Zehlendorf Railway
| Lichterfelde West - Goerzallee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Freight train on Dahlemer Weg
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 10 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Zehlendorfer Eisenbahn und Hafen AG , later Zehlendorfer Eisenbahn- und Hafen GmbH , in short: ZEUHAG was a Berlin railway company. The railway line operated by it ( Goerzbahn ) is now owned by RBH Logistics GmbH (entire system of the Schönow train station between Dahlemer Weg and Goerzallee) or the State of Berlin , as far as the line from Lichterfelde West to the BÜ Dahlemer Weg ( Entrance to Schönow train station) - this is on public roads.
The enterprise
ZEUHAG was founded as a railway company in 1904. Since 1918 it has belonged to the optical institute C. P. Goerz as a subsidiary, and with this it was transferred to the Zeiss Ikon group (later: IKON AG) in 1926 . It stayed that way until the 1990s. In 1995 ZEUHAG was incorporated into the DB Group and was a subsidiary of DB Cargo Germany .
In summer 2011 ZEUHAG was merged with RBH Logistics GmbH - a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG - and is now a division of RBH.
The name lives on in the (non-legal) Foundation Zehlendorfer Eisenbahn- und Hafen-Gesellschaft .
Local situation
The northern starting point of the route is the Lichterfelde West station on the Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg railway line . From here, the route leads in an arch under the bridge of Dahlemer Weg (past the site of the former northern train station), thus reaching the district of Zehlendorf and following the course of Dahlemer Weg (later: Wupperstraße) after about three kilometers cross Wupperstrasse and return to the area of the Lichterfelde district. The Schönow train station begins right behind the level crossing and extends to Goerzallee. Beyond Goerzallee, only one track is used today, which serves a plastic auto parts plant (APCB Berlin GmbH & Co., Formerly Visteon Deutschland GmbH).
History of the company
ZEUHAG started rail operations in 1905 (initially as a horse-drawn tram ). The first steam locomotive was not procured until December 1915 .
The object of the operation was initially the transport of building materials that were required for the construction and expansion of the Schönow industrial area. This soon shifted to the removal of the goods manufactured in the Schönow companies and the delivery of raw materials for these companies.
In 1919 the passenger transport branch was opened. However, ZEUHAG did not serve local public transport, since as a private connecting railway it had to limit itself to transporting employees of the plants that belonged to its owner (Optical Institute C. P. Goerz) or were connected to it. At this time the popular name "Goerzbahn" was formed.
After the Second World War , ZEUHAG was initially at an end due to the loss of material resources and personnel. In 1946 operations were resumed. With the Berlin blockade came the end of the company's own management. From now on, the Deutsche Reichsbahn took over operations on the connecting railway . With the merger of the German State Railways to form Deutsche Bahn AG on January 1, 1994, operational management at ZEUHAG was transferred to DB Cargo .
The last ZEUHAG steam locomotives were scrapped in 1966 after they had been stored in the Schönow locomotive shed until then. The engine shed lost its purpose and was later used as a storage room for years. In 1981 the shed could then be rented to the AG Märkische Kleinbahn , which has established itself there as a joint user with its own management and maintains a small railway museum on the site.
Operation until 2018
The AG Märkische Kleinbahn association has been tenant of the former locomotive shed in Schönow since 1981 and operates a railway museum on the site. Since 1989 he has also used the route for museum and draisine trips.
In 1989 the Ford car company relocated its Berlin – Cologne transports to the railroad. This enabled 30 to 40 truck trips to be avoided every day. The route was taken over by the railway company in 1995.
As part of the follow-up service, only block trains between the manufacturing plant for plastic auto parts on Goerzallee and its main plant in Cologne were run until summer 2018 . The shunting operation was carried out exclusively with one-man diesel locomotives of the class 365 . The locomotive shunter not only had to operate the locomotive, but was also responsible for coupling, uncoupling and securing the wagons and securing the level crossings that were not technically secured.
In June 2018 it was announced that the follow-up service would be discontinued due to the lower volume of traffic and that it would be switched to truck service. The route has been without traffic since July 2, 2018. The AG Märkische Kleinbahn expressed interest in taking over the line.
After the line was initially to be sold, Deutsche Bahn, District and AG Märkische Kleinbahn are now striving to maintain it. For this purpose, the licensing agreement between the district and Deutsche Bahn on the use of the tracks is to be transferred to the Märkische Kleinbahn by the end of the year, and the association would then take over management on January 1, 2019. The contract to be concluded with the association is to run for three years (with an extension option) in order to initially prevent the route from being de-dedicated and to gain new connections for freight traffic during this time. There are also ideas for establishing regular passenger transport.
After the cessation of freight traffic, the Goerzbahn operation is limited primarily in the Schönow station area to demonstration drives with museum vehicles from the Märkische Kleinbahn AG , supplemented by occasional journeys on the route with special trips.
Since the route is located on the outskirts directly on Dahlemer Weg and has many level crossings and property access roads, the Goerzbahn operating instructions stipulate that all traction vehicles must be equipped with a yellow all-round light when driving on the track between Schönow and Lichterfelde West to avoid accidents with motor vehicles to prevent. Initially, these all-round lights were permanently installed on a few regular locomotives. For a long time there have been mobile lights with battery operation that can be used freely.
literature
- Martin van der Veer, Markus Hellwig: The Goerzbahn - On the hundred year history of the Zehlendorfer Eisenbahn. VBN, Berlin 2005. ISBN 3-933254-55-8
- Martin van der Veer, Markus Hellwig: The Goerzbahn - On the hundred year history of the Zehlendorfer Eisenbahn. E-book, published in 2018.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
- ↑ News in brief - Railway . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . No. 11 , 2019, pp. 223 .
- ↑ Purpose. Zehlendorfer Eisenbahn- und Hafen-Gesellschaft (special-purpose assets), accessed on July 17, 2018 .
- ^ The tracks of the Schönow train station. Retrieved July 6, 2008 .
- ↑ Friends of the Märkische Kleinbahn want to stay. In: Berlin Week . September 1, 2018, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Klaus Kurpjuweit: Bahn wants to sell route - Goerzbahn in Zehlendorf on the brink of. In: Der Tagesspiegel . June 19, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Goerzbahn without traffic in: Lok Magazin 9/2018, p. 33.
- ↑ Bikes, trams or trains: the struggle for the Goerzbahn. In: Berliner Morgenpost . September 29, 2018, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ A future for an old route. In: Berliner Morgenpost . 2018, accessed November 15, 2018 .