![Tübingen Westbahnhof](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/T%C3%BCbingen_Westbahnhof.JPG)
The Ammer Valley Railway (''Ammertalbahn'') runs through the German state of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, connecting the university town of
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...
with
Herrenberg
Herrenberg (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Härrabärg'' or ''Haerebärg'') is a town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, about 30 km
south of Stuttgart and 20 km from Tübingen. After Sindelfingen, Böblingen, and Leonberg, it is the four ...
in the
Böblingen district. It mostly runs through the valley of the
Ammer river. The single-track, non-electrified, non-federally-owned railway is now owned by the ''Zweckverband ÖPNV im Ammertal (ZÖA)'', with operations carried out by
DB Regio
DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and there part of the DB Regio bus ...
AG. In addition, individual services are operated by the
Hohenzollerische Landesbahn
The Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL) is the largest non-federally owned railway company in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft and Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft. It has operates passenger ...
(HzL), acting as a subcontractor for DB Regio.
History
The Herrenberg–Pfäffingen section was opened on 12 August 1909, while the Pfäffingen–Tübingen section was delayed to 1 May 1910, partly because the construction of the Schlossberg tunnel had not been completed. The swampy ground in the Ammer valley also had to be treated, with 13 metre long oak logs being driven into the ground to stabilise the track. Not least, a citizens' initiative had opposed the approach advocated by Tübingen mayor Hermann Haußer for the rail project. Scholars and artists saw their popular promenades along the streets endangered by the railway line. The dispute was known as the ''Tübinger Alleenstreit'' ("Tübingen allee dispute"). The ''Schwäbische Heimatbund'' ("Swabian homeland association") was founded in 1909 during this dispute. Its goal at the time was to prevent industrialisation destroying any more of the old than was really necessary.
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...
discontinued passenger services between
Entringen
Entringen is a part and the administrative seat of the municipality Ammerbuch in the district of Tübingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
Geography
Entringen is on the western edge of the Schönbuch in 360 to 545 meters height. T ...
and Herrenberg on 25 September 1966. The Entringen–Gültstein section continued to be operated for freight traffic until 31 January 1998, while the Gültstein–Herrenberg section was abandoned and eventually dismantled in 1973. The section, however, was never legally shut down and it did not pass out of rail ownership.
On 26 July 1995, the ''Zweckverband ÖPNV im Ammertal'' ("municipal association for public transport in the Ammer valley", ZÖA) was established and bought the line from
Deutsche Bahn
The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder.
describes itself as the se ...
in 1996. The 4.1 km-long section between Gültstein and Herrenberg was rebuilt enabling the line to be reactivated for passenger services over its full length on 1 August 1999. The single-track, non-electrified line was completely modernised and prepared for operations at up to 100 km/h. The stations of
Tübingen West, Pfäffingen and Entringen are crossing stations with two platform tracks. Entringen is the station where services are scheduled to cross. In
Herrenberg
Herrenberg (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Härrabärg'' or ''Haerebärg'') is a town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, about 30 km
south of Stuttgart and 20 km from Tübingen. After Sindelfingen, Böblingen, and Leonberg, it is the four ...
, the trains operate exclusively from platform 102, in Tübingen they operate from platforms 1, 2 or 13. The line is operated using
direct traffic control
Direct traffic control (DTC) is a system for authorizing track occupancy used on some railroads instead of or in addition to signals. It is known as "direct" traffic control because the train dispatcher gives track authority directly to the train ...
(''Zugleitbetrieb'') with the train dispatcher located in the Tübingen signalbox.
When the line was recommissioned, 700 passengers per day were expected.
On average more than 7,000 passengers per day used the line in 2008. In 2013, more than 8,000 passengers per day were counted.
Operations
Services on the Ammer Valley Railway are operated with
Regio-Shuttle
The Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 is the first widely used, new-generation, diesel railcar in Germany and Czech Republic for local railway services. Its most characteristic feature is the trapezium-shaped window frames. The Regio-Shuttle is classified ...
(class 650.0, 650.1 and 650.3)
DMUs by ''DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee'', a subsidiary of
DB Regio AG
DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and there part of the DB Regio b ...
. Individual services are also operated each day by
Hohenzollerische Landesbahn
The Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL) is the largest non-federally owned railway company in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft and Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft. It has operates passenger ...
. Services run every half hour from Monday to Friday and hourly on weekends. Additional trains run between Tübingen and
Entringen
Entringen is a part and the administrative seat of the municipality Ammerbuch in the district of Tübingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
Geography
Entringen is on the western edge of the Schönbuch in 360 to 545 meters height. T ...
instead of school buses.
Uerdingen railbus
The Uerdingen railbus (German: ''Uerdinger Schienenbus'') is the common term for the multiple units which were developed by the German firm of Waggonfabrik Uerdingen for the Deutsche Bundesbahn and private railways after the Second World War. Th ...
es (class 796 or 996) were used on the line until 21 May 1999.
While the trains on the western part of the line always terminate in Herrenberg, services continue from Tübingen every hour to
Wendlingen
Wendlingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated on the Neckar and Lauter rivers, 27 km southeast of Stuttgart.
The town grew in size, officially, on 1 April 1940, when three separ ...
and from there every two hours to
Plochingen
Plochingen ( Swabian: ''Blocheng'' or ''Blochenga'') is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It lies on the river Neckar, on which it has a river port. With about 14,000 inhabitants, it is part of the Stutt ...
. Furthermore, on weekdays there are eight direct services from Herrenberg via the
Erms Valley Railway to
Bad Urach
Bad Urach () is a town in the Reutlingen (district), district of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 14 km east of Reutlingen, at the foot of the Swabian Jura, Swabian ''Alb'' (or Swabian Alps in English), and is known for ...
.
There are no freight operations on the line any more.
The owner of the line is the ''Zweckverband ÖPNV im Ammertal'', which is owned by the Böblingen district (20%) and
Tübingen district (80%).
Planning
For several years, there have been considerations due to increased ridership of establishing a
tram-train
A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that meets the standards of a light rail system (usually an urban street running tramway), but which also meets national mainline standards permitting operation alongside mainline trains. This all ...
network called the
Regionalstadtbahn Neckar-Alb, which would include the Ammer Valley Railway.
In March 2016, the planning approval procedure was initiated for the electrification of the line between Tübingen and Herrenberg and the upgrading of two sections. The track in
Unterjesingen
Unterjesingen is a village in the centre of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the Tübingen district. Since 1971, it is a part of the city of Tübingen.
Unterjesingen lies in the valley of the small Ammer river, about 2 km to the east of Pf ...
would be doubled with a new track to the south of the existing track. The doubled section would start west of the Ammer bridges and terminate before Unterjesingen Mitte station. At Unterjesingen Sandäcker station a second 110-metre-long outdoor platform would be built on the new track. The track would also be doubled from the western end of the platform in Entringen to just past the Hartwald bridge; the second track would also be located on the south side of the existing line.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ammer Valley Railway
Railway lines in Baden-Württemberg
Railway lines opened in 1909
1909 establishments in Germany
Böblingen (district)
Tübingen (district)