Forest railway (brand)

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Logo forest railway

Waldbahn has been the brand name for trains from Länderbahn GmbH (then Regentalbahn AG ) on the Plattling – Bay railway lines since September 29, 1996 . Eisenstein , Zwiesel – Grafenau and Zwiesel – Bodenmais . Since September 12, 2016, the Waldbahn has also been running the Gotteszell – Viechtach railway line .

history

On May 23, 1993, the Regentalbahn took over passenger traffic on the branch lines from Zwiesel to Bodenmais and Grafenau on behalf of DB Regio . After the delivery of Regio-Shuttle diesel multiple units , the brand name Waldbahn was introduced. On May 26, 1997, the Regentalbahn also took over the services on the Plattling – Bayerisch Eisenstein line , which has a connection to long-distance traffic in Germany and the Czech Republic, under this name.

Route network of the forest railway

These railway lines were put out to tender in 2011 along with other lines in Eastern Bavaria. The Bavarian Railway Company (BEG) announced on July 22, 2011 that from December 15, 2013 to December 10, 2023 the Regentalbahn (today " Die Länderbahn ") will continue to operate on this route network. The section from Plattling to Deggendorf will be compressed to a half-hourly cycle. It is also planned to introduce an hourly service on the Grafenau – Zwiesel route. [obsolete] Plans to extend the trains from Bayerisch Eisenstein to Klatovy in the Czech Republic came to nothing. Since December 15, 2013, the Länderbahn has been a direct contractor of the Bavarian Railway Company. The rail-internal operational train type changed from RB ( regional train ) to DPN ( local train from third parties ). The internal product name changed to WBA .

Since December 2014, the trains of the forest railway no longer run across borders to the Czech Špičák (Spitzberg).

On August 25, 2016, following a tender, the Länderbahn was awarded the contract for trial operation on the Gotteszell – Viechtach railway line , on which hourly operation with former ODEG railcars (regional shuttles) began on September 12, 2016 .

Clock traffic

After the expansion of the three railway lines, integrated regular traffic was introduced on the Zwieseler Spider railway lines in 2003 . Zwiesel station is the hub of these routes. The trains to Bay. Eisenstein, Plattling and Bodenmais run every hour, Grafenau is served every 120 minutes. These arrive in Zwiesel just before the hour and continue after a short stop. This results in short transfer times between trains.

Bayerisch Eisenstein / Železná Ruda-Alžbětín station with German forest railway and Czech express train

The timetable was also aligned with the Plattling train station so that the clock node with connections to the Lower Bavarian regional traffic to Munich , Passau and Regensburg and to the international ICE traffic in the direction of Frankfurt am Main via Nuremberg or Vienna can be reached. In Bayerisch Eisenstein there is a connection to the Czech local traffic to Klatovy / Pilsen and to the express train traffic of the České dráhy in the direction of Prague . The transfer times here are between 15 and 30 minutes.

The Gotteszell – Viechtach line, which was reactivated on September 12, 2016, was also integrated into the cycle system. Shortly before half an hour there is a connection towards Plattling or from Zwiesel and shortly after half an hour there is a connection towards Zwiesel or from the direction of Plattling. In 2018, operations on the Gotteszell – Viechtach route were extended until September 2021. Otherwise operations would have expired in September 2018.

line course length Stations Start of operations
WBA 1 Bayerisch Eisenstein - Zwiesel (Bay) - Gotteszell - Plattling 72 km 11 December 15, 2013
WBA 2 Bodenmais - Zwiesel (Bay) 15 km 5 December 15, 2013
WBA 3 Zwiesel (Bay) - Grafenau 32 km 9 December 15, 2013
WBA 4 Viechtach - Gotteszell 25 km 8th September 12, 2016

