The Kassel-based Kurhessenbahn (KHB) is the first of six regional networks to be created by Deutsche Bahn AG as part of its middle class offensive. It forms a unit that is formally split into DB RegioNetz Verkehrs GmbH and DB RegioNetz Infrastruktur GmbH in order to comply with the legal requirements after separation of network and operations.
The aim is to maintain low capacity utilisation by changing the organisational structure and local activities in the long term.
The Kurhessenbahn has a total of 65 stations (50 of its own) on a 275-kilometre network of five lines. 25 diesel railcars travel 2.5 million train kilometers (140 trains per day) and carry 6,500 passengers per day. This service is provided by 208 employees. [1] The Kurhessenbahn also has a DB Class 218 diesel locomotive for freight and special transports. [2] This is mainly used in timber traffic, which originates from the Breidenstein loading station at the Scheldetalbahn, which was established in 2007.
The company was launched on 7 December 2000 as the first regional network [3] and founded in early September 2002 as DB RegioNetz Verkehrs GmbH / Infrastruktur GmbH Kurhessenbahn. [4] The Kurhessenbahn has leased several branch lines in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia from DB Netz AG for a period of twenty years from 1 January 2002. [5] At the same time, a long-term transport contract was concluded with the responsible authorities. This included the operation of the local transport lines Brilon Wald-Korbach, Kassel-Korbach, Marburg-Frankenberg and Marburg-Erndtebrück. A special feature was the Wabern-Bad Wildungen line, which was operated by the Hessische Landesbahn between 1998 and 2008 and therefore could not fulfil the synergy effects between network and operation, which was highlighted by those responsible.
At the end of 2003, the Willingen-Korbach section of the line, which was closed for four years due to dilapidated viaducts, was put back into operation. At the same time, the line was comprehensively rehabilitated and the top speed increased, reducing the travel time between Korbach and Brilon Wald by 13 minutes. [6] In 2006, the Kassel-Korbach line was closed for several months and rehabilitated and upgraded for the operation of the Kassel RegioTram. From December 2006, the regional railway in the Kassel-Wolfhagen section was replaced by the Kassel RegioTram RT4 line with two-power railcars, whereby a second external transport company operates local transport services on the Kurhessenbahn network. Since then, the Kurhessenbahn has only operated the regional express trains between Kassel and Korbach.
At the same time, free-cutting work began in 2005 in the Frankenberg-Herzhausen section to reactivate the section of line. With the financial support of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, excursion traffic was introduced every two hours on Sundays and public holidays in the Herzhausen-Frankenberg-Battenberg (Eder) section from 2005. This traffic should be a precursor to the planned closure of the gap between Korbach and Frankenberg. However, an expert opinion in 2007 showed that closing the gap in the form planned at that time did not make economic sense. The Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund (NVV) then made use of its right of withdrawal in the implementation contract and the Waldeck-Frankenberg district cancelled its financial participation in the excursion traffic, to which it was suspended. At this time, plans envisaged investments of 43 million euros to close the gap and accelerate the Cölbe-Korbach route. Subsequently, a slimmed-down variant was developed, which provides for only one two-hour cycle instead of one hour and no more acceleration measures. An economic benefit could be determined for this variant. [7]
In a tender procedure of the Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund (NVV) the Kurhessenbahn was able to secure the operation of the line (Kassel -)Wabern-Bad Wildungen (17 km). The line was taken over by Hessische Landesbahn, which had previously operated the line for ten years, with the 2008/2009 timetable change in December 2008.
In 2010, work began on the rehabilitation of the Marburg-Frankenberg section. The stops and the route infrastructure were modernized and the signalling was converted to an ESTW.
After years of political debate, it was finally decided in September 2012 that the entire Frankenberg (Eder)-Korbach route would again be served by passenger services from December 2014. The reopening was officially celebrated on 14 September 2015 with a track festival with historical and modern vehicles. [8] Since then, traffic has been offered every 2 hours. In addition, continuous connections from Brilon Stadt or Bestwig to Marburg are again offered.
With the timetable change 2015/2016 in December 2015, a new timetable concept was introduced on the Main–Weser Railway in the Kassel-Treysa section, which extended most journeys on the Wabern-Bad Wildungen line to Kassel and ordered additional journeys to Treysa from the Kurhessenbahn during peak traffic hours.
In March 2016, the Kurhessenbahn won the tender for the Northwest Hesse diesel network and will thus operate its existing network for another 15 years from December 2017. The operation will be completely converted to used Stadler GTW (number: 13) and Siemens Desiro (number: 14) low-floor multiple units. [9] As part of the new transport contract, vehicle maintenance is transferred to Korbach, where the foundation stone for the new workshop was laid on 29 September 2017. [10]
Kurhessenbahn baptized the following vehicles to communities and towns: [11]
Korbach, officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach, is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located on the German Timber-Frame Road. In 2018, the town has hosted the 58th Hessentag state festival.
Willingen is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany, some 80 km west of Kassel.
Bad Wildungen, officially the City of Bad Wildungen, is a state-run spa and a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.
The DB Class 628 is a twin-car, diesel multiple unit operated by the Deutsche Bahn for local passenger rail services.
