Künzelsau mountain railway

Route number (DB) :

94006

Route length:

1.034 km

Gauge :

1000 mm ( meter gauge )

Maximum slope :

330 ‰

Top speed:

8 m / s, approx. 29 km / h

Legend

		Künzelsau Taläcker mountain station	404 m
		Taläckerallee
		Dirt road
		Abt switch in the middle of the route
		Gallows field
		Bundesstrasse 19
		Künzelsau valley station	234 m

The Künzelsauer Bergbahn , or Bergbahn or BB for short , is a funicular in Baden-Württemberg . Since it opened on October 3, 1999, it has connected the Künzelsau core town in the Kocher Valley with the Taläcker development area on the Hohenlohe plain . The railway is integrated as line 31 in the Hohenlohekreis local transport network (NVH). This in turn has been part of the higher Heilbronn Hohenloher Haller Nahverkehr (HNV) tariff since 2005 .

history

The city center of Künzelsau is located in the very narrow Kocher Valley, which is why in the past the buildings had worked their way up the slope, at least insofar as the slope of the slope allowed building at all. In 1990 the decision was made to build a large new area on the plateau. The then built over Taläcker previously comprised orchards and fields somewhat hidden in the forest. It is located directly on the edge of the valley, but there are no direct climbs from the town in the valley, car traffic has to take a detour that is three and a half times as long as the current mountain railway route via the edge of the Kemmeter Bach , which initially leads further away .

The city of Künzelsau therefore decided to connect the new development area, which at that time had 2,400 inhabitants, to the city center by means of a funicular. There was a citizen vote on the construction, which just went in favor of the mountain railway. With considerable political efforts, substantial government grants have been obtained. For this purpose, legal funding guidelines had to be changed beforehand. The funicular was opened on October 3, 1999 with an open day. From October 29 to November 6, 1999, the system switched to automatic operation, during which time the traffic was idle.

The building area was further developed and in 2013 already had 3,000 inhabitants.

course

The valley station is about 100 meters from the former Künzelsau train station on the Kochertalbahn , next to the shopping center between the B 19 route and Bergstrasse. Immediately after the valley station, the route crosses the main road on a bridge that stretches a little up the slope. Then the route runs in the cat's blade, in which the escape point is also located. On the slightly sloping plateau of the Taläcker, the route then leads through an artificial cut until shortly before the mountain station.