The Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG (OHE) is a

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

based transportation company with railway network in North-eastern

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

around the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (german: Lüneburger Heide) is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen a ...

area of over 250 km. The OHE's main business is the transportation of freight through their own routes as well as the network of the

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

. Historically the company also operated passenger trains, which completely ended in 1977 after previous partial closures. After the de-monopolisation of the German railways in the 1990s the company re-entered the rail passenger market through the company

NiedersachsenBahn GmbH NiedersachsenBahn GmbH is a railway company (EVU) which acts as an operating company for metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft. It is a joint venture of the private Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG (OHE) (60%) from Celle, Germany and the state-owned Eisen ...

which has a large stake in the company

metronom Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH is a German non-entirely-state-owned railway company based in Uelzen, Lower Saxony since December 2005. The company's activities focus exclusively on passenger transport, operating services from Hamburg to Bre ...

In March 2007 the OHE became majority owned by Arriva Deutschland.

History

Formation

In 1944 the OHE arose from the merger of several companies from the northeast area of Lower Saxony, its creation was not purely for economic reasons, but also being politically favourable to the national socialist

Gau Osthannover Gau Eastern Hanover (German: ''Ost-Hannover'') was a regional district of the NSDAP established in 1925 in the north eastern part of the Prussian Province of Hanover, comprising the governorates of Stade and Lüneburg in their then boundaries. Ori ...

government. The company was formed on 10 July 1944 from a number of small railways previously under the management of the Niedersächsisches Landeskleinbahnamt (LKA):Die Geschichte der OHE und ihrer Vorgängerbahnen
The History of the OHE and its predecessor railways. ''kdtroeger.de'' *Celler Eisenbahnen AG - formed in March 1944 from the merger of two companies: **Eisenbahn Celle-Wittingen AG; before 1940 the Kleinbahn Celle-Wittingen (CW) (established 1904) **Eisenbahn Celle-Soltau, Celle–Munster; before 1940 known as the Kleinbahn Celle-Soltau-Munster GmbH (CSM) before 1910 known as the Kleinbahn Garßen-Bergen (first established 1902) *Winsener Eisenbahn GmbH - formed in 1933 from the merger of two companies: ** Kleinbahn Winsen–Niedermarschacht ** Kleinbahn Winsen–Evendorf–Hützel (WEH) *Lüneburg-Bleckeder Eisenbahn GmbH formed from the Bleckeder Kleinbahn GmbH (BI.KB) in September 1943. *Lüneburg-Soltauer Eisenbahn formed in 1943 from the Kleinbahn Lüneburg-Soltau GmbH (founded 1913) * Kleinbahn Soltau–Neuenkirchen (founded 1920) Additionally the Kleinbahn Wittingen-Oebisfelde (KWOe) was also incorporated on the same day. The new company Osthannoverschen Railways AG 1944 had routes of 340 km total length: it was for decades the largest of the non-federal railways of Germany At its founding in 1944 the main shareholders were the Prussian State and the Province of Hanover with 53% of the shares combined, the districts of

Fallingbostel Bad Fallingbostel (Northern Low Saxon: ''Bad Fambossel'') is the district town (''Kreisstadt'') of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of ...

Gifhorn Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially important cities nearby, ...

, Harburg and

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

also had owned shares. By the end of 2006 the OHE was still state-owned with 40.2% held by the state of Lower Saxony and 33.8% by the German state In July 2006 the German state, the state of Lower Saxony and

DB Regio AG DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and there part of the DB Regio b ...

decided to sell their shares as part of a privatisation process. The successful bidder was Arriva-Bachstein GmbH; a consortium made up of

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Arriva to acquire German transport company
17/1/2007 ''arriva.eu'' and Verkehrsbetriebe Bach Stein GmbH (14%), with an offer of 30million Euros, and various supplementary promises, subject to regulatory and parliamentary approval. Shareholders as of 2008 were: Arriva Bachstein GmbH - 85.118%, Celle council - 5.615%, Gifhorn council - 3.224%, Lüneburg council- 2.178%, Soltau-Fallingbostel council- 2.160%, City of Celle - 1.187%, City of Wittingen - 0.468%, Flecken Brome - 0.050%

Rail network

Decommissioned and closed routes: The network is open to other rail companies, the OHE offers cheaper track access charges for through workings than for trains starting or ending on its own tracks.

