Limburg – Altenkirchen railway line

Limburg – Altenkirchen
Route number :	3730
Course book section (DB) :	461
Route length:	65.1 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Maximum slope :	19  ‰
Top speed:	60 km / h
Legend from Wetzlar 0.0 Limburg (Lahn) State border Hesse / Rhineland-Palatinate State border Rhineland-Palatinate / Hesse to Koblenz State border Hesse / Rhineland-Palatinate 2.1 Diez Ost (formerly: Freiendiez) State border Rhineland-Palatinate / Hesse Lahn 5.3 Season SFS Cologne-Rhine / Main Unterwesterwaldbahn to Siershahn Elz South 7.1 Elz 9.2 Niederhadamar 10.9 Hadamar 13.4 Niederzeuzheim 18.3 Frickhofen (formerly Bf) 21.6 Wilsenroth State border Hesse / Rhineland-Palatinate 23.9 Berzhahn 25.3 Willmenrod (formerly Bf) Westerwaldquerbahn from Montabaur 28.6 Westerburg 370 m Westerwaldquerbahn to Herborn 34.3 Langenhahn summit station 460 m 37.2 Rotenhain (formerly: Rotzenhahn) 410 m 38.5 Enspel watchmaker (Anst) 39.0 Enspel 380 m 39.6 Enspel Adrian (Anst) 40.7 Büdingen (Westerw) 350 m Erbach-Fehl-Ritzhausen route Nest Line from Fehl-Ritzhausen 42.4 Nistertal-Bad Marienberg (formerly: Erbach (Westerw)) 317 m 45.0 Unnau basket Nest 50.6 Hachenburg 52.6 Marienstatt 54.4 Hatters 55.9 Marzhausen 58.3 Ingelbach 61.4 Niederingelbach Route from Au (Sieg) 65.1 Altenkirchen (Westerw) Line to Engers ( freight traffic only )

The Limburg – Altenkirchen railway (also known as the Oberwesterwaldbahn ) is a 65.1 km long branch line from Limburg an der Lahn via Westerburg to Altenkirchen (Westerwald) and on via the Engers – Au to Au (Sieg) railway through the Westerwald . The railway line runs through the states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate . Noteworthy on this route is the multiple crossing of the state border between Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate (five times in total).

Operation and history

Emergence

As early as 1845 there were first plans to build a rail link between Frankfurt am Main or Wiesbaden and Cologne . In 1848/49 a group was formed that campaigned for the construction of this railway line through the Westerwald. These plans initially received positive attention from the decision-makers in Prussia and the Duchy of Nassau , but were then initially rejected in 1853 and the contract to build a railway line on the right bank of the Rhine was awarded.

In 1861, several local committees from Prussia and Nassau published a paper on the construction of a "Main-Lahn-Sieg Railway", which was to connect Frankfurt and Cologne by the shortest route and also contribute to the development of raw material deposits (basalt, clay, etc.) in this area. In 1866 the Duchy of Nassau was annexed by Prussia , so that the project became a domestic political issue for Prussia.

On February 17, 1868, the Prussian state parliament passed a law that included the construction of a line from Limburg (Lahn) to Hadamar . It was planned by Moritz Hilf and opened on January 1, 1870.

On December 4, 1873, the Hessische Ludwigsbahn (HLB) received the concession to continue the route in the direction of Troisdorf an der Sieg via Hachenburg , where a branch to Wissen (Sieg) was planned after the construction of the Main-Lahn-Bahn from Frankfurt in 1872 to Limburg via Idstein , Camberg and Eschhofen had been decided. The HLB then undertook the first surveying and preparatory work, which was terminated due to financial problems. In May 1879 the Royal Railway Directorate Wiesbaden received the order to continue construction.

At the end of 1882, construction work began on the route to Altenkirchen and on April 1, 1885 the section between Altenkirchen and Hachenburg and on October 1, 1886 the route between Hachenburg and Hadamar opened.

On May 21, 1883, it was finally decided to build the remaining section from Altenkirchen to Au (Sieg) . This section was opened on February 1, 1887, thus completing the connection to the Deutz-Gießener Bahn in the direction of Cologne.

