Tram route Halle-Ammendorf – Bad Dürrenberg

Halle – Bad Dürrenberg
Route length:	about 32 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend Routes from the direction of Franckeplatz and Am Steintor Riebeckplatz ; ; Hall underpass underpass Main station ; Route to Büschdorf Pfännerhöhe hall H.-Schütz-Strasse Halle Lutherstrasse Hall Halle port railway (dismantled) Huttenstrasse Halle BG Clinic Bergmannstrost Halle Route from the bird pasture Damaschkestr .; ; Hall T.-Neubauer-Str. Hall S-Bahn station Rosengarten ( railway line Halle – Hann. Münden ; ) Connection to the Rosengarten depot Rosengarten Halle depot At the summer pool in Halle Turning loop K.-Wüsteneck-Str. Hall former Ammendorf depot Florian-Geyer-Platz hall Ammendorf (main road and Wendeschleife) White magpie White Magpie (side arm) New Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle line towards Halle Kollenbeyer way New Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle line towards Leipzig Stone pool Saale Area boundaries city of Halle / Saalekreis Korbethaer Str. Schkopau Turning loop Schkopau / Bunawerke Schkopau Turning loop At Schkopau Castle L.-Uhland-Str. Schkopau Hohendorfer brand Merseburg City stadium Merseburg Halle (Saale) Hbf – Erfurt Hbf At the Merseburg city ​​park Slavic Way Merseburg C.-v.-Basedow-Klinikum Merseburg Lindenstrasse Merseburg Merseburg Center Merseburg Herweghstr. Merseburg Haeckelstrasse Merseburg Leunaweg Merseburg Halle (Saale) Hbf – Erfurt Hbf former Merseburg depot Kötzschener Weg Merseburg Merseburg – Querfurt Naumburger Str. Merseburg Merseburg South Merseburg former route to Müelte Leunatorstrasse Leuna Leuna industrial gate former bypass track Merseburg – Leipzig-Leutzsch At the main gate Leuna Pfalzplatz Leuna Sachsenplatz Leuna Crow Mountain Leuna Daspig Leuna Leuna-Kröllwitz Leuna former stops in Spergau Leipzig Hbf – Großkorbetha Kirchfahrorf / Fährorf Bad Dürrenberg Saale Bad Durrenberg spa gardens Freedom Square Bad Dürrenberg Bad Dürrenberg (final stop);

The Halle-Ammendorf – Bad Dürrenberg tram line is a meter-gauge regional tram that opened in Saxony-Anhalt in 1902 . It connects the city of Halle (Saale) via Schkopau , Merseburg and Leuna with Bad Dürrenberg . Today the owner and operator is Hallesche Verkehrs-AG (HAVAG).

From 1971 on, the Halleschen tram line 5 from Halle-Trotha to Bad Dürrenberg ran on it, at around 31 kilometers, the longest tram line in the GDR . Today it is the last long-distance tram route in Saxony-Anhalt still in operation.

history

From 1900 onwards, the Halle-Merseburg Electric Tram Company, which had been founded a year earlier, began building an initially 15-kilometer long-distance railway from Halle to Merseburg. In 1902 the first section from Halle (Riebeckplatz) to Ammendorf , which was not incorporated into Halle until around 50 years later, was completed. In the same year, the route construction reached Schkopau and later Merseburg.

From 1913, the Merseburger Überlandbahn AG (MÜBAG) , founded in the same year, built a 17.2-kilometer tram route from Merseburg via Zscherben , Beuna, Frankleben , Naundorf, Neumark and Lützkendorf to Müelte in the Geiseltal. Due to the First World War , the line was not fully commissioned until 1918.

From 1919 the operation, later also the property, of the two routes (Halle – Merseburg and Merseburg – Mülocken) was merged. MÜBAG leased the Halle-Merseburg route. Beginning in 1919, MÜBAG built its second line from Merseburg to Rössen (today Leuna). The line was extended in 1920 initially to Daspig and in the same year via Spergau to Fahrenorf.

