The Bayreuth–Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg line is a single-track main line railway 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 an important section of the so-called ''

Saxon-Franconian trunk line Saxon-Franconian trunk line () is a modern term for a double-track railway route between the German cities of Dresden and Nuremberg. It is 390 kilometres long and currently electrified from Dresden to Hof, Bavaria, Hof. The concept of the Saxony, ...

'' from

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

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 ...

. The line was opened in 1853 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany.

History

It was the first Bavarian railway line to be built and leased to the state. That is, it was financed by the city of

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

and the line was built and subsequently leased by the Bavarian government. The route from Neuenmarkt to Bayreuth was opened on 28 November 1853 by the Royal Bavarian State Railways as one of the first branch lines of the Ludwig South-North Railway. In 1905 the line was nationalised.

Operations

The line connects with the Bamberg–Hof line in Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg, leading to

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

and Hof. Services are operated approximately hourly between Bayreuth and Bamberg by agilis. In the past trains from Bayreuth had to change direction in Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg to continue up the famous Schiefe Ebene () to Hof. The opening of the Schlömen curve in 2001, which allows Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg to be bypassed to the east, improved the connectivity of the line to the northeast considerably. As a result, even some long-distance trains (

ICE TD The DBAG Class 605, commonly known as the ICE TD is a high-speed diesel multiple unit (DMU) train, formerly in service with Deutsche Bahn and DSB (railway company), DSB. It was retired from active passenger service in 2017 after years of o ...

) on the

–

route now use the line. December 2006 to December 2013, services of the Franken-Sachsen-Express ran on the line at 2-hour intervals, after a period when no trains used the Schloemen curve at all. A

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 has run every two hours on the Nuremberg–Bayreuth–Hof route since 15 December 2013.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayreuth-Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg railway Railway lines in Bavaria Buildings and structures in Bayreuth (district) Railway lines opened in 1853