The Franconia Railway (german: Frankenbahn) is a railway line in the north of 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 ...
and the
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n province of
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia.
History
After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally r ...
that links
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
and
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg is ...
. Its name comes from the fact that the majority of the line runs through
Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch'').
The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...
. The first section of the line was opened in 1848 and is one of the
oldest lines in Germany. 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 ...
is now electrified and has been almost entirely upgraded to double-tracks.
Name
The name ''Frankenbahn'' is not a historical term for the Stuttgart–Würzburg line, but was adopted in 1996 following the regionalisation of operations.
Other historical names for different sections of the line included the
Central Railway (''Centralbahn''), the first railway in Württemberg, running from
Esslingen to Stuttgart and
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is ...
. The part of this route east of Stuttgart is now considered to be part of the
Fils Valley Railway
The Fils Valley Railway (german: Filstalbahn, historically ''Filsbahn'' or ''Württembergische Ostbahn''—Württemberg Eastern Railway) designates the Württemberg line from Stuttgart via Göppingen to Ulm. It runs from Plochingen to Geisling ...
(''Filstalbahn''). It was later called the Northern Railway (''Nordbahn''), when it was extended to
Heilbronn
Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.
From the late Mid ...
. The central section from
Bad Friedrichshall
Bad Friedrichshall () is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated at the confluences of the Jagst and of the Kocher into the Neckar, some north of Heilbronn. Bad Friedrichshall arose by the ...
to
Osterburken
Osterburken () is a town in the Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 28 km southwest of Tauberbischofsheim, 50 km northeast of Heilbronn, 90 km east of Heidelberg, 60 km southwest of Würzb ...
was called the ''Lower Jagst Railway'' (''Untere Jagstbahn'') or the ''East Fork Railway'' (''Östliche Gabelbahn''). The section between Osterburken and Würzburg was originally part of the ''
Odenwald Railway'' (''Odenwaldbahn''), between
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
and Würzburg, built between 1862 and 1866.
Route
The line follows the course of many different rivers. The course of the
Neckar
The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis near Schwenn ...
with its many loops complicates the route of the southern section. A direct route between
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
and
Heilbronn
Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.
From the late Mid ...
stations would be about 40 km, the length of the railway line is about 50 km, while a continuous line along the Neckar river would have a length of about 70 km.
The line leaves central Stuttgart through a tunnel under the Prag ridge. On the outskirts of Stuttgart, the route continues to gain height as it crosses the plateau west of the Neckar, reaching its high point at
Kornwestheim
Kornwestheim ( Swabian: ) is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about north of Stuttgart, and south of Ludwigsburg.
History
Origins and Development
Kornwestheim can look back at a history of ...
. Passing the Hohenasperg fortress the line approaches the
Enz
The Enz is a river flowing north from the Black Forest to the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg.
It is 106 km long.
Its headstreams – the Little Enz (german: Kleine Enz) and the Great Enz or Big Enz (''Große Enz'') – rise in the Northern B ...
valley, which is reached in
Bietigheim
Bietigheim is a village in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Southwestern Germany. It is located east of the Rhine river and thus the border to France, west of the Black Forest (more precisely the Northern Black Forest), south of ...
. The line here separated from the
Western Railway, which crosses the
Bietigheim viaduct, which is about 33 metres high, while the Franconian line continues along the Enz to Besigheim, where it is close to the level of the river. After the nearby confluence of the Neckar and Enz, the line runs to
Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld through a very
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...
ing valley, with only one loop at
Neckarwestheim
Neckarwestheim is a municipality with 3524 inhabitants in the Heilbronn district, Baden-Württemberg, in south-west Germany. It is located on the Neckar river and is well known as the location of a nuclear power station, the Neckarwestheim Nucle ...
shortened by the
Kirchheim Tunnel.
The line runs through
Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch'').
The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...
towards the north-east, continuing along the winding
Jagst
The Jagst () is a right tributary of the Neckar in northern Baden-Württemberg. It is 190 km long. Its source is in the hills east of Ellwangen, close to the Bavarian border. It winds through the towns Ellwangen, Crailsheim, Kirchberg an der ...
valley to Möckmühl, from where it continues along the Seckach river to
Adelsheim
Adelsheim (; South Franconian: ''Alleze'') is a small village in northern Baden-Württemberg, about 30 km north of Heilbronn. The state-recognized resort of Adelsheim in the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis looks back on a 1,200-year heritage.