Route section	opening
Hadamar – Limburg	January 1, 1870
Altenkirchen – Hachenburg	April 1, 1885
Hachenburg-Hadamar	October 1, 1886
Au (victory) –Altenkirchen	February 1, 1887

The first section between Staffel and Limburg was relocated to a new route on December 10, 1888.

Until 1920

Initially, the T3 and T8 series steam locomotives operated under Prussian administration , followed by the T16 series from 1912 .

On November 17, 1917 occurred at Willmenrod a serious railway accident : With a written motion command was crossing of two passenger trains unscheduled of Wilsenroth been moved to Willmenrod. One of the train drivers but went habitually according to plan, ignoring the instruction, which led to a head-on collision. Seven people died and 18 were also injured.

Reichsbahn time

BR 628 as RB direction Au (Sieg) in Wilsenroth station

Reception building of the station Altenkirchen

vectus - railcars of series 648 (LINT) at Hachenburg

vectus railcar in use on the Oberwesterwaldbahn at an intermediate stop at Altenkirchen station (Westerwald)

The T14 series was used by the Deutsche Reichsbahn from 1924 . During the Second World War , class 38 , 42 , 55 , 56 and 57 locomotives also came to the Westerwald.

post war period

From 1951 on, were with the Federal Railroad also steam locomotives of the series 50 , 52 and 82 in use. The use of the steam locomotive ended on May 31, 1975 .

Local trains ran between Limburg and Au (Sieg), which were mainly made up of rail buses of the VT 95 and VT 98 series . Series 628 diesel multiple units ran after 1989 . From the 1950s onwards, battery-powered railcars of the 515 and 517 series were also used in some cases .

From the summer of 1953, in addition to the existing local trains, the " Heckeneilzüge ", known as such in railway jargon and vernacular, were introduced. These were two pairs of express trains from Frankfurt to Cologne. They represented the most outstanding passenger train services in the Westerwald. This service was canceled with the 1989 summer timetable. These trains were initially formed from multiple units of the VT 25 series , and later from passenger coaches and diesel locomotives of the V 80 , V 100 and 216 series . In addition, there was another pair of express trains from Altenkirchen to Mainz and Wiesbaden between summer 1977 and winter 1991 .

On December 31, 1971 there was a head-on collision between two trains between Hachenburg and Unnau-Korb. Eight people died and 32 were injured in the accident. The accident was due to human error.

In 1986 a framework agreement was concluded between the Federal Railroad and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, which provided that both partners carry out plans to improve the transport offer and that there is a ten-year guarantee. As a result, the train service between Au and Limburg was expanded in 1988. For example, operations were largely switched to the new class 628, travel times were accelerated by setting up stops on demand and the number of trains increased. The last measure mainly concerned the Au – Altenkirchen section. There was no Sunday operation between Erbach and Limburg. Just like the low number of visitors on Sundays between Erbach and Altenkirchen. Despite this agreement, the number of travelers has continued to decrease significantly. For example, the number of travelers in the Hachenburg – Erbach section decreased from 607 in 1988 to 276 per day in 1992 from Monday to Friday. As a result, the offer for the timetable change in 1993 was more timed and traffic was expanded in off-peak times.

In 1987, a siding was built to supply the Wäller barracks in Westerburg . This meets the line at Langenhahn station . This connection was used, among other things, to transport tanks to and from the barracks. When the location was closed in 2007, the connection lost its function.

1990s

After the privatization of the Deutsche Bundesbahn on January 1, 1994, DB Regio AG operated the route between Limburg and Au. The 628 series diesel railcars continued to run as regional trains (RB).

Since 2004

After a Europe-wide tender, a new transport contract was signed on January 10, 2003 between the regional rail passenger transport association Rhineland-Palatinate North (SPNV Nord) , the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) and vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH . The company based in Limburg took over the operation of local transport on the Limburg – Au route on December 12, 2004.

The trains run from Limburg to Altenkirchen and from there to Au. As an operational peculiarity, all trains at Altenkirchen station have to turn their heads , because the line to Siershahn beyond the head end is only used continuously for goods traffic.

