The Donnersberg Railway (german: Donnersbergbahn) is a

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

from

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhein ...

Kirchheimbolanden Kirchheimbolanden (), the capital of Donnersbergkreis, is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany. It is situated approximately 25 km west of Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. The first part of the name, ''Kir ...

, which originally ran as far as

Marnheim Marnheim is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe aft ...

. Although it was once part of the

main line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

from

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, the

Pfrimm Viaduct The Pfrimm Viaduct (german: Pfrimmtalviadukt), colloquially also called the Marnheim Bridge (''Marnheimer Brücke''), was a railway bridge near Marnheim in the county of Donnersbergkreis in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was built ...

was blown up in 1945 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

between Kirchheimbolanden and Marnheim, disrupting the route. Plans to reinstate the main line with a new route came to nothing. Passenger services ceased on the remaining section of line in 1951, but were reactivated in 1999.

Literature

References

External links

RP-Eisenbahn, operator of the Donnersberg Railway
{{coord missing, Rhineland-Palatinate Standard gauge railways in Germany Railway lines in Rhineland-Palatinate Rhenish Hesse Palatinate (region) Donnersbergkreis North Palatinate