Geogr ...
through an area of
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
landscape known as the
Bauland
The Bauland is a Gäu landscape in the northeast of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is a natural region within the Neckar and Tauber Gäu Plateaus (major unit 12) in the South German Scarplands.
Location
The Bauland is a Gäu la ...
. The line continues along the Kirnau river through
Osterburken
Osterburken () is a town in the Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 28 km southwest of Tauberbischofsheim, 50 km northeast of Heilbronn, 90 km east of Heidelberg, 60 km southwest of Würzb ...
to its highest point at 333 metres above sea level at Eubigheim station before passing through the Eubigheim tunnel under the watershed between the Neckar and the Main
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
s. As far as
Königshofen the line runs along the valley of the Umpfer, which flows into the Tauber in Königshofen. The line continues along the river, sharing its tracks with the
Tauber Valley Railway
The Tauber Valley Railway (German: ''Taubertalbahn'') is a single-tracked, unelectrified, standard gauge railway between Wertheim am Main, Wertheim and Crailsheim in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It runs alongside the Taube ...
as far as
Lauda.
While the Tauber Valley Railway continues down the valley, the Franconian line crosses the river and follows the Grünbach and the Wittigbach streams, passing through the
Wittighausen tunnel to shorten the route along the Wittigbach stream. The line passes through Gaubüttelbrunn station, which is still in Baden-Wuerttemberg, although the actual village of Gaubüttelbrunn is across the border in Bavaria. From Geroldshausen the line descends to Würzburg-Heidingsfeld on the
Main
Main may refer to:
Geography
* Main River (disambiguation)
**Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries
...
river, where it joins the
Treuchtlingen-Würzburg line and then crosses the river and continues to
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg is ...
.
History
The Franconian line was historically formed mainly from three different lines. The section between Stuttgart and Heilbronn was part of the ''Württemberg Central Railway'' or ''Northern Railway'', which was built by the
Royal Württemberg State Railways
The Royal Württemberg State Railways (''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.W.St.E.'') were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg (from 1918 the ''People's State of Württemberg'') between 1843 and 1920. Please ...
between 1844 and 1848. The section from Bad Cannstatt (near Stuttgart) to
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is ...
was opened on 22 October 1845 and it was extended to
Bietigheim
Bietigheim is a village in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Southwestern Germany. It is located east of the Rhine river and thus the border to France, west of the Black Forest (more precisely the Northern Black Forest), south of ...
on 11 October 1847. The first section of the current Franconia Railway opened from Bietigheim to Heilbronn on 25 July 1848. The
Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway
The Grand Duchy of Baden was an independent state in what is now southwestern Germany until the creation of the German Empire in 1871. It had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways (''Großherzoglich Badische ...
built its
Odenwald Railway (''Odenwaldbahn'') between 1862 and 1866 from
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
via
Mosbach
Mosbach (; South Franconian: ''Mossbach'') is a town in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the seat of the Neckar-Odenwald district and has a population of approximately 25,000 distributed in six boroughs: Mosbach Town, Lohrbach, N ...
and Osterburken to Würzburg. As part of a treaty between
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...
and
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
, concluded in 1864, a link between the two lines was built, which was also referred to as the ''Lower Jagst Railway''. It was built by Württemberg from Heilbronn via Jagstfeld to Osterburken and opened between 1866 and 1869.
The importance of this line used to be much greater. In the period before 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 ...
it was served by several important trains between Stuttgart and Berlin, and after 1945, between Stuttgart and Hamburg, as it was the shortest route between both pairs of cities. For example, the line was served in 1934 by the following pairs of trains:
*D 11/12 Stuttgart–
Berlin Anhalt station
*D 13/14
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...
–Berlin Anhalt station, with coaches from
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
*D 15/16 Stuttgart–Berlin Anhalt station
After the Second World War, the line—along with many other important lines in Germany—was electrified. However, subsequently many of the line's stations—particularly between Osterburken and Lauda—were abandoned for lack of profitability. Since the line is very twisty, it does not allow high speeds, and it has lost its usefulness for long-distance transport completely. Thus the
InterRegio train "Rennsteig", which ran from Stuttgart to
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
, and the last remaining long-distance train on the Franconian line, was closed for the new timetable in 2001.
