Kinding (Altmühltal) station is a regional station on the

Nuremberg–Ingolstadt high-speed railway The Nuremberg–Ingolstadt high-speed railway is a high-speed railway running between the cities of Nuremberg and Ingolstadt in Bavaria, Germany. It branches off the Nuremberg–Regensburg railway and runs parallel to the Bundesautobahn 9, A9 Au ...

in the German state of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. It is located west of the

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (, ; ) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat of the district gove ...

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

Kinding Kinding is a municipality in the district of Eichstätt in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps t ...

, near the A 9 at the 58.6 mark (measured from Nuremberg). It is, along with the stations of

Allersberg Allersberg () is a municipality in the district of Roth, in Bavaria, Germany. History Until the 19th century Allersberg was first documented in 1254 as "Alrsperch" (Alrsberg's parish center). It is based on the Bavarian personal name Alaher ...

and Ingolstadt Nord, one of three regional stations of the new line between

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

and

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

. The complex is located between the Schellenberg Tunnel (650 m) to the north and the Irlahüll Tunnel (7260 m) to the south. The station was ceremoniously opened on 6 December 2006 and has been served by trains since 10 December 2006. It has 2 platform tracks and is classified by

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

as a category 6 station.

Services

A fast

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 a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

service, called the

München-Nürnberg-Express The München-Nürnberg-Express (literally: ''Munich-Nuremberg Express'') is a RegionalExpress train service in the southern German state of Bavaria, connecting the two main cities of the state, Munich and Nuremberg. With its maximum speed of 20 ...

, which runs at up to 200 km/h towards Nuremberg or Munich at two-hour intervals, has stopped at Kinding station since the timetable change on 10 December 2006. Until then, only

Intercity-Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this Train categories in Europe, category) is a high-speed rail in Germany, high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland an ...

trains ran on the line and passed through the station without stopping. Platform 1 (which is east of the main tracks) is served by trains to Nuremberg, while platform 4 (which is west of the main tracks) is served by trains to Ingolstadt and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Infrastructure

The four-track railway station is about a kilometre from the Altmuehltal exit from the A 9 autobahn. It has a park-and-ride car park with 100 spaces for cars and has several lay-bys for buses. From there, a ramp leads to platform 1, while an underpass connects to platform 4, which has a ramp at each end. There is no entrance building at the station. The only building at the station houses a unit of the line's electronic interlocking system.

Tracks

The station has two through tracks that are passable at 300 km/h and are formed of

slab track A ballastless track or slab track is a type of railway track infrastructure in which the traditional elastic combination of sleepers and ballast is replaced by a rigid construction of concrete or asphalt. It is considered the standard for high-s ...

with

UIC UIC may refer to: Computing * Uranium Information Centre, a defunct website sponsored by uranium mining companies * User identification code, the user number of the Files-11 file system in the RSX-11 operating system Education * University of Ill ...

60 kg/m rails. It is not necessary for through trains to slow down. Stopping trains can run at a maximum of 100 km/h through the outer tracks to the two platforms. At the northern end of the station towards Schellenberg Tunnel there is a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...

with four sets of points, which can be crossed by trains that are branching off at 130 km/h. Each platform was originally 170 metres long and later extended to 186 metres. The two platform tracks are built as conventional ballasted track with S54 rail profile and can also serve as passing loops to allow trains with higher priority to overtake. The platforms each have a shelter fitted with six seats.

Altmühl bridge

Before entering the Irlahüll Tunnel, the four-track line crosses the

Altmühl The Altmühl (, )
s.v. is a river in

(at the 59.4 km mark). The and bridge consists of two parallel, continuous beams, each accommodating two tracks. The spans of the beams, which were built as two-piece hollow boxes with a height of 2 m, are 24.5 + 30 m + 24.5 m. The oblique transition between the bridge and the embankment is noteworthy. The longitudinal axis of the bridge and the axis of the bridge bearing in the transverse direction forms an angle of 60 degrees. The

Federal Railway Authority The German Federal Railway Authority (, ) has been the independent federal authority for the regulation of the railways in Germany since 1 January 1994. It is under the supervision and direction of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transpo ...

issued a special permit for this angled transition between the bridge and the embankment. The bridge and the associated works was built in 20 months.

History

The plan as of mid-1994 was for an overtaking loop that could be developed into a regional station if required. North and south of the station four sets of points were planned, allowing changes between each track. (12 page brochure with status of July 1994) In 1999 it was decided to build a local station at the request of the state of Bavaria.

Construction

The station was built as part of the contract for the central section of the new line, which was built by

Hochtief Hochtief AG is a global provider of infrastructure technology and construction services, with locations in North America, Australia, and Europe. The Essen based company is primarily active in the fields of high tech, energy transition, and sustai ...

"Closing the gap" ceremony

On 13 June 2005, a “closing the gap" ceremony was carried out on the eastern platform to celebrate the insertion and welding of the last piece of track on the high-speed line. For this purpose, an 11-metre-long piece of track on the northern part of platform 1 was cut out and placed by an excavator in the adjacent Schellenberg Tunnel before the ceremony. A few hours later it was restored in the presence of several hundred guests. The corresponding weld can still be seen near the signal box building.

Operations

On 4 August 2011, a Velaro E set reached a speed of 352 km/h in Kinding station during a test run.

World record ceremony on 2 September 2006

On 2 September 2006 there was a celebration in the station for the 357 km/h world record of a

EuroSprinter The EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives is a modular concept of locomotives for the European market built by Siemens Mobility. The internal Siemens product name is ES 64, with ES for EuroSprinter and the number 64 indicating the 6,400 ...

locomotive. In addition to the locomotive that set the world record, the French locomotives CC 7107 and BB 9004m, which set world records on 28 and 29 March 1955, were displayed on the western platform.

Remains of former Kinding station

In the immediate vicinity below the current station is the historic station building of Kinding station on the former Eichstätt–Beilngries railway. Passenger services on the local section between

Beilngries Beilngries (; ) is a town in the district of Eichstätt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, 30 km north of Ingolstadt. Sons and daughters of the city * Rosa Aschenbrenner (1885-19 ...

and

Kipfenberg Kipfenberg is a town and municipality in the district of Eichstätt in Bavaria, Germany. It is known for its hillside castle and fortress, and for being the geographical centre of Bavaria. The river Altmühl flows through the municipality and its ...

were closed on 2 October 1955. The section was closed on 3 June 1970 and is now dismantled. The old station building is still being used and maintained by a local tennis club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinding (Altmuhltal) station Railway stations in Bavaria Railway stations in Germany opened in 2006 Buildings and structures in Eichstätt (district)