Every two hours, apart from occasional densities, a regional train on the Limburg – Altenkirchen – Au route ran on the route. It showed a significantly different symmetry time , which is between Au and Nistertal-Bad Marienberg at minute 15, on the rest of the route to Limburg at minute 12. As a result, the transfer times in Limburg were about 25 minutes longer in one direction than in the opposite direction, which contradicts the basic idea of ​​the integral clock timetable and was not conducive to an increase in the number of passengers. In the Altenkirchen – Au section, traffic has been partially increased at half-hourly intervals, which mitigates these consequences here.

The local rail passenger traffic for the Oberwesterwaldbahn was carried out by the vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH from the timetable change in December 2004 to the timetable change in December 2014. LINT 27 , LINT 41 and later also GTW railcars were used, which were taken over by the Hessische Landesbahn HLB after the change of operator in December 2014.

Since December 2014

In September 2011, the SPNV Nord started a new tender for the transport services in the Eifel-Westerwald-Sieg diesel network. The new transport contract aims to speed up the route on the part of the infrastructure operator DB Netz, which the State of Rhineland-Palatinate is funding with 18.5 million euros. The measures include the technical safeguarding of level crossings and the construction of additional crossing stations. The line's top speed is to be increased from 60 to 90 km / h. This enables a more attractive timetable concept to be introduced, which enables direct hourly connections between Siegen and Limburg and improves connections at junction stations. Travel times should be shortened overall.

HLB railcars leaving Langenhahn station in the direction of Westerburg

The result of the tender was announced on October 31, 2012. The Hessische Landesbahn was awarded the contract to operate the network, which also includes the RB 90 (Westerwald-Sieg-Bahn) line, from August 2015 to December 2030. Since the transport contracts with the old operators ended in December 2014, a Early start of operations agreed. When the timetable changed on December 14, 2014, HLB Hessenbahn not only took over the operation of the Dreiländerbahn from the DB Regio NRW, but also the operation of the lines RB 28 and RB 29 previously operated by Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft . The timetable remained at the old level .

Due to delays in the planning approval, the infrastructure measures were not completed on time for the timetable change in December 2015. Therefore, a transition timetable was implemented, which provides for a line break for most trains in Westerburg. In the northern part, in the area of ​​responsibility of SPNV Nord and NWL, trains run every hour continuously to Siegen, as stipulated in the new timetable concept. In the southern part, which is mainly the responsibility of the RMV, the old timetable continues to exist, which only provides a two-hour basic cycle with irregular intermediate trips. Due to the break in Westerburg, waiting times for the other train between 24 and 39 minutes, as well as waiting times in Nistertal / Bad Marienberg of mostly 13 to 15 minutes for journeys in the direction of Westerburg, occur in many cases. The full introduction of the new timetable was initially not expected before December 2017; it will probably be delayed until the timetable change in December 2023 .

Specifically, an increase in the line speed between Langenhahn and Au (Sieg) is planned. This requires measures at 40 level crossings, 2 bridges and 16 culverts. A reconstruction of Hadamar train station, adjustments to the signaling technology and measures to the superstructure are also necessary. Measures that do not require planning law have already been implemented. The other measures suffer from a considerable delay because applications were submitted incorrectly and new regulations must be taken into account. The applications for the planning approval had to be submitted again to the Federal Railway Authority in 2019 and have an 18-month processing time. For the timetable change in December 2019, the introduction of a new timetable is planned, which is intended to mitigate the consequences of the previous transitional timetable at least Monday to Friday. In addition, the journeys are accelerated every two hours by closing the Büdingen, Enspel and Rotenhain stops so that you can travel directly from Siegen to Limburg and back without long waiting times. In return, the line breaking of the trains that serve all stops will be relocated from Westerburg to Altenkirchen. The advantage here is that the interim trains to Betzdorf can be reached in some time slots.

line	Train run	Tact
RB 90	(Kreuztal - Siegen-Geisweid - Siegen-Weidenau -) Siegen Hbf  - Eiserfeld (Sieg) - Niederschelden Nord - Niederschelden - Brachbach - Mudersbach - Freusburg settlement - churches (Sieg) - Betzdorf (Sieg)  - Scheuerfeld - Niederhövels - Wissen (Sieg) - Etzbach - Au (Sieg)  - Geilhausen - Hohe Grete - Breitscheidt - Marienthal Monastery - Obererbach - Altenkirchen (Westerw)  - Ingelbach - Hattert - Hachenburg - Unnau Korb - Nistertal-Bad Marienberg  - Büdingen - Enspel - Rotenhain - Langenhahn - Westerburg  - Willmenrod - Berzhahn - Wilsenroth - Frickhofen - Niederzeuzheim - Hadamar - Niederhadamar - Elz - Staffel  - Diez Ost - Limburg (Lahn)	Every hour between Siegen and Westerburg. Every two hours between Westerburg and Limburg. At peak times, 30-minute intervals between Betzdorf and Altenkirchen. Individual trains from / to Kreuztal

