The Magdeburg–Leipzig railway is a double-track, electrified

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in the

German states The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

and

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, connecting

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

via

Köthen Köthen () is a town in Germany. It is the capital of the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, about north of Halle. Köthen is the location of the main campus and the administrative centre of the regional university, Anhalt Univers ...

and Halle to

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

History

The line was built by the ''Magdeburg–Leipzig Railway Company'' (German: ''Magdeburg–Leipziger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''), with construction starting on 24 January 1838. It was the first German railway that passed through several countries, in addition to the kingdoms of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

(

, Halle) and

(

), it also crossed the Duchy of

Anhalt-Köthen Anhalt-Köthen was a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the House of Ascania. It was created in 1396 when the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst was partitioned between Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen. T ...

. Opening dates: *29 June 1839: Magdeburg–

Schönebeck Schönebeck (), officially Schönebeck (Elbe), is a town in the district of Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, approx. southeast of Magdeburg. For much of the twentieth century it was noted ...

(14.9 km) *9 September 1839: Schönebeck–Saale bridge near Calbe (12.4 km) *19 June 1840: Saale bridge–

(22.6 km) *22 July 1840: Halle–Köthen (35.7 km) *18 August 1840: Halle–Leipzig (33.2 km) Finally on 18 August 1840 the whole line from Magdeburg to Leipzig was opened. As the Magdeburg station in Leipzig was adjacent to the Dresden station, passengers between Magdeburg and Dresden (the Leipzig–Dresden railway opened in 1837) changed trains here. Later a short connecting line was built for the transfer of coaches. Between Halle and Leipzig the line passed from Prussia to Saxony. The section of the line in Saxony was operated under contract by the

Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company The Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company ( or LDE) was a private railway company in the Kingdom of Saxony, now a part of Germany. Amongst other things, it operated the Leipzig–Dresden railway, route between Leipzig and Dresden, opened in 1839, and w ...

. On 29 April 1874, the ''Magdeburg–Leipzig Railway Company'' purchased the Saxon section of the line with effect from 1 January 1875. Duplication of the line from Magdeburg Leipzig, which had started in 1842, was completed on 15 January 1843. On 1 November 1843 regular freight services commenced. In 1873 a line opened to connect Magdeburg's two stations. Magdeburg's walls prevented a joint station being built. There was a station for trains to

Wittenberge Wittenberge (; ) is a town of eighteen thousand people on the middle Elbe in the district of Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Wittenberge is situated at the right (north-eastern) bank of the middle Elbe at its confluence with the Step ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

with the Leipziger station serving trains on the Magdeburg-Leipzig line and trains to

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 ...

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

and

Halberstadt Halberstadt (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany, the capital of Harz (district), Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town ...

. On 1 June 1876 the Magdeburg–Leipzig Railway Company was taken over by the Magdeburg–Halberstadt Railway Company, which was nationalized by Prussia under an act of 20 December 1879. The Magdeburg–Leipzig line came under the management of the ''Königliche preußischen Eisenbahndirektion Magdeburg'' (''Royal Prussian railway directorate of Magdeburg''). From 1 April 1895 it came under the management of the new railway directorate of Halle-Leipzig. On 1 May 1912 the Prussian part of the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof was opened, leading to the closure of the Magdeburger station. On 1 April 1920, the Magdeburg-Leipzig line went along with the other German state railways was merged into ''Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen'' (''German Railways''), which on 30 August 1924 became

Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft 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 re ...

(''German Railway Company''). Lok e44 046

In 1920 electrification of the section between Halle and Leipzig began, with the first electric locomotive operating on it on 19 December 1922. Electrification from Magdeburg to Leipzig was completed on 7 October 1934. In 1946, the electrical installations were dismantled as reparations. On 1 September 1955, electric trains started running again between Halle and Köthen, after the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

returned some electric locomotives. Electrification was restored between Köthen and Schönebeck on 29 December 1955, between Schönebeck and Magdeburg on 12 January 1957, and the final section between Leipzig and Halle on 20 December 1958.

Operations

Currently, the section between Magdeburg and Halle is served by

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 ...

trains that run hourly and are made up of three double-deck carriages with

control car A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK, Ireland, Australia and India) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or t ...

s and propelled by class 143 electric locomotives. Trains on line S1 of the Mittelelbe S-Bahn between Magdeburg and

, run between Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof and Magdeburg-Buckau on separate tracks. This service is operated with class 425 EMUs, which were modernised in 2015. Furthermore, the line is used Regional-Express services every two hours to Erfurt and every two hours between Magdeburg and Schönebeck by Regional-Express services to Aschersleben. Lines S3 and S5X of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland run between Halle and Gröbers or Wahren with Bombardier Talent 2 multiple units. The S5X service to Gröbers runs on the mainline tracks and then uses the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway towards

Leipzig/Halle Airport Leipzig/Halle Airport is an international airport located in Schkeuditz, Saxony, Germany, and serves both Leipzig, Saxony, and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. It is a state-owned enterprise and allows 24 hour take off and landing for cargo flights. In ...

. In addition

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

trains on IC lines 56 and 55 operate together providing an hourly service, stopping only in Magdeburg Hbf, Köthen, Halle Hbf, Leipzig/Halle Airport and Leipzig Hbf. Between Gröbers and Leipzig Hbf, these trains on the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway. The line also carried significant freight traffic.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magdeburg-Leipzig railway Railway lines in Saxony-Anhalt Railway lines in Saxony Railway lines in Magdeburg Railway lines opened in 1839