Vennquerbahn
| Jünkerath - Weywertz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Route of the Vennquerbahn on the German side
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route number : | 3003 (Jünkerath - Losheim (Eifel) - border) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book section (DB) : | last 248 k | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Vennquerbahn branched off in Jünkerath to the northwest from the Eifelbahn towards Belgium and merged with the Vennbahn at Weywertz . It was last a single-track, non-electrified branch line. Often it is also included in the continuing route of the Vennbahn system via Malmedy to Stavelot .
history
The railway line was planned as early as 1904, primarily for strategic reasons as an extension of the Dümpelfeld – Hillesheim – Lissendorf railway with a connection to the Vennbahn line . The new double-track branch line from Dümpelfeld to Jünkerath to Weywertz was officially opened on July 1, 1912. The background for the construction of the railway line, which was pushed ahead under high pressure from 1909, was the so-called Schlieffen Plan . In the event of a military confrontation with France, this provided for a quick German advance via neutral Belgium to France, since the French-German border had been fortified by the French and was considered difficult to overcome. The main thrust of the German armies was therefore to lead over the 150 km long German-Belgian border. For this reason, since the first Morocco crisis , as a result of which the already existing tensions with France intensified considerably, numerous new railway lines have been built or expanded in the potential deployment area of the German army in the West Eifel. As one of the few east-west connections to Belgium with a connection to the rail network of the neighboring country, the Vennquerbahn was of outstanding importance; It was therefore built according to the strict criteria of the German army command, with moderate gradients for transport trains with up to 110 axles, consistently double-track, largely without level crossings, with four-track alternative stations every three kilometers (680 meters) every three kilometers, well-developed unloading stations and additional infrastructure for supplying the steam locomotives with water and coal. During the First World War (1914–1918) the Vennquerbahn was therefore a central supply line for the German armies on the Western Front, over which the transport trains to Belgium and France rolled continuously.
With the Versailles Treaty , the Eupen-Malmedy region had to be ceded to Belgium. The Vennquerbahn was now under the control of the Belgian State Railways from Weywertz to Losheimergraben (border). The Losheim – Jünkeralh section (Kylltalbahn) remained with the Prussian State Railways . The second track was dismantled in 1930 under pressure from the Belgian side and simplified branch line operations were introduced in the area of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) . In 1935 the Jünkerath curve Abzw Glaadt – Abzw Niederkyll was closed, but on January 1, 1942 it was put back into operation.
With the construction of the west wall from 1936, the route was again heavily used, namely for the transport of building materials and workers. For this reason, the security of the railway line was changed back from simplified branch line operation to regular operation in 1938 . During the western campaign in 1940, the route was again an important transport route for the German army for a short time and again experienced heavy traffic. When the Wehrmacht withdrew in September 1944, important bridges along the route were blown up by German pioneers, including the striking Bütgenbach viaduct, so that the route west of Stadtkyll could not be used during the German Ardennes offensive in December 1944. The provisional reconstruction was carried out during the final phase of the war by US pioneers and after the end of the war by the Belgian state railway, which was again responsible in the west and in the east by the Reichsbahn (from 1949 Deutsche Bundesbahn ). After the war damage had been finally repaired, traffic was resumed on July 8, 1947, which was initially still relatively intense in the first post-war years, but soon declined drastically, so that a gradual cessation of passenger traffic soon followed: 1952: Losheim (Eifel) - Weywertz, May 26, 1963: Jünkerath - Losheim (Eifel). Since the passenger traffic, apart from the first post-war years, always led a shadowy existence and the volume of goods without military transport was low, the switch to simplified branch line operations took place again in 1956.
On October 8, 1981, the remaining freight traffic Jünkerath – Losheimergraben (Buchholz) was stopped and the line was closed on the German side. Four years after the closure for all traffic, however, NATO surprisingly reactivated the route, for military purposes. In the years 1985–86, millions of euros were invested in it, and the official reopening took place on October 11, 1986. According to DB information (as of 2002), the maximum speed permitted since 1986 was 50 km / h, route class: D 4, axle load: 22.5 t, load per meter: 8 t / m. After the reopening, there was primarily heavy haulage with military freight trains, some of which were carried out in double traction. The irregularly running trains carried tracked vehicles (tanks, self-propelled howitzers) for major maneuvers by the NATO forces stationed in Germany to the Elsenborn military training area and back again. The unloading station was Sourbrodt on the Vennbahn in Weywertz. In connection with the collapse of the Warsaw Pact (1991), NATO reduced its exercise program in Elsenborn step by step, and so military traffic was further reduced in the 1990s. With the last tank transport on October 18, 1999, the traffic ordered by NATO was finally stopped. Since then there have only been a few cross-border inspection trips. The railway transport company in Bergisch room (EBM) announced that the route Jünkerath federal limit on 1 July 2000 by the DB networks to take over and operate on the German side by the beginning of 2001 still sporadic freight with partly dampflok-covered wooden trains for the sawmill of HILO Holz GmbH, which is located in the immediate vicinity of Losheim train station. In 2001, however, the EBM gave up freight traffic to Losheim again. The railway line then fell back to DB Netze, which, however, was no longer interested in continued operation and ordered the closure due to alleged superstructure defects, although the line had only been completely renovated 15 years earlier. In 2002 the DB offered for sale the railway line, which had apparently become annoying after the lucrative NATO use had ceased to exist; DB forecast an investment requirement of 905,000 euros for the next five years without any further justification, especially for the bridges. Since no offer had been submitted by the deadline in January 2003, the final shutdown took place on June 15, 2003 and the tracks were dismantled surprisingly quickly in late autumn 2004. The use as a draisine route considered by the municipalities was thus obsolete.