Freight traffic does not currently take place on the Staffel – Altenkirchen section (as of 2018).

Rates

Due to its location in the Limburg-Weilburg district , the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) tariff applies to the section of the Oberwesterwaldbahn between Limburg (Lahn) and Wilsenroth . The tariff of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel (VRM) applies on the subsequent section from Berzhahn to Niederschelden . In addition, the VRM tariff between Berzhahn and Limburg and the tariff of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS) between Niederschelden and Ingelbach are recognized as a transitional tariff , provided that the start or destination station of the journey is in the VRM or VRS area.

The valid state tickets for Rhineland-Palatinate, the Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket and the Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket + Lux (including Luxembourg ) are valid between Siegen and Limburg, the Hessenticket is valid on the section between Limburg and Wilsenroth. The SchöneTagTicket NRW and Schöne Fahrt NRW offers are also valid on the Oberwesterwaldbahn between Kreuztal and Ingelbach. The cross-through-country ticket is valid on the entire Oberwesterwaldbahn.

See also

• Limburg-Staffel – Siershahn railway line (Unterwesterwaldbahn)

literature

• Carl-Otto Ames: Limburg – Altenkirchen line . In the exhibition guide to the exhibition "Railways in the Westerwald", ed. from the Westerwald Landscape Museum, undated
• Udo Kandler: Railways in the Westerwald , in: Eisenbahn-Journal, 1/92.

Web links

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

• Westerwald Railways
• Website of the Hessische Landesbahn (HLB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard Püschel: Historical railway catastrophes. A chronicle of accidents from 1840 to 1926 . Freiburg 1977. ISBN 3-88255-838-5 , p. 112.
2. ↑ Spiegel article from June 16, 1975, accessed February 15, 2016
3. ↑ Small question 1519, author: Fritsche (DIE GRÜNEN), future of the Au - Limburg railway line, 25.03.1993
4. ↑ Christof Hüls: Hourly service on the Oberwesterwaldbahn. In: Nassauische Neue Presse. August 2, 2014, archived from the original on July 28, 2016 ; Retrieved April 17, 2017 . 
5. ^ Award decision in the Eifel-Westerwald-Sieg diesel network. NWL, October 30, 2012, accessed April 17, 2017 (press release). 
6. ↑ dreilaenderbahn.de , accessed on January 7, 2015
7. ↑ hlb-online.de , accessed on January 7, 2015
8. ↑ Timetable RB 90 Limburg – Siegen ( Memento from April 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), HLB
9. ↑ transcript SPNV North, 53 federation meeting, TOP. 3, half-yearly balance sheet, page 6
10. ↑ SPNV Nord, 62nd Association Assembly, Item 8, Report on Infrastructure Measures Rail, page 20, Oberwesterwaldbahn - considerable delay after 2023/24, November 26, 2019
11. ↑ SPNV Nord, 62nd Association Assembly, Item 8, Report on Infrastructure Measures Rail, page 20, Oberwesterwaldbahn - considerable delay after 2023/24, November 26, 2019
12. ↑ SPNV Nord, press release, press event on December 2, 2019 in Hachenburg on the new timetable for the Oberwesterwaldbahn (RB 90), December 3, 2019
13. ^ Railways in the Westerwald - history of the "Oberwesterwaldbahn" Au (Sieg) - Limburg (Lahn). Retrieved September 11, 2018 . 
14. ↑ https://www.bahn.de/p/view/mdb/bahnintern/angebotsberatung/regio/laender-tickets/pdfs/2017/mdb_239995_geltungsbereich_rheinland-pfalz-ticket_saarland-ticket.pdf bahn.de, validity area Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket 2017