Tübingen – Sigmaringen railway line

Tübingen – Sigmaringen
Route number (DB) :	4630
Course book section (DB) :	766
Route length:	87.547 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Top speed:	120 km / h
Legend from Plochingen 0.013 Tübingen Hbf to Herrenberg to Horb 1,866 Tübingen - Derendingen 2.000 Connection of the Wurster & Seiler sawing machine factory 7.700 Steinlach (28 m) 8.146 Dusslingen Connection to Steim Stahlhandel 10.200 Gomaringen West 13,369 Nehren 16.138 Mössingen 17.735 Bad Sebastiansweiler - Belsen 21,347 Bodelshausen 24.726 Hechingen 498  m to Gammertingen Hechingen-Gammertingen 30.900 Zollern 548  m Connection to Hermann Schetter 34.257 Bisingen 557  m 36 ,?00 Steinhofen 38.732 Engstlatt 520  m Bundesstrasse 27 (110 m) 40.400 Eyach (27 m) 41.675 Balingen (Württ) 518  m to Rottweil 42.760 Balingen south 526  m 43.700 Steinach (63 m) Connection to the Gehrn / EDEKA commercial area Connection of oil shale works / Frommern concentration camp 46.682 Pious 566  m 49.000 Sägmühlenbach (26 m) 49.300 Eselsgraben (27 m) 49.600 Zerrenstallbach (39 m) 50.025 Albstadt - Laufen (formerly passenger transport) 50.745 Albstadt-Laufen place 626  m 54.133 Albstadt- Lautlingen 690  m 54.800 Lautlinger Viaduct (60 m) 56.800 Alternative point item 58 57.360 Albstadt- Ebingen West 737  m to Onstmettingen 59.624 Albstadt-Ebingen 722  m 60.000 Schmiecha (49 m) 65.830 Straßberg - Winterlingen 684  m 68.800 Kaiseringen - Frohnstetten   former connection to the Kaiseringen funicular railway 73.000 Schmeie (31 m) 73,480 Storzingen 642  m 73.900 Schmeie (30 m) 75.000 Schmeie (34 m) 75.300 Schmeie (31 m) 76.900 Schmeie (28 m) 77.800 Oberschmeien 78.400 Schmeie (31 m) 78.600 Schmeie (31 m) 78.716 Wendenbühl tunnel (125 m) 79.100 Schmeie (27 m) 79.400 Schmeie (29 m) 80,000 Underwhelm 80,435 Hönberg Tunnel (326 m) from Tuttlingen 82,472 Inzigkofen Danube 87.560 Sigmaringen 572  m to Kleinengstingen to Krauchenwies to Ulm Swell:

The Tübingen – Sigmaringen railway , also known as the Zollernalbbahn or Hohenzollernbahn , is a main line in Baden-Württemberg . It runs from Tübingen to Sigmaringen , is single-track and not electrified, but equipped for operation with tilting technology trains .

The track is also Zollern-Alb-web 1 mentioned (ZAB 1) to distinguish it from the as Zollern-Alb-lane 2 designated railway Hechingen-Gammertingen serving as Zollern-Alb-sheet 3 designated railway Balingen-Schömberg and as Zollern -Alb-Bahn 4 designated railway line Eyach – Hechingen .

course

Regional train below Hohenzollern Castle near Hechingen

Branch of the route to Tuttlingen (left) west of Inzigkofen

The route leaves the Tübingen main train station , 320 meters above sea level, where direct connections from the Neckar-Alb Railway from Stuttgart are possible, heading west and then turning south into the Steinlach valley , which it follows to Mössingen . In Hechingen the station is north of the old town and above the station of the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn , to which there is a connecting track. After leaving Hechingen station, the Zollernalbbahn circumnavigates the city to the east and south to run in a south-westerly direction to Balingen , where it reaches a height of 517 m. South of Balingen, the route leads in a south-easterly direction up the Eyach valley and overcomes an elongated 1:45 ramp before reaching the highest point of the route at around 730 meters in Albstadt-Ebingen . The largest bridge on the route is in the ramp, the 77.35 meter long viaduct in Albstadt-Lautlingen . In the further course the railway line following the river Schmeie and often crossing this watercourse falls steadily and after crossing two tunnels reaches the valley of the Danube near Inzigkofen , where the railway line Tuttlingen – Inzigkofen branches off. The Sigmaringen train station, 574 meters above sea level, is reached immediately after crossing the river.

