The Münchberg–Selbitz railway is a branch line in
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 ...
in southern Germany. It runs from
Münchberg via
Helmbrechts
Helmbrechts () is a town in the district of Hof, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the Southern edge of the Frankenwald, 20 km southwest of Hof.
History
The first documented mention of Helmbrechts dates back to 1232. Township was gra ...
to
Selbitz. The Helmbrechts–Selbitz section has been since closed and dismantled. Passenger trains still run today between Münchberg and Helmbrechts.
History
The Münchberg–Helmbrechts railway was built by the
Royal Bavarian State Railways and opened on 1 June 1887. Its extension to Selbitz was completed by the
Deutsche Reichsbahn
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
and services began on 1 March 1924. As a result of falling numbers, passenger services were withdrawn from the Helmbrechts–Selbitz section on 30 May 1975 by the
Deutsche Bahn and the line from Selbitz to Schauenstein was lifted in June 1977. Goods traffic continued to work the remaining stretch from Helmbrechts to Schauenstein until 31 March 1987 whilst the section beyond it was dismantled.
Services
''
Regionalbahn'' trains on the present-day timetable route no. 853 are operated by the ''
Vogtlandbahn'' under contract to
Deutsche Bahn using diesel multiple units of
VT 642 and
RegioSprinter
The RegioSprinter is a German diesel railcar built by Siemens-Duewag for rapid regional railway services. Originally the RegioSprinter was designated as a Regional Combustion-engined Railbus (''Regional-Verbrennungstriebwagen'' or ''RVT'') by Duewa ...
railbuses. The journey time between Münchberg and Helmbrechts is 15 minutes.
Future
The route was declared by the
Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft on 8 February 2008 to be part of the Upper Franconian Diesel Network (''Dieselnetz Oberfranken'') which will be launched on 12 June 2011 with new trains and improved levels of service.
[ Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Technologie: ]
Freistaat Bayern schreibt Diesel-Zugleistungen auf dem Schienennetz in Nordostbayern aus
''. Press release dated 11 February 2008
See also
*
Royal Bavarian State Railways
*
Bavarian branch lines
Bavarian branch lines comprised nearly half the total railway network in Bavaria, a state in the southeastern Germany that was a kingdom in the days of the German Empire. The construction era for branch lines lasted from 1872, when the first rou ...
References
Sources
* Andreas Kuhfahl, Wolfram Alteneder: ''Die Nebenbahnen der BD Nürnberg''. Verlag C. Kersting, Bonn 1986, .
* Siegfried Bufe: ''Eisenbahn in Oberfranken''. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, München 1982, .
* Robert Zintl: ''Bayerische Nebenbahnen''. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, .
* Deutsche Reichsbahn, Horst-Werner Dumjahn: ''Die deutschen Eisenbahnen in ihrer Entwicklung 1835–1935''. Reichsdruckerei, Berlin 1935 / Nachdruck mit Vorwort von Horst-Werner Dumjahn: Dumjahn Verlag, Mainz 1984, .
* Roland Fraas, Volker Seidel u. a.: ''100 Jahre Lokalbahn Münchberg-Helmbrechts – 1887–1987 – Festschrift zum Jubiläum 6.–8. Juni 1987''. Herausgeber: MEC 01 Münchberg e. V.
External links
1944 timetable
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munchberg-Selbitz Railway
Branch lines in Bavaria
Buildings and structures in Hof (district)