The two lines of the MÜBAG and the line of the electric tram Halle-Merseburg have been connected since 1926 by a community station in Merseburg (on the "Hell"). In the same year, the Merseburg – ferry village was continued with the construction of the Dürrenberger Saale bridge to Bad Dürrenberg .

In the 1920s there were plans for a larger network with the construction of routes to Schafstädt in the west, Schkeuditz in the east and Weißenfels in the south. A connection to the then Leipziger Außenbahn AG would also have been possible via Schkeuditz . The economic crises of 1923 and 1929 made the realization impossible.

At the end of the Second World War , the overland railway was also destroyed. In 1943, track sections in Leuna were destroyed by bombing raids on the Leuna works. The same goes for the Merseburg depot in 1944. When American troops arrived in 1945, the Saale bridges near Bad Dürrenberg and north of Schkopau were blown up. From 1950 the entire route network was usable again after the necessary repairs.

As early as 1922 to 1924, due to the lignite mining in the Geiseltal, the first track relocations on the Merseburg – Müuellen line were necessary. As a result of the considerable expansion of the opencast mine, which caused, for example, the demolition of the community of Lützkendorf, the Merseburg – Müuellen line was gradually shut down and dismantled from 1957. In 1958, this initially affected the Neumark to Müchi section. From 1965 the line was only served to Frankleben, in 1968 the line from Merseburg-Süd to Frankleben was closed. The remainder is today's branch line from the Leunaweg stop to Merseburg-Süd.

In 1932 MÜBAG acquired the Halle-Merseburg route. The urban tram in Halle and MÜBAG were merged into one company in 1951, which from 1952 on was called VEB (K) Tram and Overland Railway Halle .

In 1968 the double-track construction of a new route from Daspig to Fahrenorf took place, which is 1.7 km shorter than the previous route via Spergau. In 1969 the turning loop in Bad Dürrenberg was put into operation and in 1974 the section from Daspig to Fahrenorf via Spergau was shut down and dismantled.

For many years, the line was, alongside the S-Bahn, the central means of transport for chemical workers between Halle and the large GDR chemical combines Buna-Werke and Leunawerke . Goods and goods were also transported by tram: in the 1920s, coal ( briquettes ) from the Cecilie pit ( 51 ° 18 ′ 6 ″ N, 11 ° 51 ′ 27 ″ E near Lützkendorf ) to Halle and in the 1980s for a time up to twice a day “ WtB - daily goods needs ” with converted trams from Halle to Merseburg.

Today's route

HAVAG tram line 5 in Schkopau

The starting point of the route is currently at the Brandberge in Halle-Kröllwitz. On the way to Bad Dürrenberg, after Riebeckplatz, it first follows Merseburger Strasse, which runs in north-south direction, and leaves the city immediately after Ammendorf . Shortly afterwards it crosses the White Elster and one of its side arms. Through the Saale-Elster-Aue , the route runs parallel to the federal highway 91 and crosses the Steinlache and Saale one after the other at the entrance to Schkopau . It then serves the former Buna works (today DOW) and reaches Merseburg. After crossing the center of the city with a branch line to the Wendeschleife Merseburg-Süd, the route runs along the former Leuna works (now Infraleuna) and leaves the city. The branch line was originally part of the tram line Merseburg – Müächen, which is now dismantled except for this remainder . The end of the line is in Bad Dürrenberg, where it crosses the Saale again.