history

During the fourth construction period of the Royal Württemberg State Railways from 1867 to 1878, the line from Tübingen to Sigmaringen was also built. In a state treaty dated March 3, 1865, the issues between Württemberg and Prussia as the sovereign of the Hohenzollern lands crossed were clarified.

The first section between Tübingen and Hechingen was opened to traffic on June 29, 1869, after Tübingen had received a rail connection from Reutlingen in 1861 . The section between Hechingen and Balingen was only inaugurated on August 1, 1874 after delays caused by the Franco-German war. The remaining section to Sigmaringen could be put into operation by July 1, 1878. The construction time of around nine years is explained by the fact that a number of engineering structures had to be erected and difficult ground conditions made construction difficult, so a total of 32 bridges had to be built. The uphill section between Balingen and Ebingen was largely laid on a dam due to the soil conditions on the Alb eaves in order to avoid landslides .

The total length of the Tübingen – Sigmaringen route was 87.505 kilometers, with 40.409 kilometers on the Hohenzollern, i.e. Prussian, territory. The construction costs amounted to 23,316,753.12 marks. According to the state treaty, the maintenance of the entire route was the sole responsibility of the Royal Württemberg Railway Administration.

In 1909 the Ebingen train station was overloaded in the freight area. The Ebingen city architect Leo Schrein made a plan for the relocation of the train station to today's Ebingen cemetery with a generous connection of the valley walkway and the planned new railway to the Heuberg .

In 1922 the Zollernalbbahn between Tübingen and Sigmaringen had a total of 22 stations and stops served by passenger trains , including a station called Zollern for the princely visitors to Hohenzollern Castle . In the course of the following decades, a number of less frequented stations were closed. In the course of the 1997 changeover of passenger train traffic to modern railcars of the type Regio-Shuttle RS1 with strong acceleration, the stop in Engstlatt was reactivated and the new stop Albstadt-Ebingen West was created. In Albstadt-Laufen , the train station located away from the town was replaced by a stop in the town as early as the early 1980s. The previous station is now the depot for the crossing of trains on the single-track line, another, additional crossing possibility was created with the construction of the Albstadt-Ebingen West station. When the Zollernbahn was upgraded in 2001 for the use of tilting technology, the Dußlingen, Mössingen, Hechingen, Bisingen and Albstadt-Ebingen stations were equipped with new platforms and underpasses. At the same time, it has since been possible for both trains to enter these stations at the same time at train crossings.

business

038 791 in Tübingen at the exit to Sigmaringen in May 1970

Time of the German Federal Railroad

Until the beginning of 1971, the passenger train service carried out by the German Federal Railroad mainly drove the Tübingen P 8 , partly in double traction due to the gradients , with three-axle and four-axle conversion wagons and silver coins , and the 64 series was also used. The class 50 dominated the freight train service, but it was still a few passenger trains before 1975. With the end of steam operation, locomotives of the class 215 and class 211/212 as well as Uerdinger rail buses took over the operation on the Zollernalbbahn, in locomotive hauled passenger trains , in addition to Silberlingen , four-axle conversion wagons specially labeled as Allgäu-Zollernbahn were used.

In 1988, the majority of passenger train services were converted to new class 628.2 multiple units at that time . Uerdingen rail buses and class 627.0 railcars were used as planned for individual services until 1997 . There were also mixed trains 628 + 627 and 627 + Uerdinger rail bus. Class 215 diesel locomotives were only used a few passenger train services ago and in the ever decreasing freight traffic. The last scheduled train hauled by a locomotive in the section between Tübingen and Sigmaringen ran on May 31, 1997 and was hauled by the museum steam locomotive 01 519 of the Zollern Railway friends . In the following years, however, locomotive-hauled trains were repeatedly used for longer periods as a replacement for failed tilting multiple units.

