The Treuchtlingen–Würzburg railway is a 140 km long main line in the northwest of the German state of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. It runs from

Treuchtlingen Treuchtlingen is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 12,000. History The spot where the town is situated was first settled by Celts, Romans and Franks. The town proper was founded in ...

in southern

Middle Franconia Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however, ...

through

Gunzenhausen Gunzenhausen (; bar, Gunzenhausn, link=no) is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, northwest of Weißenburg in Bayern, and southwest of Nuremberg. Gunzenhausen is a nation ...

Ansbach Ansbach (; ; East Franconian: ''Anschba'') is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, a ...

, Steinach (b Rothenb),

Marktbreit Marktbreit am Main () is a town in the district of Kitzingen in the Regierungsbezirk Unterfranken in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated at the most southern point of the Main river. Marktbreit is the birthplace of Alois Alzheimer who first identi ...

and

Ochsenfurt Ochsenfurt () is a town in the district of Würzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. Ochsenfurt is located on the left bank of the River Main and has around 11,000 inhabitants. This makes it the largest town in Würzburg district. Name Like Oxford, the t ...

to the capital of

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally r ...

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

. It was opened in three separate sections and is one of the oldest lines in Germany.

History

The line was built in three sections: # the line from Ansbach to Gunzenhausen was opened on 1 July 1859, # the line from Würzburg to Ansbach was opened on 1 July 1864 and # the line from Gunzenhausen to Treuchtlingen was opened on 2 October 1869. Ansbach initially had no connection with the

Ludwig South-North Railway The Ludwig South-North railway (''Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn''), built between 1843 and 1854, was the first railway line to be constructed by Royal Bavarian State Railways. It was named after the king, Ludwig I, whose infrastructure priorities had ear ...

, completed between

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

in 1849. It decided to finance a railway to Gunzenhausen. This was the third railway in Bavaria operated under lease by the

Royal Bavarian State Railways The Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.Bay.Sts.B.'') was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the German ...

after the Neuenmarkt–Bayreuth (1853) and Pasing–Starnberg (1854) railways. The rest of the Treuchtlingen–Würzburg line was only completed after the enactment of the ''Railway Construction Act'' of 1861. The line was completed on 2 October 1869 with the Gunzenhausen–Treuchtlingen section, which was built as the northern part of the Altmühl Railway, which runs from Treuchtlingen through the

Altmühl The Altmühl (, la, Alchmona, Alcmana, Almonus)
s.v. is a river in

valley through

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese ...

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

. The continuous double-track line has been electrified since 15 March 1965. In 1978, as part of a pilot project, the operation of passenger services ended at a total of 15 stations, being replaced by bus services. Freight operation ended at many stations in 1993. On the evening of 18 July 2016, there was an attack on a regional train on the section between Ochsenfurt and Würzburg in which a 17-year-old Afghan refugee attacked passengers with an ax and a stabbing weapon and caused serious injuries to some of them. The perpetrator was shot by special forces during his attempted escape in the Würzburg district of Heidingsfeld. It is assumed that there may be an Islamist connection.

Route

The route is 140 km long and once had 29 stations, of which 15 are still served. The route is double track throughout and has been fully electrified since 15 March 1965.

Transport associations

Regional transport services on the northern section from Würzburg to Marktbreit are organised by the ''Verkehrsverbund Mainfranken'' (Mainfranken Transport Association, VVM), established in 2004. From Uffenheim to Treuchtlingen they are organised by the ''Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg'' (Greater Nuremberg Transport Association, VGN)

Operations

The line formerly had an important role for German north–south long-distance trains. Since the 24 km longer detour via Nuremberg was often avoided, the trains between Würzburg and Treuchtlingen were hauled by a steam or diesel locomotive in front of the electric locomotive that would normally haul it. Even now, some pairs of

Intercity-Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

trains continue to run between Hamburg and Bremen and Munich without stopping between Würzburg and

. There are also two daily pairs of

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

trains (called the ''Königssee'' and ''Großglockner'') and some extra weekend trains, which stop in Treuchtlingen, Gunzenhausen and Ansbach, and sometimes in Steinach. In regional traffic, the line is operated by

DB Regio DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and there part of the DB Regio bus ...

as part of the ''E-Netzes Würzburg''.

Alstom Coradia The Alstom Coradia is a family of diesel multiple unit, diesel and electric multiple units for Inter-city rail, intercity and Regional rail, regional service manufactured by Alstom, with variants operating in Europe, North America, and Africa. ...

Continental (class 440) sets run hourly and class 425 sets run in the evening and at the weekend on the Treuchtlingen–Würzburg Regionalbahn services. Some additional services run during peak times on weekdays to increase frequencies to approximately 30 minute intervals between Marktbreit and Würzburg; four train pairs of trains continue through Würzburg on the Main–Spessart railway to

Karlstadt am Main Karlstadt is a town in the Main-Spessart in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of Main-Spessart (''Kreisstadt''), and has a population of around 15,000. Geography ...

. The line is of great importance for freight. Many freight trains run on the line from Würzburg to Munich and Nuremberg; the capacity is insufficient in places today. It is used by many locomotive types, and private operators are well represented. The halt of Burgbernheim-Wildbad was reactivated at the timetable change in December 2010.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Treuchtlingen-Wurzburg railway Railway lines in Bavaria Railway lines opened in 1864 Buildings and structures in Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen Buildings and structures in Ansbach (district) Buildings and structures in Ansbach Buildings and structures in Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim Buildings and structures in Kitzingen (district) Buildings and structures in Würzburg (district) Buildings and structures in Würzburg