vehicles

A total of 12 railcars of the type Regio-Shuttle, built in 1996 and 1997 , operate . A large number of the railcars bear names of the municipalities or facilities in the region that are served. The railcars have classic screw couplings and were manufactured by Adtranz . The twelve vehicles in the low-floor section have 3 + 2 seating with a total of 77 seats. Up to 2014, two more vehicles, which were subsequently delivered by Stadler Rail in 2004 , were in use. These railcars replaced previously used older class 515 railcars . They differ in details from their predecessors. They have air conditioning , a slightly more powerful engine and 2 + 2 seating in the low-floor section. To start the operation of the Upper Palatinate network, they were fitted with central buffer couplings and transferred to the Upper Palatinate Railway. The depot is located in Viechtach . In addition, a workshop was opened at Zwiesel train station in 2013 in order to avoid costly delivery trips on the Gotteszell – Viechtach railway line .

The vehicles have had a green and yellow paint job since August 2006. This is the inverse of the paintwork on the neighboring Upper Palatinate Railway, which is also operated by the Länderbahn. Before that, the vehicles had a white-green-red paint job, repainting began in 2002.

Railcar VT 15 of the Waldbahn in Zwiesel station

For the reactivation of the Gotteszell – Viechtach railway line, five regional shuttles built by Stadler Rail in 2004 were procured for the Netinera subsidiary Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn (ODEG) in 2016 . These were adapted to the Waldbahn design on the sides, but still have the old ODEG design on the front section and on the doors. In contrast to the other Waldbahn vehicles, these are air-conditioned, have a handicapped accessible toilet, offer space for 10 instead of 6 bicycles, are mostly equipped with row seating, have no passenger information system, have 2 + 2 seating, 72 instead of 77 seats and have two Four-seat groups of sockets.

Stops

The individual stops of the forest railway are to be modernized gradually. Particular attention is paid to accessibility . The largest construction measures so far have been the construction of the central platform at Zwiesel station, the construction of the Ludwigsthal stop in the immediate vicinity of the Haus zur Wildnis, and the renovation of the Grafenau station and bus station. Of the total of 22 train stations and stops on the German side, only four are not barrier-free by December 2009. On the Czech side there are three more stops in Železná Ruda . From December 2014, with the extension to Klatovy, there should be 12 more stops in the forest railway network up to the terminal station in Klatovy (Klattau) on the Czech side. However, this has not yet been realized (2018).

The newly built Grafling - Arzting stop between Deggendorf and Gotteszell has been in existence since December 15, 2013 , after 30 years of no station in the Graflinger Valley.

Since September 12, 2016, Waldbahn trains have been running between Gotteszell and Viechtach as part of a two-year trial run. The stops along the route were either rebuilt or completely rebuilt by the Länderbahn. The stations Ruhmannsfelden , Patersdorf , Teisnach Rohde & Schwarz, Teisnach, Gumpenried-Asbach, Schnitzmühle and Viechtach were added to the Waldbahn route network . The Waldbahn line 4 (WBA 4) has been operating on the line since then. After 25 years, this replaced the Sunday hiking trail in Regental. Their former stops Gstadt, Schönau-Neunußberg and Böbrach Tunnel are no longer served due to their remoteness.

Reference routes of the Bavarian Railway Company

The forest railway is one of four reference routes of the Bavarian Railway Company (BEG). The BEG is paying special attention to these railway lines in order to evaluate various innovative concepts for increasing quality.

In the course of this, various measures to increase the attractiveness were tested. All stops have been equipped with information showcases and signs to the stops and platforms have been set up.

The forest railway is also integrated into the Bavarian Forest national park traffic concept.

Tariff

The DB Regio house tariffs and the Bayern Ticket apply on these routes . There is also a regional network ticket on these routes with the Bayerwald-Ticket . The Guest Service Environment Ticket (GUTi) is based on this network ticket , where the tourist card is used as a ticket.

In addition to these German tickets, the Czech Railways also offers tickets for German rail routes close to the border, including the Waldbahn, with its “+ DB” range of various day tickets.

The Waldbahn day ticket, the youth leisure month ticket, the leisure month ticket (each Waldbahn network) and the Servus ticket (Länderbahn / agilis route network) are also valid on the entire route network.