Today's operation

passenger traffic

HzL regional shuttle in Tübingen

In the summer of 1997, in which on 1 January 2018 took SWEG risen Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL) all regional trains (RB) on the Zollernalb Railway. Are used Regio-Shuttle RS1 . Fast regional traffic is still the responsibility of Deutsche Bahn with its subsidiary DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee (RAB), which has class 612 railcars for this purpose. The Interregio Express trains (IRE) are equipped with tilting technology, as is the entire route.

In the 2019 annual timetable, the Zollernalbbahn is served by three types of train that run every two hours during the day :

• IRE Stuttgart - Tübingen - Hechingen - Balingen - Albstadt-Ebingen - Sigmaringen - Herbertingen - Aulendorf
• RB Tübingen - Hechingen - Balingen - Albstadt-Ebingen - Sigmaringen
• RB Tübingen - Hechingen - Balingen - Albstadt-Ebingen

The Interregio-Express trains usually stop between Tübingen Hbf and Sigmaringen only in Mössingen, Hechingen, Balingen and Albstadt-Ebingen. The regional trains serve all stops en route, but the trains only stop at some smaller stations when needed.

Between Tübingen and Albstadt-Ebingen, the regional trains overlap, between Albstadt-Ebingen and Sigmaringen the regional trains and Interregio-Express trains that run there at an approximate hourly rate, so that (except on Sunday mornings) all places except Straßberg-Winterlingen and Storzingen at least every hour to be served. Especially during rush hour , in school traffic and on Sunday evenings, additional trains, some of which serve shorter distances, also run early in the morning and late in the evening from the basic operating scheme.

Until 2013, many trains on the Tübingen - Sigmaringen RB line continued to run on behalf of the RAB to / from Aulendorf, in return, RS1 of the RAB also drove to / from Tübingen Hbf on behalf of HzL. Since the end of 2013, you have to change trains in Sigmaringen.

On Sundays and public holidays from May to October, the RB trains are part of the naldo leisure network. which invites you to go on excursions to the Swabian Alb with additional train and bus services with the expanded possibility of taking bicycles with you.

Freight transport

Until December 31, 2001, freight traffic was handled by the then DB Cargo with the 294 and 365 series . According to the MORA C concept , all freight stations should then be closed in 2001, but this was averted by a cooperation agreement between DB Cargo and the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL). On January 2, 2002, HzL took over wagonload traffic on the Zollernalbbahn and on other routes in the region.

Planning

Based on the set departure times in Aulendorf and the travel time of the first integral clock timetable in Germany, the Allgäu-Swabia cycle introduced in 1993, the train crossing at Albstadt-Lautlingen was calculated every hour and half hour to Stuttgart . The VCD Kreisverband Zollernalb therefore suggested in 1994 to Willi Fischer , District Administrator of the Zollernalbkreis , that the planned Lautlingen / Hirnau / Freizeitbad train station should be generously dimensioned. With one platform edge each for all trains on the line that stop at the clock node, the otherwise necessary construction of the viaduct over the Messstetter Talbach can be avoided without loss of quality and the synchronization time can be used to change trains. The integral cycle timetable, presented and calculated by the timetable expert Mayer from the VCD Kreisverband Zollernalb in 1994, was intended to make the journey to Stuttgart and Aulendorf through an improved rail infrastructure, through consistent observance of the symmetry minute and through short transfer times and routes to fast tilting technology trains on electrified routes. In 2016, DB Engineering & Consulting carried out a drivability test for this concept.

