Merseburg–Halle-Nietleben railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Line number |
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Locale | Saxony-Anhalt, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Route number | 588 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 catenary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operating speed | 100 km/h (62.1 mph) (maximum) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maximum incline | 2.0% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Merseburg–Halle-Nietleben railway is an about 19 kilometre-long electrified branch line in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. A second track exists between Merseburg and Merseburg-Elisabethhöhe and between Halle-Zscherbener Straße and Halle-Nietleben. Part of the current route was built in 1967 with a significant realignment of the Zwiebelbahn on the (Merseburg–) Bad Lauchstädt–Angersdorf route.
The Bad Lauchstädt–Benkendorf–Angersdorf line, which branched from the Merseburg–Schafstädt railway and was opened in 1896, was mostly used for local freight transport. In 1944/45, it was used as a diversion route when railways and bridges over the Saale in the Merseburg area were damaged in the war, but it subsequently lost its already limited passenger traffic.
During the implementation of the 1958 chemical program of the GDR, on the one hand chemical sites at the Buna Works and Leuna Works were massively expanded and, on the other hand, the planned dormitory suburb of Chemiearbeiterstadt Halle-West (later Halle-Neustadt) was completely redeveloped from 1964. Construction of a new rail link between the new residential and workplaces began on 2 January 1966. The continuous Bad Lauchstädt–Angersdorf railway was replaced by the new link, which was opened on 24 April 1967. The new Buna-Werke station had already been served two days earlier by some trains on the Merseburg–Schafstädt railway.
Passenger services ran on the new line from Weißenfels via Großkorbetha, Leuna-Werke, Merseburg, Buna-Werke and Halle-Neustadt to Halle-Nietleben. Commuter trains for chemical workers (known as Pelzerzügen, literally "fur worker trains") were operated each day in the 1980s to carry about 9,600 workers between Halle-Neustadt and the Buna works. Each train carried up to 1,200 passengers. The trains were each made up of three articulated sets of four double-deck carriages. The length of the platforms was adapted to the length of the train.
Similar trains were also operated on the Halle–Merseburg–Leuna-Werke–Weißenfels route on the Thuringian Railway. The two services were both listed in table 601 of the timetable until 1992.
Operations at the Buna Works changed after the Wende in 1989/90. With the takeover by Dow Chemical, modern production facilities were built, old ones were shut down and demolished. Due to the associated substantial reduction in employment, passenger numbers on the line also fell significantly. Services on the Merseburg–Schafstädt railway were numbered 588 in the timetable issued in 1992.
In the end, trains only consisted of a class 143 electric locomotive and a double-deck driving trailer. They were used only for commuter traffic from Monday to Friday in the morning and the afternoon. The journey time for the six train pairs a day between Merseburg and Halle-Nietleben was 22 minutes. Passenger services were abandoned at the timetable change on 9 December 2007, but the last trains had run two days earlier.
The section from Holleben (near the junction with the Halle–Hann. Münden railway) until shortly before the S-Bahn halt of Halle Zscherbener Straße, on which only a few freight trains operated in 2010 (carrying bulk material for track maintenance to Nietleben station, where it was stored), was closed in 2011. [2] The Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt) approved DB Netz’s application to close the line with effect from 31 August 2011. [3]
The stations of Halle-Nietleben, Halle-Neustadt and Halle Zscherbener Straße are served by line S7 of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland.
In freight transport, the line remains important for connecting the Buna Works.
Schkopau is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Dresden Hauptbahnhof is the largest passenger station in the Saxon capital of Dresden. In 1898, it replaced the Böhmischen Bahnhof of the former Saxon-Bohemian State Railway, and was designed with its formal layout as the central station of the city. The combination of a station building on an island between the tracks and a terminal station on two different levels is unique. The building is notable for its train-sheds, which are roofed with Teflon-coated glass fibre membranes. This translucent roof design, installed during the comprehensive restoration of the station at the beginning of the 21st century, allows more daylight to reach the concourses than was previously possible.
The Dresden S-Bahn is a network of S-Bahn-type commuter train services in Dresden and the surrounding area. It is commissioned by Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO) from DB Regio Verkehrsbetrieb Südostsachsen and currently consists of three services operating over a 127.7 km-long (79.3 mi) network.
Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the city of Halle (Saale) in southern part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The station is situated east of the city centre and is a category 2 station.
The Děčín–Dresden railway, also called the Elbe Valley Railway is an electrified main line in Saxony and the Czech Republic. Formerly called the Saxon-Bohemian State Railway, the line is part of the Dresden to Prague route and is one of Europe's most important trunk routes (Magistralen). It runs along the Elbe Valley from Děčín via Bad Schandau and Pirna to Dresden. The first section of the line was opened in 1848 and is one of the oldest lines in Germany.
The Eisenach–Lichtenfels railway is a single-tracked main line with a standard gauge of 1,435 mm in Thuringia and Bavaria in southern and central Germany, that runs mostly along the river Werra. It runs from Eisenach via Meiningen to Eisfeld and, formerly, continued to Coburg and Lichtenfels. It was opened in 1858 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany. The railway company that built it, the Werra Eisenbahngesellschaft with its headquarters in Meiningen was also often called the Werrabahn. The company also ran various lines branching off the Werra Railway.