Operations

Rail freight

The transportation of freight has always been an important part of the railway: in 2006 1.4 million of materials were transported, including wood, other construction materials, chemicals and fertilizers and military equipment for the military training grounds at

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. The relative amounts of freight were : wood 47%, chemicals/oil 17%, aggregates/building materials 16%, container 8%, other 7%, military 4%. As a railway company OHE transported in 2006 Germany 1.6 million tonnes (2005: 0.95 million tons) with

unit train A unit train, also called a block train or a trainload service, is a train in which all cars (wagons) carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. They are dist ...

loads being the main type of transport. The OHE also operates in partnership with the

Passenger

Passenger work on OHE lines was at its peak at the very beginning of the companies history. In the subsequent decades a few passenger routes were shut, by the 1970s many remained but by 1977 all had closed: 1 July 1945: Rühen–Oebisfelde 22 May 1955: Beedenbostel–Mariaglück (works transport remained until 1958) 28 May 1961: Soltau–Neuenkirchen 22 May 1966: Winsen–Niedermarschacht 31 May 1970: Hermannsburg–Munster (Lager) und Salzhausen–Hützel 3 June 1973: Bleckede–Alt Garge 26 May 1974: Steinhorst–Wittingen und Wittingen–Rühen Horst 5 July 1974: Winsen–Salzhausen 1 June 1975: Bergen–Soltau 26 June 1975: Soltau–Hützel–Schwindebeck 30 May 1976: Celle Nord–Bergen und Beckedorf–Hermannsburg 23 June 1976: Celle Nord–Steinhorst Celle 22 May 1977: Lüneburg–Bleckede und Lüneburg–Schwindebeck As a replacement for the rail closures the OHE ran bus services instead. Through the subsidiary ''NiedersachsenBahn GmbH'' (60% owned with a 40% stake from

Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser EVB Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser GmbH is a German railway and bus company offering passenger and freight services that is headquartered in Zeven and Bremervörde. The company was created in 1981 by the merger of the two companies '' ...

(EVB) ) the OHE became involved in rail passenger transport once again with the company

which has operated since 2003 on the tracks of the Deutsche Bahn. Maintenance of metronom vehicles is carried out at the OHE owned works at

Uelzen Uelzen (; officially the ''Hanseatic Town of Uelzen'', German: ''Hansestadt Uelzen'', , Low German ''Ülz’n'') is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a ...

Heritage traffic

Through the ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verkehrsfreunde Lüneburg e.V.'' (AVL) ("Association of friends of Lüneburg transport eV") the Heide-Express is run on the OHE network with rolling stock from yesteryear.

Management of other railway lines

With the dissolution of the '' Niedersächsisches Landeseisenbahnamt'' (NLEA) in 1959 the ''OHE (along with the '' Bentheimer Eisenbahn'') took over some of the operations of the railway companies previously managed by the NLEA:Betriebsführungsbahnen der OHE
''kdtroeger.de'' *'' Bremervörde-Osterholzer Eisenbahn GmbH'' (BOE) (until 1980, now managed and part of the ''

'' (EVB) ) *'' Buxtehude-Harsefelder Eisenbahn GmbH'' (BHE) (since July 1993 managed by ''Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser'') *'' Eisenbahn Gittelde-Bad Grund GmbH'' (decommissioned 30 December 1971) *'' Lüchow-Schmarsauer Eisenbahn GmbH'' (LSE) (until 30 March 1969, subsequently self managed) *'' Niederweserbahn GmbH'' (NWB) (decommissioned 26 September 1964) *'' Steinhuder Meer-Bahn GmbH'' (StMB) (acquisition of the remaining rail operations by the OHE in March 2000) *'' Wilstedt-Zeven-Tostedter Eisenbahn GmbH'' (WZTE) (until 1980 : in 1982 the company merged with the ''Bremervörde-Osterholzer Eisenbahn GmbH'' to form the ''