The Main–Weser Railway is a railway line in central Germany that runs from Frankfurt am Main via Gießen to Kassel. it is named after the railway company that built the line and also operated it until 1880. It was opened between 1849 and 1852 and was one of the first railways in Germany.
Kassel Hauptbahnhof is a Deutsche Bahn railway station in the city of Kassel, in the German state of Hesse. Situated in the central borough of Mitte, it is the city's second important railway station after the opening of Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe in 1991; and so it is the only Hauptbahnhof that is not the main station of its city.
The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway is a 138-kilometre-long, non-electrified line from Schwerte (Ruhr) station) through the Hochsauerland to Warburg in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the most southerly of the east-west lines that run from the Ruhr to eastern Germany and it connects the rural Hochsauerlandkreis with the Ruhr. The line is included in the German railway timetable as line 435, which continues on the line from Schwerte to Hagen, which is part of the Hagen–Hamm railway.
Cölbe station is a junction station on the Main-Weser Railway in the town of Cölbe in the German state of Hesse. Here the Upper Lahn Valley Railway to Erndtebrück via Biedenkopf and Bad Laasphe and the Burgwald Railway to Frankenberg (Eder) via Wetter and Münchhausen branch off the main line. It has four platform tracks and a passing loop. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as a category 5 station. The Baroque Revival station is heritage-listed under the Hessian Heritage Act.
The Sauerland-Express is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, running from Hagen to Warburg (Westf). A few services run to or from Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe. It is managed by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe, the Nahverkehrsverbund Paderborn-Höxter and the Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund. It is operated by DB Regio NRW with electric multiple units of classes 612 and 644.
The Sauerland Net is a group of railway services in the western Sauerland and the eastern Ruhr of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and consists of three Regionalbahn services, RB 52 (Dortmund–Hagen–Lüdenscheid), RB 53 (Dortmund–Schwerte–Iserlohn) and RB 54 (Unna–Fröndenberg–Menden–Neuenrade), and the Regional-Express service RE 57. The RB 52 also carries the brand name of the Volmetal-Bahn, the RB 53 is called the Ardey-Bahn, the RB 54 is called the Hönnetal-Bahn and the RE 57 is called the Dortmund Sauerland-Express. In December 2004, DB Regio NRW took over or retained operations of these services. Previously the RB 53, RB 54 and RE 57 had been operated by DB Regio NRW and RB 52 had been operated by the Dortmund-Märkische Eisenbahn (DME).
The Alme Valley Railway was an approximately 60 km long, mostly single-track branch line from Paderborn via Buren to Brilon in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is named after the Alme river and runs through its valley in a north–south direction. The line is disused and dismantled between Paderborn and Büren-Weiberg, but it has not been formally closed. The remaining line between Büren-Weiberg and Brilon Wald (forest) was for a long time only used for freight and museum trains, but the section between Brilon Stadt (town) and Brilon Wald has been back in use by regional services since 2011.
Brilon Stadt (town) station is one of four passenger stations that are still in service in the town of Brilon in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located near the centre of Brilon. The former goods shed of the station is a listed building.
The Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund (NVV) is a transport association that organises the cooperation of more than 40 North Hessian transport companies, such as supra-regional public transport and regional rail passenger transport. The Verkehrsverbund und Fördergesellschaft Nordhessen mbH is responsible for this.
Hanseatische Eisenbahn GmbH (HANS) is a rail transport company that emerged in 2014 from the passenger transport division of Eisenbahngesellschaft Potsdam (EGP). Both companies belong to ENON GmbH, which is based in Putlitz in the northwest of Brandenburg, Germany.
Süd-Thüringen-Bahn GmbH (STB) is a public, non-state-owned railway company founded on 10 December 1999. The shareholders are Erfurter Bahn GmbH (EB) and Hessische Landesbahn GmbH (HLB), each with a 50 percent stake. The company is based at Erfurter Bahn in Erfurt, Thuringia. The operating location and operational management are located in Meiningen, Thuringia.
The Kreuztal–Cölbe railway is a 88-kilometre-long main line in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It branches off the Ruhr–Sieg railway at Kreuztal and runs via Erndtebrück, Bad Laasphe and Biedenkopf to Cölbe. Operationally, the line is now divided into two parts. The Kreuztal–Erndtebrück section is operated together with the Erndtebrück–Bad Berleburg railway as the Rothaar-Bahn and the subsequent section to Cölbe, now operated by the Kurhessenbahn, is called the Obere Lahntalbahn. Trains at the eastern end of the line run to/from Marburg (Lahn).
The Warburg–Sarnau railway is a 100.9 kilometre-long, single-track, partially disused secondary railway line in North Rhine-Westphalia and North Hesse. The middle section, Korbach–Frankenberg, is called the Untere Edertalbahn or the Nationalparkbahn and the southern section, Frankenberg–Sarnau(–Marburg), is called the Burgwaldbahn.
The Wabern–Brilon Wald railway is a 86.7 kilometre-long, single-track, partially disused secondary railway line from Wabern in North Hesse to Brilon-Wald in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Volkmarsen–Vellmar-Obervellmar railway runs from Volkmarsen via Wolfhagen and Zierenberg to Vellmar-Obervellmar, where it meets the Kassel–Warburg railway. It begins in Volkmarsen, where it branches off the Warburg–Sarnau railway. The whole line and almost all the railway buildings next to the line are under heritage protection.
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