The Sommerbergbahn is a funicular railway in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It runs from Bad Wildbad to the top of the Wildbader Sommerberg, which gives good views over the town, with one intermediate stop. [1]
A funicular is one of the modes of transportation which uses a cable traction for movement on steep inclined slopes.
Baden-Württemberg is a state in southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the border with France. It is Germany’s third-largest state, with an area of 35,751 km2 (13,804 sq mi) and 11 million inhabitants. Baden-Württemberg is a parliamentary republic and partly sovereign, federated state which was formed in 1952 by a merger of the states of Württemberg-Baden, Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern. The largest city in Baden-Württemberg is the state capital of Stuttgart, followed by Karlsruhe and Mannheim. Other cities are Freiburg im Breisgau, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Pforzheim, Reutlingen and Ulm.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.
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The Sommerbergbahn opened in 1908 and was modernised in 1928 and again in 1968. In 2004 extensive work was undertaken to bring it into line with modern safety requirements. The line was closed in late 2010 for major upgrade works, with one of the cars being lifted from the line in February 2011. The line is due to open again in late Summer 2011. [2]
The Sommerbergbahn has the following technical parameters: [3]
- Length: 756 metres (2,480 ft)
- Height: 324 metres (1,063 ft)
- Maximum Steepness: 53%
- Configuration: single track with passing loop
- Cars: 2
- Capacity: 100 passengers per car
- Journey time: 3.5 minutes
- Track gauge: 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
- Traction: Electricity
The grade of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a special case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance.
A passing loop or passing siding is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at a station, where trains or trams travelling in opposite directions can pass each other. Trains/trams going in the same direction can also overtake, provided that the signalling arrangement allows it. A passing loop is double-ended and connected to the main track at both ends, though a dead end siding known as a refuge siding, which is much less convenient, can be used. A similar arrangement is used on the gauntlet track of cable railways and funiculars, and in passing places on single-track roads.
In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails.
Since 2002, the lower station of the Sommerbegbahn has been served by a stop on the tramway extension of line S6 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, which connects Bad Wildbad to Pforzheim via the Enztalbahn . [1]
A tram is a rail vehicle which runs on tramway tracks along public urban streets; some include segments of segregated right-of-way. The lines or networks operated by tramcars are called tramways. Historically the term electric street railways was also used in the United States. In the United States, the term tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tyred trackless trains, which are not related to the other vehicles covered in this article.
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/light railways and heavy railways. 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.
Pforzheim is a city of over 120,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt". With an area of 97.8 km2 (38 sq mi), it is situated between the cities of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe at the confluence of three rivers. It marks the frontier between Baden and Württemberg, being located on Baden territory. From 1535 to 1565, it was the home to the Margraves of Baden-Pforzheim.
