| Kraich Valley Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Native name | Kraichtalbahn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line number |
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| Locale | Baden-Württemberg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route number | 710.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 19.2 km (11.9 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrification | 15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead catenary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Kraich Valley Railway (German : Kraichtalbahn) is a branch line in southwestern Germany running from Bruchsal to Menzingen. It is now integrated as line 32 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn.
The Kraich Valley Railway runs from Bruchsal in the Kraichgau. Its name is derived from the Kraichbach stream, whose course it follows from Ubstadt to Gochsheim, as well as the town of Kraichtal, to which all the settlements on the line belong apart from Bruchsal and Ubstadt. It lies entirely within the district of Karlsruhe.
Because the railway line largely follows the aforementioned river valley there are no large structures like tunnels or noteworthy bridges.
During the time up to 1874 when the city of Bruchsal became a railway hub, the municipalities along the Kraichbach were interested in obtaining a connection to the railway. Therefore, Bruchsal sought a railway in the Kraichbach valley through the towns of Ubstadt, Unteröwisheim, Oberöwisheim, Münzesheim and Gochsheim to Eppingen. However, the opening of the Kraichgau Railway on the Karlsruhe–Bretten–Eppingen route in 1879 delayed the construction of such a line.
In 1888, Bruchsal took the initiative in 1888 to build, along with the municipalities in the Kraichbach and the Katzbach valleys, a narrow gauge branch line with two branches, separating in Ubstadt. The northern line would run through Odenheim to Elsenz and the southern branch up the Kraichbach valley to Gochsheim.
Originally planned to run only as far as Gochsheim, it was finally decided to extend the line out of the Kraichbach valley to Menzingen. At the same time, it was also decided that the line would be built at standard gauge.
On 5 March 1896, the Kraich Valley Railway was opened together with the Katzbach Railway. The line was initially operated by the Westdeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (West German Railway Company, WeEG).
In October 1898, the WeEG operations on the Katzbach and the Kraich Valley Railways were transferred to its subsidiary, the Badische Lokal-Eisenbahnen Aktiengesellschaft (Baden Local Railway Company, BLEAG). In the first years of operations, there was a high level of passenger traffic and some growth in freight traffic. The Kraich Valley and the Katzbach Railways were the two most profitable lines operated by BLEAG in the early years of the twentieth century.
After the First World War, both lines were caught in a crisis because BLEAG had run out of funds for the maintenance of its lines. After the district of Karlsruhe agreed to contribute to the funding of various BLEAG routes, the lines were temporarily saved. In subsequent years, normal operations were restored. In 1931, BLEAG had to file for bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
In the wake of the bankruptcy, both of the BLEAG lines in the Kraich Valley and the Katzbach were taken over by the German Railway Operating Company (Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebs-Gesellschaft, DEBG) on 1 January 1932. DEBG managed to restore operations on the two lines.
It also procured a diesel railcar, which was mainly used on the Kraich Valley Railway, since the most distant part of the Katzbach Railway between Odenheim and Hilsbach were too steep for this vehicle.
The outbreak of the Second World War meant that the passenger numbers increased significantly since private transport was restricted due to the war. Because of the fighting, however, operations had to be closed on 2 April 1945. Unlike the experience of many other rail lines, war damage on the two lines was limited. This allowed operations on the Kraich Valley Railway to be resumed on 7 June 1945.
The steam locomotives and passenger carriages on the line, which were up to fifty years old, were gradually replaced by diesel haulage from the mid-1950s. Thus, in 1955, DEBG operated a diesel locomotive and, in 1956, six diesel railcar formerly owned by Deutsche Bundesbahn and built in 1936 and 1937. However, the DEBG applied on 7 July 1958 to close all of its tracks in southern Germany. This was resisted by the state of Baden-Württemberg, in particular.
DEBG transferred, with effect from 1 May 1963, both lines to the Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft (Southwest German Railway Company, SWEG), which had been founded on 10 December 1962 by the state of Baden-Württemberg to preserve a number of private lines before they were closed. The SWEG sought to modernise the line. Thus, the remaining steam trains were replaced by diesel locomotives after the takeover. It also introduced improvements to the line, which also shortened the travel time significantly. As a result, a trip from Bruchsal to Menzingen took only 37 minutes compared to 47 minutes previously.
In 1980, several new factories were established in Gochsheim, which led to a marked increase in freight traffic on the Kraich Valley Railway. The SWEG even had to buy a diesel locomotive to serve this market in 1982.
From October 1981, services were reinforced on the Kraich Valley Railway by class NE 81 diesel multiple units, which had been built by Waggon Union. However, the modernisation of the line by the SWEG did not increase traffic on the line. In the 1980s, the workshop facilities in Menzingen were expanded and modernised at a cost of millions of Deutsche Marks.