Operations
The whole line is currently served by
Regional-Express
In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at f ...
trains at two-hour intervals, which are supplemented by some additional services. On the Stuttgart–
Bietigheim-Bissingen
Bietigheim-Bissingen (locally: ''Biedge-Bissenge'') is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz and the river Metter, close to its conflu ...
section, it is integrated in the network of the
Stuttgart S-Bahn
The Stuttgart S-Bahn is a suburban railway system (S-Bahn) serving the Stuttgart Region, an urban agglomeration of around 2.7 million people, consisting of the city of Stuttgart and the adjacent districts of Esslingen, Böblingen, Ludwi ...
as line S5.
Regionalbahn trains run between Stuttgart and Mosbach-Neckarelz (via the
Neckar Valley Railway
The Neckar Valley Railway, or Neckar Valley Main Line (german: Neckartalbahn) is a railway line from Heidelberg via Eberbach and Mosbach to Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld in southwestern Germany. Today it is administered by the Verkehrsverbund Rhei ...
from Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld), as well as on the Heilbronn–Osterburken section. Between Lauda and Würzburg
class 628 diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
run at two-hour intervals, operated by WestFrankenBahn as Regionalbahn services.
Upgrading
The Franconian line is almost continuously built with double track; only a 3.7 km section in the bridge over the
Jagst
The Jagst () is a right tributary of the Neckar in northern Baden-Württemberg. It is 190 km long. Its source is in the hills east of Ellwangen, close to the Bavarian border. It winds through the towns Ellwangen, Crailsheim, Kirchberg an der ...
between Züttlingen and
Möckmühl
Möckmühl is a town in the district of Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Jagst, 22 km northeast of Heilbronn.
Local council
Elections in 2014:
* Free voters: 8 seats
* Citizen list/CDU: 6 seats
* G ...
is currently single track. Duplication of this section would make a better schedule possible and reduce delays. Implementation is estimated to cost €22.3 million and is currently the subject of a dispute between the state of Baden-Württemberg and
DB Netz
DB Netz AG is a major subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn that owns and operates a majority of the German railway system (2019: 33,291 km). It is one of the largest railway infrastructure manager by length and transport volume of its network.
The ...
, the operator of the rail infrastructure.
[http://www.lok-report.de/news/news_verkehr.html (Press statement of Baden-Württemberg Interior Ministry of 18 February 2006)]
In 1874, a
truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
was opened over the Enz and the
B 27 between Bietigheim-Bissingen and Besigheim.
As a result of its dilapidation, it could only be crossed at a low speed. Between 2004 and 2006 it was replaced by a new bridge built next to the old bridge consisting of a five-span prestressed concrete
box girder bridge
A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and reinf ...
and a steel truss
navigable aqueduct
Navigable aqueducts (sometimes called water bridges) are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-section of wa ...
. Due to geological instability, a section of the line towards Besigheim had to be reinforced with pile foundations that were more than 40 m deep. A prestressed concrete panel was built along the embankment to reduce noise emissions. In December 2005, the first northbound track connected to the new bridge, and it was completed in June 2006. The old structure was dismantled and scrapped and the immediate natural environment was restored. The cost for the new bridge amounted to around €17 million.
The line was electrified from the south in stages from 1959 to 1975.
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
Rail-and-Relax(Select ''Frankenbahn KBS 780'')
* Tunnel portals on the Franconia Railway
* 1944 timetable extract
S. 1S. 2S. 3S. 4
{{coord missing, Germany
Railway lines in Baden-Württemberg
Railway lines in Bavaria
Railway lines opened in 1848
1848 establishments in Germany
Transport in Stuttgart
Buildings and structures in Ludwigsburg (district)
Buildings and structures in Heilbronn (district)
Buildings and structures in Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis
Buildings and structures in Main-Tauber-Kreis
Buildings and structures in Würzburg (district)
Buildings and structures in Würzburg
Stuttgart S-Bahn
Heilbronn Stadtbahn