In 2010, in the planning for an integral cycle timetable extending as far as Bavaria, the year 2020 was named as a possible start-up of the electrification of the Zollernalbbahn in a first construction phase to Albstadt. Detailed planning for this electrification and a regional light rail in the Zollernalbkreis was decided unanimously by the district council of the Zollernalbkreis in May 2012. In February 2013, the Environment and Technology Committee of the Zollernalbkreis district council decided on a time and action plan for a condensed, direct, electrified clock connection with wings of the railcars from the Zollernalbkreis clock node stations to the new Stuttgart main station . This provided for the completion of the preliminary planning for planning case 5 (electrification of the Zollernalb and Talgangbahn ) by July 2014. Implementation planning should start in spring 2017. Estimates of costs for sub-network two with the Zollernalb, Killer and Talgangbahn totaled 182 million euros. Due to planning and financing risks, further variants are also included in the district council discussion (so-called “sub-network 0.5”). These plans complement the regional light rail. According to calculations by Jürgen Kaiser, PTV Planning Transport Verkehr , subnet two achieves a cost-benefit factor of 1.88. First drafts were presented.

For the transitional period up to electrification, the Ministry of Transport issued tenders for appropriate local passenger transport lines on the Zollernalbbahn lines. The tender comprised one million train kilometers on the Tübingen - Sigmaringen, Hechingen - Gammertingen - Sigmaringen, Gammertingen - Kleinengstingen, Eyach - Hechingen and Balingen - Schömberg routes. Air-conditioned used vehicles built in 1996 or later were required as requirements for transport. The duration of the tender comprised the period from December 2013 to December 2019 with an extension option until December 2023 at the latest. To integrate the Neckar-Alb regional light rail . In 2018, the operating concept of the Zollernalbbahn will be checked, followed by the draft and approval planning. The electrification and the 30-minute cycle of the Zollernalbbahn will then be implemented in module 1 of the regional city plan.

In February 2020, the district and Deutsche Bahn signed a contract to plan the electrification between Albstadt and Sigmaringen. The district is investing 4.76 million euros in the preliminary planning, the state is supporting with 1.19 million euros. A first rough estimate of costs assumes total costs of 160 million euros for the electrification of the 27 kilometers of the route. By September 2020, an operating program study will also determine which infrastructure measures are required to run the planned operating concept. The results of the preliminary planning should be available by spring 2022, after which a benefit-cost analysis is planned, on the basis of which a decision can be made on the implementation of the concept.

Web links

Commons : Zollernalbbahn  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• eisenbahnfreunde-zollernbahn.de (January 6, 2013)
• The route in the course book 1944/45
• Kreis hopes for a precision landing for the Zollernbahn . Online at Schwarzwaelder-Bote.de from April 11, 2013.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ https://www.eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de/lb/inhalt/tunnelportale/4630.html Pictures of the tunnel portals
4. ↑ Wilfried Groh: Stuttgart stops dreams ( memento of the original from June 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Zollern-Alb-Kurier . 3rd June 2014.
5. ↑ City archive plans Heubergbahn Meßstetten with military station HR-E 787.11 / 1-05
6. ^ Deutsche Bahn AG: course book of the Deutsche Bahn, table 766 . As of January 10, 2019.
7. ^ Naldo-Freizeit-Netz
8. ↑ ^{a b} : DB Engineering . In: Schwarzwälder Bote , November 15, 2016.
9. ^ Georges Rey, Lukas Regli, Frank Schäfer, Ulrich Rückert: Further development of local rail transport in the Danube-Iller region . Preliminary study for the feasibility of a regional S-Bahn Donau-Iller Report preliminary study (draft) October 2010. Ed .: Regionalverband Donau Iller. Bavaria 2010, p. 14 .
10. ↑ Gert Ungureanu: Regional light rail: planning continues . In: Black Forest Messenger . 17th July 2013.
11. ↑ rvna.de
12. ↑ Balingen. In: Black Forest Messenger . November 2, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017 . 
13. ↑ electrification
14. ↑ Electrification between Albstadt and Sigmaringen: planning and financing contracts have been signed. In: vm.baden-wuerttemberg.de. Ministry of Transport Baden-Württemberg, February 18, 2020, accessed on February 23, 2020 .