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The Stendal–Uelzen railway is a mostly single-track, electrified main line and connects
Stendal The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region. Geography Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located ...
in the east of
Altmark :''See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for the Polish village named Altmark in German.'' The Altmark (; English: Old MarchHansard, ''The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ...'', Vo ...
,
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 ...
with
Uelzen Uelzen (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Uelzen (), is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the district of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality. Uelz ...
in
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
. The most important stop along the way is
Salzwedel Salzwedel (, officially known as Hansestadt Salzwedel; ) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salzwedel is located on the Ger ...
.


History

The Stendal–Uelzen line was originally opened in 1873 as part of a direct connection from Berlin to the naval base at Wilhelmshaven by the Magdeburg–Halberstadt Railway Company (MHE) and was opened as part of the so-called America Line. In 1945, the line was cut by the
Inner German border The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West ...
. West of the border a temporary terminus was created at Nienbergen as the former station in the Lower Saxon town of Bergen an der Dumme was 1,200 meters east of the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
. The second track was removed in two phases in 1946 and the 1980s: first, the section from Wieren to Nienbergen was singled, then the second track was also removed between Wieren and Uelzen. In the Soviet Zone, which became
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
in 1949, trains initially ran between Stendal and Bergen. Border security measures were imposed between Salzwedel and Bergen on 7 October 1951 as Bergen station was only 1,200 meters from the border. Between Stendal and Salzwedel one of the two tracks was dismantled because the track material was supposedly needed for the construction of the Berlin outer ring. After the fall of the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
in 1990, the rebuilding of the Stendal–Salzwedel–Uelzen connection was added to the list of German Unity Transport Projects (''Verkehrsprojekte Deutsche Einheit''). The old line was completely rebuilt and established in 1999 as a single-track, electrified mainline railway and restored to operation. Part of the second track was also restored. The whole project took several years to complete. The 17.5 km long section between Brunau and district road 1005 in Klein Gartz now has two tracks and there is also an approximately one kilometre long passing loop west of the former Kläden station; the current Kläden station is now located further to the east on a single-track section. In addition, during the implementation of the German Unity Transport Project, all loading sidings near the line were dismantled and connecting sidings were reduced so that local freight movements are no longer possible on this line. The originally planned complete reconstruction of the line as a two-track line has not yet been realised. (brochure)


Current situation

In the 2010/11 timetable, the
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 20 runs between Uelzen and Stendal every two hours and the
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 32 runs every two hours between Salzwedel and Stendal. Both services are operated by DB Regio. The RE services are operated with double-deck coaches mostly hauled by class 114 locomotives and the RB services are partly operated with class 425 EMUs. On Friday, an Intercity service is operated from
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 ...
via
Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...
, Uelzen and Stendal 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 ...
, returning on Sunday. Until 13 December 2014, a train pair operated daily as a
EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...
on the
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 ...
–Berlin–
Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
route. Since April 2014, an InterRegio-Express has been operating the route from Berlin and Hamburg. During disruptions to long-distance traffic between Hamburg and Berlin services often also detour over the line via Wittenberg. As part of a program to upgrade links between seaports and the hinterland, a second track was built from December 2012 to November 2013 in the Uelzen district of Veerßen to the east of the Stendal–Uelzen line, so that traffic coming from the direction of Stendal could run to the north without crossing the Hanover–Hamburg line.


Future

The existing two-track section for crossing and overhauling between Brunau-Packebusch and Rademin, which is around 17.5 kilometre long, is to be extended to the east and west. This applies to the sections between Hohenwulsch and Brunaupark-Packebusch and between Rademin and Salzwedel. This involves a total of 22 km of additional second track at an estimated cost of about €57 million. The reason given for the project is to increase the capacity for freight and to improve the performance of regional traffic. In July 2013,
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 ...
put the project out to tender. The estimated value of the contract, including overhead electrification, is €22 million, which is to be carried out between June 2014 and March 2016.


Notes


References

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stendal-Uelzen railway Railway lines in Lower Saxony Railway lines in Saxony-Anhalt Railway lines opened in 1873 1873 establishments in Germany Buildings and structures in Stendal (district)