In the following years the Kraich Valley Railway was increasingly under threat of closure, as was the outer section of the Katzbach Railway from Odenheim to Hilsbach, which was closed in stages between 1960 and 1986.
In order to preserve the line from closure, the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (Alb Valley Transport Company, AVG) took over the line from the SWEG in 1994. Originally it operated the line with class NE 81 diesel multiple units that it had taken over from the SWEG or acquired from Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. Initially the AVG services was operated under the most recent timetable of the SWEG, six months later improvements were made that resulted in a regular interval timetable, which had not previously existed. As part of the founding of the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (Karlsruhe Transport Association, KVV), the service on the Katzbach Railway was named line R 32.
At the same time as the line was acquired by AVG, it was decided to upgrade the line to Stadtbahn standards. This included, among other things, the modernisation and electrification of the line and the construction of new stations. In March 1996, the Kraich Valley Railway and Katzbach Railway celebrated the centennial of the two lines. At this time, the Bruchsal–Ubstadt Ort section was already electrified, so Stadtbahn sets were operated between Bruchsal and Ubstadt as part of the celebrations.
In September 1996, the Kraich Valley Railway was finally incorporated into the operations of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn. The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn line S 3, which has operated since 1994 from Karlsruhe Central Station to Bruchsal, was extended to Menzingen at the end of the Kraich Valley Railway. In preparation, the station platforms were raised and some of the station crossing loops were extended. In addition, a total of four new stations were established at Bruchsal Schlossgarten, Bruchsal Stegwiesen, Ubstadt Salzbrunnenstr. and Unteröwisheim Martin-Luther-Str.
At the opening of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn at the end of 2003, the Mannheim–Karlsruhe section of the Rhine Valley Railway was integrated into the S-Bahn network and has since been called line S 3. To avoid confusion, the former line S 3 serving the Kraich Valley Railway was renamed line S 32 at the same time. Gochsheim station was rebuilt with a crossing loop at the same time.
Crossing opportunities exist in Ubstadt Ort and in the stations of Unteröwisheim, Münzesheim, Gochsheim and Menzingen, although these are rarely used in Unteröwisheim. The stations of Bruchsal, Münzesheim and Gochsheim have a platform height of 55 cm, the others are 38 cm high.
Gochsheim station building was demolished around 2000 during the construction of the crossing loop at the station. The same happened at Menzingen. Only the station building of Oberöwisheim still exists and it is now used as a residence.
Services on the line are integrated as part of line S 32 (Menzingen–Bruchsal–Karlsruhe–Achern) of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn network. It is operated at peak times at 20-minute intervals, otherwise, there are services at least hourly.
Services run through Karlsruhe Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) to Baden-Baden and Achern or to Freudenstadt over the Murg Valley Railway. The trains to the Murg Valley change their line designation in Ubstadt Ort station to line S 31, since this designation covers services on the Bruchsal–Freudenstadt route, whereas the designation S 32 applies to services to Achern. It is operated by dual-system Stadtbahn vehicles of the AVG.
Services running to Freudenstadt only use the AVG's GT8-100D/2S-M vehicles (numbered 837 to 922 and allowing level access at their central doors to 55 cm high platforms), since only they are allowed to operate over the steep route between Baiersbronn and Freudenstadt.
On the Kraich Valley Railway freight traffic runs to Gochsheim. The local freight siding branches off the line about five hundred metres west of the station. Another freight siding exists at Münzesheim Ost. The siding in Unteröwisheim is now closed. Until the conversion to Stadtbahn operations, Oberöwisheim station also had a freight siding, but this has now been removed.
The freight traffic is hauled by AVG diesel locomotives 462 and 464, which were built by Maschinenbau Kiel. Locomotive 462 was originally owned by the SWEG and was taken over by the AVG with its takeover of the line. During the time of the SWEG it had the number of 101 and sometimes it was also hauled passenger trains.
Along the Kraich Valley Railway there are four short bus routes connecting localities to the railway: line 135 Oberöwisheim–Neuenbürg, line 136 Münzesheim–Oberacker, line 137 Bahnbrücken station–Bahnbrücken Ort and line 138 Menzingen–Landshausen.
Kraichtal is a town in the north-eastern part of the Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was founded in 1971 by a merger of nine smaller municipalities.
The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connections to neighbouring regions. The Stadtbahn combines an efficient urban railway in the city with an S-Bahn, overcoming the boundary between trams and trains. Its logo does not include the green and white S-Bahn symbol used in other German suburban rail systems and the symbol is only used at stops and stations outside the inner-city tram-operation area.
The Esslingen railbus is a diesel railbus first delivered in 1951 for private railways in Germany.
