The Husum–Kiel railway is a main line railway in the
German state of
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
. While the central section of the line, which is shared with the
Neumünster–Flensburg line, has two tracks and is electrified, its western and eastern sections are single track and are not electrified. It connects the cities of
Husum
Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of ...
and
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
via
Rendsburg
Rendsburg ( da, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'', nds, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Ecke ...
and serves as an important east-west rail axis between the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
and the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
.
Historically, the line ran from Husum to Kiel via
Erfde
Erfde ( da, Ervde) is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...
and Rendsburg. The current line runs via
Jübek
Jübek ( da, Jydbæk) is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous coun ...
,
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
and Rendsburg, with the Jübek–Rendsburg section being shared with the Neumünster–Flensburg line. The line was opened in 1854 and is one of the
oldest railways in Germany.
Route
![Rendsburgerschleife](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Rendsburgerschleife.JPG)
The line begins in the third
Husum station
Husum station is a station on the Frederikssund radial of the S-train network in Copenhagen, Denmark. It serves the area around the former village Husum, and is also the S-train station that is easiest to reach by bus from Mørkhøj
Mørkhøj ...
, which was opened in 1910 for the line to Erfde and Rendsburg. This station is the main hub of the North Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein. In addition to the trains to and from Kiel it is served by the trains of the
Marsh Railway
The Marsh Railway (german: Marschbahn) is a main line in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany that links the stations of Elmshorn in the south and Westerland on the island of Sylt in the north. It is part of long route from Hamburg-Alt ...
and the
Husum–Bad St. Peter-Ording line. The line runs to Kiel through flat
geest
Geest is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outwash plai ...
lands to the northeast and reaches the Mühlenbach stream in
Ohrstedt. There are no stations until Jübek.
Several stations along the line were abandoned in the early 1980s and are only served by freight trains. From Jübek the line runs over the Neumünster–Flensburg line. The line runs through flat, mostly agricultural land to
Schleswig station
Schleswig station is the station of the city of Schleswig in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is located on the Neumünster–Flensburg and Husum–Jübek-Schleswig–Kiel lines. It is currently operated by Deutsche Bahn, which classi ...
, continuing through hilly moraines to Rendsburg. Train do not stop in
Büdelsdorf
Büdelsdorf ( da, Bydelstorp) is a town in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider and the Kiel Canal, approx. north of Rendsburg, and west of Kiel, just off the motorway.
His ...
, where there was a connection, until 1974, to the original line from Husum to Rendsburg via Erfde, which opened on 1 September 1910.
Rendsburg station
Rendsburg station is located in the city of Rendsburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein and is at the junction of the Neumünster–Flensburg and Rendsburg Kiel lines. It is currently operated by Deutsche Bahn, which classifies it as a ...
was not moved when the Kiel Canal was built. Instead the great
Rendsburg Loop
The Rendsburg Loop (german: Rendsburger Schleife) is an elevated spiral railway in Rendsburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, connecting the Rendsburg High Bridge over the Kiel Canal on the Neumünster–Flensburg line to Rendsburg s ...
was built around part of the city to connect it to the
Rendsburg High Bridge
The Rendsburg High Bridge (german: Rendsburger Hochbrücke, officially ''Eisenbahnhochbrücke Rendsburg'') is a railway viaduct on the Neumünster–Flensburg line that also serves as a transporter bridge. The bridge crosses the Kiel Canal at Re ...
over the canal. The line branched from Osterrönfeld station to Kiel until the line was diverted further east on 15 October 1904. In Felde, the line crosses the
Eider
Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.
The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quilt ...
river, which flows into the Kiel Canal nearby. The line reaches the
Kiel–Flensburg line and then the
Hamburg-Altona–Kiel line just before the entrance to
Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Kiel Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the northern German city of Kiel. It consists of eight rail tracks, all of which are electrified, and is a hub for train services to nearby towns such as Plön and Eckernförde.
Overview
With 25,0 ...
.
History
Husum-Erfde-Rendsburg
On 1 September 1910, a 50 km-long direct Husum–Erfde–Rendsburg line opened. It ran from Husum, crossed the lower
Treene river
The Treene ( da, Trenen) is a river, hydrologically and nominally long, in the north of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is a right-bank tributary of the River Eider. It starts in northern Angeln, southeast of Flensburg, and flows mainly south-sou ...
to
Norderstapel and ran via
Erfde
Erfde ( da, Ervde) is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...
to Rendsburg and then continued on the current route to Kiel. The line crossed the
Schleswig District Railway's line between
Friedrichstadt
Friedrichstadt (; da, Frederiksstad) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km south of Husum.
History
The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Du ...
and Schleswig in Norderstapel until 1934.
In the late 1920s, there were continuous passenger services on the Husum–Erfde–Rendsburg–Kiel route, with a total running time of about three hours. A few faster services on the route took about two hours and 20 minutes. In 1959, motor coaches on the route to Rendsburg took about 70 minutes. Local trains on the Husum–Kiel route continued to operate via Erfde, while express trains were already running via Jübek. About eight pairs of trains operated daily.
On 25 May 1974, passenger services were closed from Husum to Rendsburg via Erfde. At the same time the freight operations were discontinued on the section on the line between Erfde and
Hohn. The line was dismantled afterwards. The continuous link was thus reduced to freight-only sections between Husum and Erfde and between Rendsburg and Hohn. These sections were further shortened in the following decades, piece by piece. One reason for the closures was the marshy ground in the middle part of the line. Since then, all trains from Husum to Kiel run via Jübek, Schleswig and Rendsburg, which means a detour of about 12 km.