'') Since 1995 workings on the '' Rinteln-Stadthagener Verkehrs GmbH'' (RStV) have been operated by the OHE, the '' Verkehrsbetriebe Grafschaft Hoya'' was managed by OHE between 1993 and 2001. (The operations subsequently taken over by the '' WeserBahn GmbH'') In addition, the operation of the 15 km long railway line from

Bomlitz Bomlitz is a village and a former municipality in the Heidekreis district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. On 1 January 2020, it was merged into the town Walsrode. Geography Location Bomlitz lies on the Lüneburg Heath in a heavily wooded area. ...

Walsrode Walsrode (; nds, Wasra) is a town in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The former municipality Bomlitz was merged into Walsrode in January 2020. History Middle Ages 986 Foundation of Walsrode Abbey by Count Walo. The first ...

(

Bomlitz–Walsrode railway The Bomlitz–Walsrode railway is a railway line in the German state of Lower Saxony that is operated by the Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen (OHE). Route *Bomlitz–Gleisdreieck (triangular junction)–Cordingen (old Wolff Walsrode industrial sidin ...

) is operated by the OHE for the benefit of

Dow Wolff Cellulosics Dow or DOW may refer to: Business * Dow Jones Industrial Average, or simply the Dow, a stock market index * Dow Inc., an American commodity chemical company ** Dow Chemical Company, a subsidiary, an American multinational chemical corporation ...

Subsidiaries

In addition to the company

and its main rail transport business the OHE operates a number of subsidiaries - mostly symbiotic to its main operational mode: *''Kraftverkehr Osthannover GmbH'' (KOG) - a road transport business established 1973. *''Kraftverkehr Celle Stadt und Land GmbH'' (KVC) - a shareholder of ''Cebus GmbH & Co. KG'', operator of coach transport. *''Osthannoversche Umschlagsgesellschaft mbH'' (OHU) - provides storage and handling facilities at the ports of ''Hafen Wittingen'' on the

Elbe Lateral Canal The Elbe Lateral Canal (german: Elbe-Seitenkanal; ), is a long canal in Lower Saxony, Germany. It runs from the Mittelland Canal near Gifhorn to the Elbe in Artlenburg. It forms an important transport connection between southern and northern Ge ...

*''Uelzener Hafenbetriebs- und Umschlags-GmbH'' (UHU) - Operates the port of ''Uelzener Hafen'' on the Elbeseitkanal. *''Unikai Hafenbetrieb Lüneburg GmbH'' - Operates the port of ''Hafen Luneberg'' *''Verkehrsbetrieb Osthannover GmbH '' (VOG) - A bus route operator with over 50 vehicles operating in the counties of

Soltau-Fallingbostel Heidekreis ("Heath district") is a districts of Germany, district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Harburg (district), Harburg, Lüneburg (district), Lüneburg, Uelzen (dis ...

, Luneberg und Harburg of northeast

Rolling stock

A variety of steam locomotives were inherited from the predecessor companies. Between 1946/49 22 steam locomotives of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (Classes 55, 56, 75.6, 76, 91, 92) were acquired to meet the demands of the increased traffic on its lines; they were operated under their old class names (but with new serial numbers); at the same time the existing locomotives were given new designations: Three locomotives were classified as Series 89, four as a 92. Additionally 13 railcars were used on the OHE, inherited from predecessor companies, including four

Wismar railbus The 'Hanover version' of the Wismar railbus (''Wismarer Schienenbus'') was developed in the early 1930s as a light railbus for economical passenger services on branch lines in Germany. History As early as the 1920s, light branch lines (the so ...