On the Belgian side, timber was transported via Stavelot, Malmedy and Weywertz to the sawmill in Büllingen at least until the beginning of 2004; According to other sources, the last Belgian freight train ran to Büllingen on October 4, 2006. On October 9, 2004, what was probably the last special trip to Büllingen organized by the Belgian side took place. From the end of 2006, this part of the route was also gradually dismantled.
Until 2001, the Vennbahn that followed in Weywertz was still used as a museum railway . The historic trains also drove over the western part of the Vennquerbahn to Bütgenbach, where a new stopping point had been built by the railway enthusiasts in the immediate vicinity of the local recreation area. The striking Bütgenbach Viaduct was crossed on these tourist trips. To move the locomotive, it was driven to Büllingen station, but usually without passengers.
At the beginning of 2013, DB Netz applied for the exemption from rail operations of the route from kilometer 1.118 (in Jünkerath near the GSM-R base station).
Bicycle path
The Jünkerath – Weywertz railway line laid under the Prussians is now in Belgium and Germany. The creation of a cross-border bike path on the railway line was carried out in long construction phases. Initially, the Euskirchen district planned to set up a trolley line on the German side . For the neighboring communities, however, the rent required by DB (20,000 euros per year) was too high; Without submitting a new, better offer, Deutsche Bahn immediately created a fait accompli and had the tracks on the German side dismantled in autumn 2004. From the end of 2006, the tracks in the Belgian part of the line were also gradually dismantled.
From then on, subsequent use as a cycle path was on the agenda; However, the planning was delayed by the participation of the two federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, which were initially unable to agree on the distribution of costs. Not least because of this, the start of the long-decided construction project was a few years away. It was only in 2013 that the gradual conversion of the route into a cycle path began . On the German side alone, 29 bridges along the route had to be renovated or replaced. 5 million euros were invested in the construction of the 20-kilometer German section. The new bike path has little gradient and relieves u. a. the federal road running parallel to the route from the bicycle traffic. In April 2015, the cycle path from Jünkerath to the state border was completely completed and officially opened on May 3, 2015. The last undeveloped gap between Bütgenbach and Büllingen was closed at the beginning of 2017 and the route has been paved throughout and runs from Jünkerath-Glaadt to the confluence with the Vennbahnradweg before Weywertz (Belgium) with two insignificant exceptions ( farm roads ) crossing-free exclusively on the former poor incline Route and is therefore particularly safe and therefore extremely child and family-friendly. The smooth asphalt is also ideal for inline skaters. The Losheimergraben – Weywertz route (18.1 km) is listed and signposted as RAVel L.45a and is integrated into the Belgian RAVeL network .
As part of the implementation of the cycle path, the improvement of the public transport connection from Kall to Hellenthal-Losheim is also being considered. Cyclists could then take a bus line (“bicycle bus”) that also transports bicycles to the starting point of their tour. Regardless of this, there is already an attractive connection for cyclists from Weywertz via the well-developed Vennbahn cycle path to the south via St. Vith and Pronsfeld to Prüm and north to Aachen Rothe Erde; there the cycle path ends directly at the DB train station.
Picture gallery
Former reception building of Losheim (Eifel) train station, winter 2013
Former reception building of Losheim (Eifel) train station, autumn 2012
Former track areas at Losheim (Eifel) station, autumn 2012
The route of the Vennquerbahn shortly before Losheim (Eifel), autumn 2012
literature
- Kurt Hoppstädter: The development of the railway network in the Moselle valley and in the Eifel. Edited from the files of the Koblenz State Archives. Manuscript University and City Library Cologne. 1963
Web links
- Description of route 3003 (section Jünkerath - Losheimergraben) in the NRWbahnArchiv by André Joost
- Detailed history of the Vennbahn system
- History of the Vennquerbahn until 1986
- Private website
Individual evidence
- ^ The Vennbahn system, prehistory of the Vennbahn Aachen - Malmedy - Ulflingen. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . The Vennquerbahn Weywertz – Losheim – Jünkerath connects the Eifel and Vennbahn
- ↑ Achim Konejung: The Rhineland and the First World War . Regionalia-Verlag, Rheinbach 2013.
- ↑ a b route Jünkerath - Losheim , on eifelbahn.de
- ↑ News 2000 , on eifelbahn.de
- ↑ The Jünkerath - Losheim - Weywertz railway line , at eisenbahnmuseum-juenkerath.de, accessed on May 22, 2019
- ↑ Timber train in Losheim , on eifelbahn.de
- ↑ http://www.alles-schnucke.de/die-vennbahn/vennquerbahn/index.php
- ^ Eisenbahnfreunde Jünkerath eV - Jünkerath - Weyw. In: www.eisenbahnmuseum-juenkerath.de. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Picture from the last special trip in October 2004. Retrieved on October 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Federal Railway Office - Frankfurt / Saarbrücken branch office -: Public announcement in accordance with Section 23, Paragraph 2 of the General Railway Act - Exemption from railway operations relating to part of the 3003 Jünkerath – Losheim border line - from February 6, 2013 (Az. 551pf / 128 - 2012 # 034/55122 - 12 - 0667 e; BAnz AT 02/18/2013 B9 )
- ↑ The route of the Vennquerbahn Kyll cycle path between Jünkerath and Losheim is released , on ksta.de, accessed on May 22, 2019
- ↑ Cycle easily over 28 bridges , Kölnische Rundschau, accessed on June 6, 2011