The Baden main line is a German railway line that was built between 1840 and 1863. It runs through Baden, from Mannheim via Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Offenburg, Freiburg, Basle, Waldshut, Schaffhausen and Singen to Constance (Konstanz). The Baden Mainline is 412.7 kilometres long, making it the longest route in the Deutsche Bahn network and also the oldest in southwest Germany. The section between Mannheim and Basle is the most important northern approach to the Swiss Alpine passes, whilst the section between Basle and Constance is only of regional significance. The stretch from Karlsruhe to Basle is also known as the Rhine Valley Railway (Rheintalbahn) and the Basle–Constance section as the High Rhine Railway (Hochrheinstrecke).
The Western Railway (Westbahn) in Württemberg was opened in 1853 and ran from Bietigheim-Bissingen to Bruchsal. It was the first railway link between the states of Württemberg and Baden in Germany and one of the oldest lines in Germany.
The Murg Valley Railway is a 58 kilometre long railway line in the Northern Black Forest in Germany, that links Rastatt and Freudenstadt. It was opened in stages from 1868 to 1928 being built outwards from both Rastatt and Freudenstadt. The route through the narrow Murg Valley required the construction of numerous tunnels and bridges. The section between the stations of Baiersbronn and Freudenstadt Stadt is a steep ramp which is why it had to be operated until 1926 as a rack railway. Even today it can only be worked by vehicles that have the required approval.
The Alb Valley Railway is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG).
The Kraichgau Railway is a 64.8 km long railway line in the region of Kraichgau in northwestern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Karlsruhe via Bretten and Eppingen to Heilbronn and was built in 1880. It gained international renown in 1992 as the first dual-system rail/tram route of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, the section between Karlsruhe and Bretten being the prototype for the so-called Karlsruhe model.
The Enz Valley Railway is a 23.6 km (14.7 mi) long railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The line runs from Pforzheim to Bad Wildbad and for its course runs close to the River Enz.
The Mannheim–Karlsruhe–Basel railway is a double-track electrified mainline railway in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Mannheim via Heidelberg, Bruchsal, Karlsruhe, Rastatt, Baden-Baden, Offenburg and Freiburg to Basel, Switzerland. It is also known as the Rhine Valley Railway or the Upper Rhine Railway (Oberrheinbahn).
Bruchsal station is the centre of the rail transport in the city of Bruchsal in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
The Karlsruhe–Mühlacker railway is a railway line in the west of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It was built between 1859 and 1863 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany. It was built as the second connection between the networks of the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway and the Royal Württemberg State Railways and it still constitutes an important east–west route in southern Germany.
The Katzbach Railway is a branch line in southwestern Germany from Bruchsal to Odenheim that opened in 1896, and was extended in 1900 to Hilsbach. In 1960 services between Tiefenbach and Hilsbach were withdrawn, in 1975 the section between Odenheim Ost and Tiefenbach followed and, in 1986, the 600-metre-long section from Odenheim station to Odenheim Ost was closed. Since 1994 the line has been operated by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), who electrified it in 1998 and integrated it into the network of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn.
The Eutingen im Gäu–Schiltach railway line is a railway line in the German state of Baden-Württemberg that runs from the cultural landscape of the Gäu to the eastern edge of the Black Forest, connecting Eutingen and Schiltach via Freudenstadt. It is a section of the Gäu Railway from Stuttgart to Freudenstadt opened on 1 September 1879.
Rastatt station is the main passenger station in the town of Rastatt in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is an important station for the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, being served by four of its lines, which are operated by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft. In addition, it is served by regional and long-distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn. The station is located at chainage 96.5 km on the Rhine Valley Railway and at chainage 82.9 on the Rhine Railway. The station is also the beginning of the Murg Valley Railway.
Untergrombach station is a "halt" (Haltepunkt) in the Bruchsal district of Untergrombach in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Rhine Valley Railway between Heidelberg and Karlsruhe and is served by lines S31 and S32 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn. In the peak hour several services on line S3 of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn stop in Untergrombach.
Malsch station is together with Malsch Süd station one of two stations in the municipality of Malsch in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The station is located at kilometer 96.5 of the Rhine Valley Railway (Rheintalbahn) and is served by two lines of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn.
Odenheim station is the station of Östringen district of the Odenheim. It is the terminus of the Katzbach Railway (Katzbachbahn) running from Bruchsal to Odenheim and is served by line S31 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn.
Achern station is the largest and most important of the four stations in the town of Achern in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located at kilometre 125.3 of the Rhine Valley Railway (Rheintalbahn), which connects Mannheim and Basel and is the starting point of the Acher Valley Railway (Achertalbahn), which runs to Ottenhöfen. The station has four platforms and it is classified by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as a category 4 station. It has also been the terminus of lines S32 and S4 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn since December 2004.
The Heilbronn Stadtbahn is a three line tram-train system in city of Heilbronn in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is based on the Karlsruhe model and operated jointly by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), the Stadtwerke Heilbronn (SWH) and Deutsche Bahn (DB). It operates on normal railways under the Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsordnung and within Heilbronn under the Verordnung über den Bau und Betrieb der Straßenbahnen.