Culture TOUR in the forest railway

In the “KulTOUR in der Waldbahn” series, trips to the regional culture and way of life are regularly carried out on the last Sunday of the month , where the journey takes place with the Waldbahn. Here, an introduction to the event is offered during the journey, such as the boarding of musicians or Raunachtsgeistern .

Sponsorships

Various municipalities and institutions have sponsored individual Waldbahn railcars:

  • VT 15 - Viechtach
  • VT 16 - Bavarian Forest Nature Park
  • VT 17 - Grafenau
  • VT 18 - Zwiesel
  • VT 19 - Frauenau
  • VT 20 - Deggendorf
  • VT 21 - rain
  • VT 22 - Children's Bear Land Bavarian Forest
  • VT 23 - Gotteszell
  • VT 24 - Children's Bear Land, Bavarian Forest National Park
  • VT 25 - Eisenstein
  • VT 26 - Boundless forest wilderness National Park Bavarian Forest / Národní park Šumava
  • VT 28 - Železná Ruda

Others

  • Trains of the forest railway were seen in episodes of the Forsthaus Falkenau and in the movie Die Hummel .
  • The Waldbahn Regio-Shuttle ran replacement services along with other trains on the Freilassing – Berchtesgaden line from December 2009 to February 2010 until the regular FLIRT trains of the Berchtesgadener Land Bahn were operational.
  • The Ilztalbahn GmbH rents for their transport on the railway line Passau-Freyung regularly forest railway vehicles. Since the start of service in September 2010, these have formed the majority of the passenger trains on this route. For these uses, they are stuck to the side walls with foils with the inscription "Ilztalbahn" and provided with train route signs .
  • On February 8, 2015, the electorate in the Regen district was called upon to vote in a referendum on a two-year trial operation of the reactivation of the Gotteszell – Viechtach railway line for passenger traffic. It should be clarified whether the district should agree to ensure 10% of the costs incurred during the trial run in the event of an insufficient number of travelers and, at the same time, to ensure that schoolchildren are free of travel costs . Both the reactivation of the railway line for public transport and the referendum passed by the district council were hotly debated in the Internet media and in the local newspaper. When voting, those eligible to vote voted with a majority of 63.9% of the votes cast (with a turnout of 20.9%) for the trial run.
  • During the heat wave of 2018 , the tracks between Gotteszell-Bahnhof and Ruhmannsfelden lifted and shifted over a length of three meters on July 29th. The train traffic was stopped, media reported nationwide.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways - Volume 7: Bavaria . Eisenbahn-Kurier-Verlag, Freiburg 2002, ISBN 3-88255-666-8 .
  2. ↑ Bavarian Railway Company: Regional trains in Eastern Bavaria are awarded the Regental Bahnbetriebs-GmbH
  3. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse: Länderbahn GmbH receives contract for trial operation. Retrieved August 28, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Rail test operation Viechtach-Gotteszell is extended BR online, June 24, 2018
  5. ↑ Since September 12, 2016 take the waldbahn from Gotteszell to Viechtach. (No longer available online.) Länderbahn GmbH, archived from the original on May 16, 2017 ; Retrieved January 19, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Regioshuttle complete delivery list , private website
  7. ^ Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft Accessibility of the stations in Bavaria
  8. ^ Bavarian Railway Company - reference route forest railway
  9. ↑ gsc: Railway line Viechtach-Gotteszell: District assembly passes a referendum . PNP , December 15, 2014, accessed December 19, 2014 .
  10. ↑ dal: Railway trial operation: District citizens decide on February 8th. PNP , December 19, 2014, accessed December 19, 2014 .
  11. ↑ weighed: Liveticker: Viechtach's joy about the vote for the rail test run. PNP , February 8, 2015, accessed February 9, 2015 .
  12. ↑ vbb: Heat deformed track: Railway line Gotteszell - Teisnach closed. PNP , July 30, 2018, accessed August 1, 2018 .
  13. ↑ This is why the bent tracks cannot be exchanged yet. PNP , July 31, 2018, accessed August 1, 2018 .