplatz → Friedhof Alternates with line 13. The section Schlangenzahl - Schwarzacker is not served from Saturday afternoon and on Sundays and public holidays. 30 min.

(with line 13 15-min.)

5 Train station → Marktplatz → Authority center → Wiesecker Weg → Wieseck Greizer Straße Weekdays line swap at the train station, continues as line 2 to Eichendorffring 15 minutes. (Peak hours: 7.5 min.)
6th Berliner Platz → Schiffenberg only on Sundays and public holidays, continue as line 12 to the Sandfeldschule 60 min.
7th Ev. Hospital → Marktplatz → Berliner Platz → Philosopher Forest 30 min.
9 Marktplatz → Berliner Platz → Alfred-Bock-Strasse Scheduled taxi, does not operate on Sundays and public holidays 60 min.
10 Train station → Natural Sciences → Unterhof → Rathenaustraße 15/30 min.
12 Sand field school → Authority center → Market square → West industrial area On Sundays and public holidays from Sandfeldschule to Berliner Platz, then on as line 6 to Schiffenberg; No operation on Sundays and public holidays on the market square - industrial area west section 30 min.
13 Dialysis Center → Berliner Platz → Marktplatz → Friedhof Alternates with line 3, does not run from Saturday afternoons and on Sundays and public holidays 30 min.

(with line 3 15-min.)

15th Train station → Marktplatz → Authority center → Wiesecker Weg → Wieseck Burgenring 30 min.
17th Train Station → Johanneskirche → Berliner Platz → Sophie Scholl School (→ Airport) Extension after completion of the construction work at the old airport 30 min
800 (Rathenaustraße) → Berliner Platz → Marktplatz → Weststadt → Launsbach → Wißmar → Krofdorf-Gleiberg In off-peak hours as a replacement for lines 801 and 802 single trips
801 Pistorstraße → Rathenaustraße → Ostschule → Berliner Platz → Marktplatz → Weststadt → Launsbach → Wißmar 30 min.
802 Rathenaustraße → Berliner Platz → Marktplatz → Weststadt → Krofdorf-Gleiberg 30 min.
number
Line route
Explanation
 		Tact
11 Giessen, Johanniskirche → Liebigstrasse → Kleinlinden → WZ-Dutenhofen → Wetzlar The Wetzlar transport company is the sole operator 30 min.
24 Train station → Marktplatz → Weststadt → Heuchelheim → Lahnau → Wetzlar Since April 2009 it has been operated independently by ESE Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH 15/30 min.

In addition, from October 17th to 18th, 2008, the operation of free night buses was introduced, which are operated by Mitbus GmbH .

The lines run on the nights from Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday and before public holidays. They run every 60 minutes between 12:27 AM and 4:27 AM. on the following lines:

line
route
comment
Venus Berliner Platz → Train Station → West Industrial Area → Weststadt → Berliner Platz → Wieseck → Kantstrasse → Berliner Platz Round trip
Saturn Berliner Platz → Kleinlinden → Max-Reger-Strasse → Unterhof → Berliner Platz → Eichendorffring → Studentendorf → Berliner Platz Round trip
Aegir Waldstadion → Rödgen Connection taxi after registering with the driver
Phoebe Kleinlinden Waldweide → Kleinlinden Hermann-Löns-Straße → Allendorf → Lützellinden Connection taxi after registering with the driver

Regional traffic

The following lines to and from Giessen are operated by several transport companies:

line
route
operator
GI-21 Gießen Bf → Annerod → Reiskirchen → Ettingshausen / Lindenstruth (→ Grünberg) VGO , subcontractor: ESE
GI-22 Giessen Bf → Steinbach → Albach (→ Annerod)

VGO , subcontractor: ESE

GI-25 Giessen Johanneskirche → Buseck → Bersord → Reinardshain VGO , subcontractor: Schwalb
GI-41 Giessen → Heuchelheim → Rodheim-Bieber → Königsberg VGO , subcontractor: Verkehrsbetrieb Weber
GI-42 Giessen → Heuchelheim → Rodheim-Bieber → Frankenbach → Erda (→ Niederweidbach) VGO , subcontractor: Verkehrsbetrieb Weber
GI-43 (Gießen AHF school) → Krumbach → Kirchvers → Weipoltshausen VGO , subcontractor: Verkehrsbetrieb Weber
GI-44 ALT / AST Gießen Bf → Heuchelheim → Rodheim-Bieber → Königsberg → Frankenbach VGO , subcontractor: Rainer Weber Reisen
310 Giessen Mühlstrasse → Kleinlinden → Großer Linden → Hüttenberg → Rechtenbach VLDW, subcontractor: Medenbach Traffic
371 Giessen Hbf → Lollar → Staufenberg → Allendorf / Lda → Londorf → Rüddingshausen → Grünberg VGO , subcontractor: Erletz
372 Giessen Hbf → Garbenteich → Lich → Laubach → Schotten VGG
375 Giessen → Pohlheim → Lich → Hungen VGG
377 Giessen → Pohlheim → Eberstadt / Gambach VGG
378 Gießen → Leihgestern → Großer Linden → Gießen Bf
379 Giessen → Großer Linden → Leihgestern → Giessen Bf

Web links

literature

  • Dietrich Augstein, Ludwig Brake, Dieter Eckert: City traffic in Giessen: horse-drawn buses, trams, trolleybuses, omnibuses. Kenning, Nordhorn 2009. ISBN 978-3-933613-96-7
  • Dieter Eckert, Dietrich Augstein: The lines meet at the market square. City traffic in Giessen 1894–1988. Alba, Düsseldorf 1989. ISBN 3-87094-339-4
  • Dieter Eckert: Through the city on rails - the electric tram in Giessen . In: Oberhessische Vertriebsbetriebe AG (OVAG) (Ed.): Connection to the wide world: On the changeful development of the railway in Oberhessen , Friedberg 2014 (2015), ISBN 978-3-9815015-5-1 , pp. 258-261.
  • Dieter Höltge, Günter H. Köhler: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany . 2nd Edition. 1: Hessen. EK-Verlag , Freiburg 1992, ISBN 3-88255-335-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Christopher and Dieter Eckert: Narrow gauge in the Biebertal . In: Oberhessische Vertriebsbetriebe AG (OVAG) (ed.): Connection to the wide world: On the changeful development of the railroad in Oberhessen , Friedberg 2014 (2015), ISBN 978-3-9815015-5-1 , pp. 48–51 ( 49).
  2. ↑ photo
  3. ^ University town of Giessen: night buses and connecting taxis in Giessen. In: giessen.de. Retrieved September 3, 2012 .