The Angermünde–Schwedt railway is a single track branch line in the district of Uckermark of the German state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

. It connects the towns of

Angermünde Angermünde () is a town in the district of Uckermark in the state of Brandenburg, in north-eastern Germany. It is about northeast of Berlin, the capital of Germany. The population is about 14,000, but has been declining since its traditional i ...

and

Schwedt Schwedt (or Schwedt/Oder; ) is a town in Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. With the official status of a ''Große Kreisstadt, Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (major district town), it is the largest town of the Uckermark (district), Uckermark ...

and the municipality of Pinnow to each other. Several halts on the line were abandoned in the 1990s. Today, the line is served at two-hour intervals by

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 '' RE 3'' via

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in Brandenburg in north-eastern Germany, about northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005). The town is often called Waldstadt (forest town), beca ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Lutherstadt Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German federal c ...

. Since the timetable change in December 2014,

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

service '' RB 61'' running from Monday to Friday between Schwedt and Angermünde only are operated by NEB Betriebsgesellschaft mbH, while services continuing towards Berlin as Regional-Express service ''RE 3'' are operated by

DB Regio DB Regio AG () is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and therefore part of the DB Regio business segment, which also includes DB Regionn ...

. Both services run alternately on working days, so that there is an hourly service between Angermünde and Schwedt. The additional peak hour services of line ''RE 3'' between Angermünde and Schwedt has since been redesignated as Regional-Bahn service ''RB 61''.

Route description

Course

The line separates at Angermünde station from the

Berlin–Szczecin railway The Berlin–Szczecin railway, also known in German language, German as the Stettiner Bahn (Stettin Railway) is a mainline railway built by the ''Berlin-Stettin Railway Company'' between the German capital of Berlin and the now Poland, Polish ci ...

and runs in a long curve to the east. Between Pinnow and Schwedt, the newly built federal highway 2 runs largely parallel to the line and crosses it a total of four times.

Stations and halts

;Mürow halt The halt of Mürow (km 5.4) had a simple side-platform. It operated between 1888 and 27 May 1995. ;Pinnow (Uckermark) station Pinnow station (km 8.9) is the only place on the line where trains can cross. There is a platform only on one track, the crossing loop has no platform. ;Pinnow (Uckermark) Ost halt The halt of Pinnow Ost (east; km 10.0) was created in the 1960s to serve the Pinnow maintenance works of the NPA. After 1996, it was served only irregularly and, on 23 May 1998, it was finally closed. ;Niederlandin station The station (later halt) of Niederlandin (km 13.0) was used to serve the former independent municipality of Niederlandin, now a district of the municipality of

Mark Landin Mark Landin is a former Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Uckermark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It was merged into the town Schwedt on 19 April 2022.Schwedt Mitte (middle; km 21.7) is located about 900 metres east of Schwedt West halt. It was opened on 21 November 1997 as a replacement for Schwedt West halt with a simple side platform. The new station is closer to the town centre and is also the central stop of the town bus network. ;Schwedt (Oder) station The terminal station of

(km 23.1) was opened along with the line on 15 December 1873. It is located north of the medieval core of the town. In addition to a side platform for passenger services, the station also had freight transport facilities. To the east of the terminal station there is a connecting track to the LEIPA paper factory, which continues to the port of Schwedt.

History

The newly founded ''Angermünde-Schwedter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'' (Angermünde-Schwedt Railway Company, ASE) received the concession to build the round 25 kilometre-long line on 25 March 1872 for a connection from the Berlin–Szczecin railway to the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

harbour in Schwedt. After about one and a half year of construction, the single-track branch line, which initially had no intermediate stations between the two terminal stations, was opened on 15 December 1873. For financial reasons, the Berlin-Stettiner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (Berlin-Stettin Railway Company, BStE) was responsible for management and also supplied the rolling stock. Six years later the company was nationalised and the operation was taken over 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 ...

. Around 1888, several more halts were put into operation along the line, including in Pinnow and Niederlandin. In the 1944/45 timetable, seven train pairs ran daily on the line. These were confined to the main section and did not continue past Angermünde. In the 1990s several stations were closed due to lack of demand. At the same time, Schwedt West station was closed and replaced by the more central halt of Schwedt Mitte. Deutsche Bahn operated Regional-Express service ''RE 3'' from then on. Since these trains were operated with electric locomotives of class 143 and the branch line itself was not yet electrified, diesel locomotives of class 232 or, more rarely, class 219 were attached to the front of the trains at Angermünde station and then hauled the trains to Schwedt. The additional shuttles between Angermünde and Schwedt, on the other hand, were operated with class 628/928 diesel multiple units. Since this operation was very costly, the Brandenburg government approved the electrification and upgrading of the line at the end of 2004 for €74 million. In addition to the installation of overhead wires, all the important level crossings along the line were protected and the line was upgraded for a top speed of 80 km/h. The line has been electrified since the timetable change in December 2005. In the later 2000s, Regional-Express service ''RE 3'' was reinforced by a service between Angermünde and Schwedt during the week in order to be able to cope with the increase in passenger numbers on this section of the line and to ensure an hourly connection between Berlin and Schwedt.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Angermunde-Schwedt railway Railway lines in Brandenburg Railway lines opened in 1873 1873 establishments in Germany Buildings and structures in Uckermark (district)