The Stahringen–Friedrichshafen railway is a non-electrified single-track railway in

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 ...

that runs from Stahringen to . The 51.780 kilometre-long main-line runs mainly along the north shore of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

(''Bodensee'') and is part of a route known as the ''Bodenseegürtelbahn'' (

Lake Constance Belt Railway The Lake Constance Belt Railway (german: Bodenseegürtelbahn) is a name used for several contiguous railway lines around along the northern shore of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'') in southern Germany. It was coined around 1900, when the railway ring ...

), connecting

Radolfzell Radolfzell am Bodensee is a town in Germany at the western end of Lake Constance approximately 18 km northwest of Konstanz. It is the third largest town, after Constance and Singen, in the district of Konstanz, in Baden-Württemberg. Rado ...

and .

History

The line was created to close the gap between the network of 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 ...

(''Großherzoglich Badische Staatseisenbahnen'') and that of 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 ...

). After Stahringen was connected to the railway network on 20 July 1867 by the

Radolfzell–Mengen railway The Radolfzell–Mengen railway (also called in German the Hegau-Ablachtal-Bahn—Hegau–Ablach Valley Railway) is a branch line in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Radolfzell via Stockach to Mengen. The line was built as a m ...

, the section from Stahringen to

Überlingen Überlingen is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second largest city in the Bodenseekreis (district), and a centr ...

did not go into operation until 18 August 1895. Finally, Friedrichshafen Stadt station was reached on 2 October 1901. Friedrichshafen had been connected to

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

by the

Ulm–Friedrichshafen railway The Ulm–Friedrichshafen railway, also known as the Württembergische Südbahn (Württemberg Southern Railway), is an electrified main line (railway), main line in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. It was built from 1846 to 1850 ...

(''Südbahn'') since 1847. On 22 December 1939, there was a great train wreck when a passenger and a freight train collided on the line between

Markdorf Markdorf is a town in the Bodenseekreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is situated near Lake Constance, 10 km northwest of Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a c ...

and Kluftern, resulting in the deaths of 102 people. As earlier the same day two express trains had collided with each other in

Genthin Genthin () is a town in Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Genthin is situated east of the Elbe river on the Elbe-Havel Canal, approx. northeast of Magdeburg and west of Brandenburg. The municipal area consists o ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

with (186 deaths), it was the worst day of German railway history.

Services

The line has been served hourly since 2003 by the ''Seehänsele'' (the name is derived from ''See''—"lake"—and Hänsele—a local carnival figure) Regional service (RB 31), which does not stop in Stahringen. SWEG

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 local ...

54 (class 622) sets have been used for this since September 2019. Previously Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 railcars were used. Some trains continue to

Singen Singen (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the very south ...

or to Friedrichshafen Hafen. In addition, every two hours IRE 3 Interregio-Express Sprinter services ( class 612

tilting train A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide abo ...

s) run between Friedrichshafen and Basel Bad, stopping only in Überlingen and Radolfzell on this line. Bahnhof Sipplingen.jpg, Sipplingen Bhf-Üb-Therme.jpg, Überlingen Therme Bahnhof Überlingen am Bodensee (Haltepunkt Mitte).jpg, Überlingen Bahnhof Uhldingen-Mühlhofen.jpg, Uhldingen-Mühlhofen Bahnhof Salem.jpg, Salem

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stahringen-Friedrichshafen railway Railway lines in Baden-Württemberg Railway lines opened in 1895 1895 establishments in Germany Buildings and structures in Bodenseekreis Buildings and structures in Konstanz (district)