Line 5 to the last stop in Bad Dürrenberg

Route length, travel time, structures, special features

For the approximately 32 km you need about 90 minutes or 105 minutes (via Merseburg-Süd). Its special features include crossing under the busy Riebeckplatz in Halle and crossing rivers five times. From north to south these are the White Elster (main and side arm on the southern outskirts of Halle on tram-owned bridges), the Steinlache (in front of Schkopau) and Saale (in front of the Schkopau entrance and in Bad Dürrenberg also on tram-owned bridges). Between Halle and Schkopau, it crosses the Saale-Elster-Aue . Here it is spanned by the Saale-Elster valley bridge on the new ICE route Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle with two structures (in the direction of Halle and Leipzig). In addition, there are a total of six further overpasses and underpasses with railway lines. In Merseburg (Am Hohendorfer Weg and after the former depot) and in Leuna (between Industrietor and Am Haupttor) the line crosses the railway on bridge structures. In Halle (S-Bahn station Rosengarten; until 1914 trams and trains crossed here at the same level), in Merseburg (at the beginning of the branch line) and before Bad Dürrenberg it crosses railway lines. The former Halle-Ammendorf depot (built in 1902, closed in 1997) is on the line, and the former Merseburg depot, built in 1919 as a storage hall and converted in 1926 (closed in 2004) on the branch line to Merseburg-South. The Ammendorfer depot was deliberately built in the immediate vicinity of the company location of Gottfried Lindner AG (later VEB Waggonbau Ammendorf, part of LOWA ), which has been a supplier and manufacturer for many years. a. Hallescher tram vehicles (see also Tram Museum Halle ).

Tatra T4D as a bi-directional museum car (2007). Two railcars of this type ran earlier than line 15 in Merseburg.

Traffic integration

In Halle, the route is integrated into the tram network of the Halleschen Verkehrs-AG (HAVAG). Several lines run on it between Riebeckplatz and Damaschkestrasse. Line 5, which begins in Halle- Kröllwitz , uses the entire route to Bad Dürrenberg. At the main station in Halle , at the Ammendorf stop and at the end of the line in Bad Dürrenberg, there is a connection to the regional transport of Deutsche Bahn. There are links to the Central German S-Bahn at Halle's main station (lines S3, S5 and S7) and at Rosengarten S-Bahn station (line S7).

vehicles

Only MGT6D are currently used on the route .

Trivia

• HAVAG has started the development of technology line 5 in cooperation with the Saalekreis district , the city of Halle and some scientific institutions . The aim is to create a brand for line 5, which runs on the route and serves the chemical parks in Leuna and Schkopau, the University of Halle, the Merseburg University of Applied Sciences and a number of scientific facilities and institutes along the route (first trip March 2012).

• Since the end of the 1970s, regular T4D cars in the inefficient rear-to-rear traction were used for line 15, which ran on the route , as the route at that time had two head ends. VE Verkehrsbetriebe Halle wanted to use a bidirectional version of the T4D in the 1980s. However, the manufacturer ČKD Praha saw no opportunity to develop the required vehicle. The company decided to convert two T4Ds to two-way driving on its own. This was successful (see also Z-T4D bidirectional multiple unit ).

swell

• “Overland railway lifeline - 100 years of trams in the Halle-Merseburg area”, publisher: Hallesche Verkehrs-AG, self-published by Engelsdorfer Verlag 2004
• "How Halle got rolling - 125 years of local public transport in the Saale city", publisher: Hallesche Verkehrs-AG, Fly Head Publishing, Halle, 2007
• Tram friends hall
• Kartographische Verlags- und Werbegesellschaft, Halle - City atlas with a map of the area , HAVAG route network map

literature

• Rainer Smiling / Uwe Schmidt: Quality of Life for the City - The History of the Stadtwerke Halle an der Saale. Hain-Verlag, Weimar and Jena 2005, ISBN 3-89807-080-8 .
• “Overland railway lifeline - 100 years of trams in the Halle-Merseburg area”, publisher: Hallesche Verkehrs-AG, self-published by Engelsdorfer Verlag 2004
• "How Halle got rolling - 125 years of local public transport in the Saale city", publisher: Hallesche Verkehrs-AG, Fly Head Publishing, Halle, 2007
• "The overland railways in the Merseburg area", Dieter Moritz - Hallesche Straßenbahnfreunde, self-published, Halle (Saale), no year (probably 1991)

Web links

• www.havag.com
• Tram hall
• Tram friends hall
• Technical line 5

Individual evidence

1. ^ Stadtwerke Halle GmbH (ed.), SWH.Mein Magazin , issue 4/13, Halle, 2013
2. ↑ Olaf Thomsen: Lifeline overland railway. Self-published by Engelsdorfer Verlag , 2004, ISBN 3-938288-83-3