es. Between 1954 and 1959 seven large

MaK Mak may refer to: People *Mak Dizdar (1917 - 1971), Bosnian poet *Muhammad Arshad Khan, Pakistani painter popularly known as "MAK" *Alan Mak (director) (born 1968), Hong Kong film director *Alan Mak (politician) (born 1984), British Member of Par ...

locomotives and some

Esslingen railbus The Esslingen railbus (German: ''Esslinger Triebwagen'') is a diesel railbus first delivered in 1951 for private railways (''Nichtbundeseigene Eisenbahn'') in Germany. History The Esslingen railbus, sometimes shortened in German to ''Esslinger' ...

es were acquired. In 1965, the last steam engine retired. The OHE operates a fleet of 30 diesel locomotives of various types; from small shunters, to the giant diesel locomotives of the AdTranz Blue Tiger family. Whilst previously the 'connecting rod'

diesel locomotives were the backbone of the fleet, the company now makes use of articulated B'B' locomotives from

such as the MaK G 1202, G 1204 and G 1205, additionally three original 1600 hp G 1600 locomotives are still in use, and a further two similar locomotives of lower power. A notable set of three locomotives are the extensively modified "DH 1504" DB Class 216 types (see Class V 160 variants) - OHE designation 2000 85, 2000 86 and 2000 87. Another 'attraction' are the 'Blue Tiger' locomotives - which replaced the Deutz diesel locomotives of type DG 2000 CCM Many of the locomotives have been modernized and equipped with new engines, radio control etc. For mainline route service, the OHE uses the DH 1504 (2000 hp), the Bombardier DE AC33C (3300 hp)The former AdTranz 'Blue Tiger' locomotives; at the OHE one has a silver and red livery and is nicknamed "Red Tiger" as well as three locomotives of the

EuroRunner The Eurorunner family of locomotives are a series of medium- to high-power diesel-electric locomotives built by Siemens for the European market. Introduced from 2002 onwards, they share design characteristics with the successful Eurosprinter ran ...

type (Siemens ER 20) (2700 HP) In the late 2000s four

Vossloh G2000 BB The G 2000 BB is a four axle heavy shunting and mainline locomotive, designed by German company Vossloh and built at the former MaK plant in Kiel. At the time of its introduction in 2000 it was the most powerful hydraulic transmission locomoti ...

(3000 hp) and one

Vossloh G1700 BB The Vossloh G1700 BB is a four axle B′B′ medium power diesel-hydraulic locomotive manufactured by Vossloh Locomotives GmbH. in Kiel. The locomotive type is operated by private rail operators in Germany and Austria. In addition, a large order ...

(2300 hp) have also been leased. In addition, several electric locomotives of the

Bombardier Traxx Alstom Traxx (sold as Bombardier TRAXX before 2021) is a modular product platform of mainline diesel-electric and electric locomotives produced originally by Bombardier Transportation and later Alstom, which was built in both freight and passen ...

family are operated.

References and notes

Literature

* Hütter, Bretschneider, Uhl, Kasper: ''Vom Kleinbahnnetz zu den Osthannoverschen Eisenbahnen''. Verlag Kenning, Nordhorn 1997, * Hans Wolfgang Rogl: ''Die Osthannoverschen Eisenbahnen''. Alba, Düsseldorf 1996,

Sources

*
Private website about the OHE
- Information on history, rolling stock and track network of the OHE. Also photographic galleries by region ''bahnbetriebswerk-13.de''

- History, stock lists, photographs, information on models produced of OHE rolling stock ''kdtroeger.de''

External links

''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lüneburger Verkehrsfreunde e.V.''
"Heide-Express" website ''heide-express.de''
Private Website with OHE locomotive details
''wunnicom.de''
Private Website with photographs along the OHE tracks.
''Lünebahn'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohe Railway companies of Germany Arriva Group companies Deutsche Bahn