The Schnabelwaid–Bayreuth railway is an 18.2 km long single-track main line from
Schnabelwaid via
Creußen to
Bayreuth 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 part of the
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, ...
().
History
The line was built as a continuation of the
Pegnitz Valley Railway from
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 ...
to
Pegnitz to provide a direct connection from Bayreuth to Nuremberg that was shorter than the
branch line opened in 1853 from
Neuenmarkt-
Wirsberg on the
Ludwig South-North Railway. It was opened on 15 July 1877.
Route
The line branches off the
Nuremberg–Cheb line at Schnabelwaid station and runs north next to
highways B 2 and
B 85 and the
Red Main river to Bayreuth.
Just south of
Bayreuth station the line crosses the valley of the Red Main on a 1.5 km-long embankment. On this embankment to the east of the Schnabelwaid–Bayreuth line is the parallel track of the
Weiden–Bayreuth line. The two tracks cross the
B 22 (Wieland-Wager Straße), the Bayreuth mill canal and finally, just before the entrance to Bayreuth station, the B 2 (Albrecht-Dürer Straße) and immediately afterwards the Red Main.
Line standards
The route is single track for its entire length and has passing places for trains at
Creußen and Neuenreuth stations. The line has a maximum speed of 140 km/h.
Services
Regional-Express services run every two hours, using
class 612 diesel multiple units (DMUs) (
RegioSwingers), from
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 ...
via Pegnitz, Bayreuth,
Münchberg to
Hof. Until the timetable change in December 2013, these trains were operated as
Interregio-Expresses, continuing to
Chemnitz and
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 ...
. Since the electrification of the
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, ...
between Hof and Dresden, the service has ended in Hof, so a change is required. In addition,
class 612 sets are used to operate Regional-Express services from Nuremberg to Bayreuth and school services. Since December 2013, there has also been a direct service operated with class 612 sets from
Lichtenfels to Nuremberg via
Kulmbach,
Neuenmarkt-
Wirsberg and Bayreuth. Since the accession of the district and the city of Bayreuth, the line has been fully integrated into the ''Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg'' (VGN), which organises regional rail services, and is served by
Regionalbahn service R3.
References
Footnotes
Sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnabelwaid-Bayreuth railway
Railway lines in Bavaria
Buildings and structures in Bayreuth
Buildings and structures in Bayreuth (district)
Railway lines opened in 1877
1877 establishments in Bavaria