The route has now been largely dismantled. On 28 May 1988, freight transport between Fockbek and Hohn was closed. About 2.5 km long of the line between Rendsburg station and a northern industrial area remains, but it is also now unused. The Husum– Erfde line was closed to freight to Erfde on 24 September 1988, Schwabstedt on 27 May 1989 and to Mildstedt on 22 May 1993. It continued to operate as a siding to a timber mill in Mildstedt until 2003.
Husum-Jübek
Most of this 26 km line was built as part of the
Flensburg–Husum–Tönning line, completed by the ''Flensburg-Husum-Tönningen Railway Company'' (''Flensburg-Husum-Tönninger Eisenbahngesellschaft'', FHTE) on 25 October 1854, for, among other things, the transportation of cattle to Great Britain. The FHTE also opened on 25 October 1854 a line from Ohrstedt to Rendsburg via Owschlag, running to the west of the city of Schleswig. After the
Second Schleswig War
The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...
of 1864, the
Duchy of Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...
was annexed by
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
and the northeastern section of the line from Husum to Flensburg was diverted to run from Sollbrück (near Ohrstedt) to Jübek, rather than to Eggebek. This line was opened on 29 December 1869 and created a route between Husum and Neumünster, which had the advantage of running via Schleswig and maximised the use of the Neumünster–Flensburg line. The old route from Ohrstedt to Owschlag was closed at the same time.
Jübek–Rendsburg
This shares the middle part of the Neumünster–Flensburg line.
Rendsburg–Kiel
![BahnhofRendsburg003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/BahnhofRendsburg003.JPG)
This section was opened on 15 October 1904 by the
Prussian State Railways
The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...
. Passenger services were mostly provided by local trains. Already in the late 1920s, some through trains ran to Husum, some of which made a few stops only. Later, three to four pairs of fast trains regularly ran on the route, including a pair of Husum–Lübeck trains. After the closure of the
Niebüll-Flensburg line in 1980, a pair of trains run seasonally as the ''Sylter Welle'' from Kiel (sometimes also from Lübeck) to
Westerland) via Jübek instead of Flensburg. This train ran in 2005 for the last time and was the last locomotive-hauled passenger train on the line.
The newest station was opened between Rendsburg and Kiel at Mettenhof in the early 1970s to serve a satellite settlement of Kiel. In 1984 all stops between Rendsburg and Kiel were closed. In 1987, regional fast trains (''Regionalschnellbahnen'') were introduced on the line. Felde station (formerly Brandsbek) was re-opened for the start of the ''Nord-Ostsee-Bahn'' (NOB) service (now operated by
Veolia Verkehr
Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of passenger buses and trains in Germany. It is a subsidiary of Transdev.
History
In 1997, Aktiengesellschaft für Industrie und Verkehrswesen was purchased by a CGEA Group (60%) EnBW (40%) cons ...
) in 2000.
Current operations
![Husumbahnhof002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Husumbahnhof002.JPG)
Passenger services over the whole Husum–Kiel route have been operated since December 2011 by Deutsche Bahn with
Alstom Coradia LINT
The Alstom Coradia LINT is an articulated railcar manufactured by Alstom since 1999, offered in diesel and hydrogen fuel models.
The acronym ''LINT'' is short for the German ''"leichter innovativer Nahverkehrstriebwagen"'' (light innovative loca ...
41 railcars at hourly intervals. It replaced
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn or NOB is a railway company which operates in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Based in Kiel, the company was established in 2000 and is owned by Transdev. The company's main route is the Marsh Railway between Hamburg and Wester ...
(NOB) as operator. Services over the 102 kilometre-long route take 81 or 83 minutes. Trains stop at
Jübek
Jübek ( da, Jydbæk) is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous coun ...
,
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
,
Owschlag
Owschlag is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Eu ...
,
Rendsburg
Rendsburg ( da, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'', nds, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Ecke ...
and
Felde
Felde is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is part of the municipal association Achterwehr.
Felde is about 12 km away from Kiel and the federal highway 210 to Rendsburg, since 1989 th ...
.
Since January 2015, in addition to the hourly
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 ...
service, a
Regionalbahn service runs hourly between Kiel and Rendsburg, which also stops in
Kiel-Hassee CITTI-PARK, Kiel-Russee,
Melsdorf
Melsdorf is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Eur ...
,
Achterwehr
Achterwehr is a municipality, located in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde in the German '' Bundesland'' of Schleswig-Holstein.
Achterwehr is situated 12 km west of Kiel and about 5 km south of the Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-K ...
,
Bredenbek and
Schülldorf
Schülldorf is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in ...
. These stations were reactivated with the exception of the new Kiel-Hassee CITTI-PARK station and the Bredenbek station which was relocated from Kronsburg. The dismantled second track from Kronsburg was rebuilt at the new station to increase the line's capacity.
Only individual Regionalbahn services operate to Schleswig or Husum. The least frequented stations of Kiel-Russee and Achterwehr are request stops.
References
Footnotes
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Husum-Kiel railway
Railway lines in Schleswig-Holstein
Railway lines opened in 1854
Buildings and structures in Nordfriesland
Buildings and structures in Schleswig-Flensburg
Rendsburg-Eckernförde
Transport in Kiel