Lower Franconia shuttle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Logo Unterfranken Shuttle
A Lower Franconia shuttle operated by the Erfurt Railway in Bad Kissingen

Unterfranken-Shuttle is a product name under which the Erfurter Bahn (EB) operates local rail passenger transport on the Schweinfurt – Meiningen and SchweinfurtGemünden (Main) railway lines in Lower Franconia and southern Thuringia . Operations started in December 2004.

Emergence

In the summer of 2002 the Bavarian Railway Company intended to re-award the regional train services in northern Lower Franconia with a connection to the neighboring town of Meiningen in southern Thuringia. Instead of an open competition procedure, she conducted price inquiries from five different railway companies. The offer of the Erfurter Bahn turned out to be the most economical before those of the DB Regio and the other three bidders who had already dropped out. The contract comprised regional train services on the following routes:

Compared to the previous transport services provided by DB Regio, the operating volume was expanded by around 60,000 train kilometers to 1.2 million train kilometers per year, which made it possible to extend the trains beyond the decentralized Schweinfurt main train station to the city station. The transport contract came into effect with the start of operations at the timetable change on December 12, 2004 and had a term of ten years. After winning the tender again in 2013, the Lower Franconia shuttle will run until at least 2026 under the direction of the Erfurt Railway.

Operating concept

The Erfurter Bahn operates the two routes with two lines:

  • EB 40 Schweinfurt – Meiningen / Bad Kissingen , with train division in Ebenhausen (Lower Franconia) and Meiningen – Bad Kissingen (one train)
  • EB 50 Schweinfurt – Bad Kissingen – Gemünden (Main)

Both lines run every two hours, the overlapping of the two lines in the area between Schweinfurt and Bad Kissingen is condensing the offer on this more popular section. The line EB 4 supplemented with the two hourly also regional express line Würzburg-Schweinfurt Erfurt / -bath Kissingen ( " Main Franken-Thüringen- Express ") to one hour.

The EB lines are integrated into the RE / RB system in northern Franconia, which was gradually introduced from December 2004 to December 2005. This includes the general connection option in the direction of Thuringia when arriving with the Regional Express from the direction of Würzburg or Bamberg, either with the Mainfranken-Thuringia Express of Deutsche Bahn to Erfurt and Bad Kissingen or with the Lower Franconia shuttle of the EB to Meiningen and Bad Kissingen . The transfer options at Meiningen station to the Süd-Thüringen-Bahn , a joint subsidiary of EB and Hessische Landesbahn , to Eisenach , Erfurt or Sonneberg were also optimized on December 12, 2004.

As an additional improvement, the new Hammelburg Ost stop was put into operation with the timetable change on December 11, 2005 , followed by the Schweinfurt Mitte and Rottershausen stops on December 10, 2006 and the Oberwerrn stop on December 14, 2008 . There is also the option of reactivating or setting up other stops, especially between Schweinfurt and Meiningen (KBS 815), in order to (re) connect even more small towns to the railway network. All trains in Schweinfurt run as scheduled to the city station.

The Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) sees a need for further action in the region of the Bavarian Rhön in addition to reactivating or setting up new stops. So he proposes the extension of the EB trains beyond Schweinfurt to Schonungen, and in the long term even to Haßfurt. This should also take place with the inclusion of closed stations, since the regional trains currently operating there pass through the corridor between Schweinfurt City and Haßfurt without stopping. Furthermore, the VCD proposes a reopening of the Werntalbahn, which is currently only used in freight traffic , which would create a more direct connection between Schweinfurt and Gemünden (Main) further south compared to the Saale Valley Railway .

Vehicle use

As on the other routes it serves, the Erfurter Bahn uses 14 one-piece diesel multiple units of the Regio-Shuttle type from the Swiss manufacturer Stadler Rail . The vehicles intended for operation in Lower Franconia are specially identified by the designation "Unterfranken-Shuttle" and the inscription "Besser ankommen im Bayern-Takt" and thus stand out from the railcars operating in Thuringia. The railcars are handicapped accessible and offer barrier-free access to platforms with a height of 55 cm, which is currently in the stops in Hammelburg, Hammelburg Ost, Elfershausen-Trimberg and Oberwerrn, which have been built since December 2004, and partly in Schweinfurt City, Ebenhausen (Lower Franconia) and Bad Neustadt (Saale) is reached. An additional step folds out on lower platforms.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b RB services in Lower Franconia go to the EIB , in Bahn-Report (3-2003), page 69
  2. Mainpost: Unterfranken-Shuttle will continue to operate until 2026 July 8, 2013
  3. Erfurt industrial railway started in Lower Franconia , in Bahn-Report (2-2005), page 70
  4. a b c Verkehrsclub Deutschland: The Bavarian train ticket has become more colorful. Press release from December 15, 2004