Halle-Neustadt, popularly known as HaNeu, was a city in the German Democratic Republic. It was established as a new town on 12 May 1967, as an independent and autonomous city. The population in 1972 was 51,600 and in 1981 was more than 93,000. On 6 May 1990, Halle-Neustadt merged back into Halle again. The population has halved since then and was about 45,157 inhabitants on 31 December 2010. Halle Neustadt has been praised for being "sustainable" as a result of its urban planning, which includes high density living, a tram line serving the central corridor and the regional suburban rail system (S-Bahn).
The Halle–Bebra railway, known in German as the Thüringer Bahn, is a 210 kilometre-long railway line from Halle (Saale) via Erfurt and Gerstungen to Bebra, mainly in Thuringia. As far as Gerstungen the line originally belonged to the Thuringian Railway Company. From Gerstungen to Bebra, it was owned by the Frederick William Northern Railway (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn), named after the Prussian king, Frederick William IV. It is now a two-track, electrified, standard gauge mainline operated by DB Netze. It was opened between 1846 and 1849 and was the first railway line in Thuringia. All types of trains from Regionalbahn to ICE currently run on the line except Interregio-Express. Four of the six largest cities in Thuringia are located on the line.
The Middle German Chemical Triangle is the industrial conurbation around the cities and towns of Halle (Saale), Merseburg and Bitterfeld in the North German state of Saxony-Anhalt and Leipzig and Schkeuditz in the Free State of Saxony. Its name is derived from the dominant industries of the region – the chemical and oil refining industries.
Teltow station is located in the town of Teltow on the Anhalt Railway south of Berlin and was opened in 1901. Since then, the station has been repeatedly remodelled. The station served regional passenger and freight traffic and was the terminus of a Berlin S-Bahn service from 1950 to 1961. The direct connection to Berlin was lost with the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. It was restored in 2006.
S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland represents an enlargement of the previous Leipzig-Halle S-Bahn. It is an electric rail public transit system operating in the metropolitan area of Leipzig-Halle, Germany. This S-Bahn network developed from two separate S-Bahn networks of Halle (Saale) and Leipzig, which were established separately in 1969 and then linked in 2004. With the opening of the Leipzig City Tunnel on 15 December 2013 as a new artery, the network was extended for the first time to the federal states of Thuringia and Brandenburg. With a system length of 802 km (498 mi), it is the largest S-Bahn network in Germany, displacing the long-time title holder Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn from that position. The locomotive-hauled double-decker trains partly dating back to the DDR-era have been largely replaced by electric multiple unit Bombardier Talent 2 trains, but some older trains are still used during rush hour.
The Osnabrück–Brackwede railway, also the called the Haller Willem, is a single-track branch line running through the Teutoburg Forest from Osnabrück via Dissen-Bad Rothenfelde and Halle (Westf) to Brackwede in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The line is known for its steep climb to the Teutoburg Forest, where a tunnel was omitted for cost reasons. The railway was built in 1886 in response to demands for a line from Osnabrück to Bielefeld. In 1984, the section from Osnabrück to Dissen-Bad Rothenfelde was closed for passenger traffic, freight traffic continued until 1991. After numerous protests this section of track was reactivated in 2005. The entire line is owned by Deutsche Bahn, but the section from Dissen-Bad Rothenfelde to Osnabrück has been leased to the Verkehrsgesellschaft Landkreis Osnabrück. The Brackwede–Dissen section is part of Deutsche Bahn’s Münster-Ostwestfalen regional network (MOW).
Eilenburg station is one of two railway stations in the district town of Eilenburg in the German state of Saxony. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 4 station. The station is located on the southeastern edge of the town.
Bad Harzburg railway station serves the spa town of Bad Harzburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the southern terminus of the Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway, one of the oldest lines in Germany, and the eastern terminus of a branch line to nearby Oker station. Regional rail services are operated by Deutsche Bahn AG and Erixx GmbH.
The Schöna / Bad Schandau / Pirna–Meißen railway is a two-track, electrified mainline railway in the German state of Saxony, predominantly served by the Dresden S-Bahn. It runs parallel to the pre-existing tracks of the Děčín–Dresden and Dresden–Leipzig railways. The section between Pirna and Dresden-Neustadt has been operated since 2004, afterwards the further sections from Dresden-Neustadt to Coswig have been upgraded. The Radebeul Ost–Coswig section was completed in 2013 and the section from Dresden-Neustadt to Radebeul Ost was completed in March 2016.
Buna Werke Schkopau were a chemical company specialising in the production of polymer materials such as plastics and artificial rubber. The name BUNA is derived from the technology of polymerising butadiene with sodium as a catalyst.
The Leuna works in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, is one of the biggest chemical industrial complexes in Germany. The site, now owned jointly by companies such as TotalEnergies, BASF, Linde plc, and DOMO Group, covers 13 km2 and produces a very wide range of chemicals and plastics.
Landstuhl station is a station in the town of Landstuhl in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Deutsche Bahn classifies it as belonging to station category 3 and has three platforms tracks. The station is located in the network of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (VRN) and belongs to fare zone 844.
Merseburg Hauptbahnhof is the main station of the town of Merseburg in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is located on the Halle–Bebra railway and Deutsche Bahn assigns it to category 4. Merseburg is located in the tariff area of the Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund.
Weißenfels station is the station of Weißenfels in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It lies at the junction of the Halle–Bebra and the Weißenfels–Zeitz railways.