Neudietendorf–Ritschenhausen Railway
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The Neudietendorf–Ritschenhausen railway connects Neudietendorf and Ritschenhausen in the
German state 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 ...
of
Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...
. It is a mainly single-track main line operated by DB Netze.


History

The first ten kilometres of the Neudietendorf–Ritschenhausen line was built by the Thuringian Railway Company () in 1867 as a branch line from Neudietendorf to
Arnstadt Arnstadt () is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, on the river Gera (river), Gera about south of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. Arnstadt is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and has a well-preserved historic centre with a partially ...
. In 1879, the line was extended via Plaue to
Ilmenau Ilmenau () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany. It is the largest town within the Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is Arnstadt. Ilmenau is located approximately south of Erfurt and north of Nuremberg w ...
( Erfurt–Ilmenau line). Work on the crossing of the
Thuringian Forest The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German language, German ) is a mountain range in the southern parts of the Germany, German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorg ...
and the closing of the gap between Plaue and Ritschenhausen was started in 1879 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 ...
. Three years later, the
Suhl Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella ...
Grimmenthal section was inaugurated. Finally in 1884 the Grimmenthal–Ritschenhausen section and the 33 kilometre long section between Plaue and Suhl were completed. The building of this section included ramps with an average of grade of 2.0% and the 3,039 metre-long Brandleite Tunnel, which took just under four years to build and was very expensive. In August 1884 the first trains finally ran on the whole line. The line quickly developed into a major north–south link, so that duplication between Neudietendorf and Grimmenthal was carried out between 1886 and 1893. Until the founding of the
Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...
in 1920 Ritschenhausen station (built in 1874 and now heritage listed) and Meiningen (built in 1858 and 1874) were joint border stations of the
Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...
and the Bavarian State Railways. Locomotives were changed for trains continuing through these stations to
Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
or
Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...
. After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the connection towards Bavaria was interrupted by the
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between the American and
Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...
s. In 1946, the second track on the line was removed as part of reparations to 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 ...
, except on the GehlbergOberhof section. The track still remained an important link between southern Thuringia and
Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
. Thirty years later, the second track was restored on the section from Neudietendorf to Plaue. In 1984, the Neudietendorf–Arnstadt section was electrified, because there was insufficient capacity available in Erfurt Hauptbahnhof for the nightly changes of locomotives of the ''Städteexpress'' ("city express") service from Meiningen 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 ...
, as well as the adding of extra passenger coaches and freight wagons. These services ran through the Thuringian Forest with seven carriages and more carriages were needed east of Erfurt. The electrification between Neudietendorf and Arnstadt was taken out of operation in 1996 and later dismantled. Between 2003 and 2008 the route was prepared for the use of
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 about ...
s. The upgrade was completed for the December 2008 timetable change. It included, inter alia, the renovation of the Brandleite Tunnel, which had to be closed for nearly a year, and the installation of
electronic interlocking In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junction (rail), junctions or crossings. In North America, a set of signalling appliances a ...
in Arnstadt, which monitors the Neudietendorf–Rentwertshausen stretch.


Operations

Despite some operational problems, such as slopes with a maximum grade of 2.38% in the Thuringian forest and the need to reverse trains running to
Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...
in Schweinfurt, the line was a major long-distance north–south link until 1945. It was the shortest route between Berlin and
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
.


Passenger services

A fast train operated in the early 1890s from Berlin to Stuttgart via Erfurt, Meiningen and Schweinfurt. In 1914, there were three trains each day on this route, yet all ran via Meiningen, although they had to reverse there. At its height in 1938 a daily pair of fast long-distance expresses (''Fernschnellzug'', FD-Zug, catering to first and second class passengers, but not third class passengers) and five pairs of ordinary expresses ran on the line, which ran on the Berlin–Erfurt–Schweinfurt–Würzburg–Stuttgart route. The FD 8 service included coaches that continued to
Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
and
Ventimiglia Ventimiglia (; , ; ; ) is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located west of Genoa, and from the French-Italian border, on the Gulf of Genoa, having a small harbour at the mouth of the Roia river, w ...
in Italy. The night train pair D 13/14 even had coaches that continued to
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
and
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. The high-quality passenger trains were hauled by class 39 locomotives. As train loads were often more than 250 tonnes, trains required an extra locomotive to push them up the grades to the Brandleite Tunnel. After the Second World War, the only long-distance trains operated via Erfurt and Suhl to and from Meiningen. Express trains ran to Berlin,
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 ...
,
Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...
,
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 ...
, Halle and
Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...
. In 1981, there were eight pairs of trains, including the ''Städteexpress'', ''Rennsteig'' (named after a crest in the Thuringian Forest) and the ''Städteschnellverkehr'' (“city rapid”) service to Berlin. With
German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
long-distance trains from Meiningen to Berlin were accelerated. The old service between Berlin and Stuttgart was revived for some years after the reunification as the
InterRegio The InterRegio, often shortened to IR, is a train categories in Europe, train category for mainly domestic train services in use in some European countries, with Swiss Federal Railways operating the most dense network. InterRegio trains are semi ...
service, ''Rennsteig''. From 1997, it operated only between Erfurt and Stuttgart and from 2001 the service was cancelled altogether. In the timetable of 2009, the ''Mainfranken-Thüringen-Express'' runs on the line every two hours as
Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...
’s
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 ...
line 7 from Erfurt via Schweinfurt to Würzburg. Line STB4 of the Süd-Thüringen-Bahn runs every two hours from Erfurt to Meiningen, stopping at all stations, with additional services in the peak hour. There are also some additional Regional-Express services between Erfurt and Meiningen. The line between Neudietendorf and Plaue is also served by the
Erfurter Bahn The (EB, lit. "Erfurt railway") is a railway company and public transit system serving the city of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, Germany. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Erfurt city council, and Süd-Thüringen-Bahn, operating between Er ...
trains between Erfurt and
Ilmenau Ilmenau () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany. It is the largest town within the Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is Arnstadt. Ilmenau is located approximately south of Erfurt and north of Nuremberg w ...
. Ritschenhausen is also served by the ''Unterfranken-Shuttle'' of the Erfurter Bahn from Meiningen to Schweinfurt.


Freight

After completion of the line in 1884 there was intensive freight traffic, consisting of both through traffic and local agricultural traffic. In addition to numerous local trains, there was, for example in 1939, 12 through freight trains in each direction daily and four trains for train loads of up to 1,200 tons. These were usually hauled up the steep grades by class 95 locomotives and an additional locomotive was required to push trains with loads of over 1000 tonnes. Even after the Second World War, the track in Thuringia was used by eight daily general freight trains from Arnstadt to Grimmenthal and up to five trains carrying full-train loads for high volume traffic. They were typically hauled by class 44 locomotives, using pulverised coal to avoid smoke while passing through the Brandleite Tunnel. From 1980, trains with up to 80 axles were mostly hauled by class DR-131 locomotives. After the closing of the gap to the former West Germany after reunification, between 1991 and 1994 the line saw altered traffic flows and the last spike in freight traffic. Up to eight heavy freight trains ran daily on the north–south link. Since then freight trains run only when required, for example, freight trains to transport timber between Erfurt and Grimmenthal.


Notes


References

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External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neudietendorf-Ritschenhausen railway Railway lines in Thuringia Railway lines opened in 1867 1867 establishments in the North German Confederation Buildings and structures in Suhl