The Ulm–Augsburg line is a German railway line. It was constructed as part of the Bavarian Maximilian's Railway. It was built for the Royal Bavarian State Railways as part of the east-west connection between Neu-Ulm in the west via

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and Rosenheim to the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n border at Kufstein and

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

in the east.

History

The line was constructed as part of the ''Bavarian Maximilian Railway'' ( German:''Bayerische Maximiliansbahn''), named after Maximilian II, king 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 ...

from 1848 to 1864. In 1851, it was decided to build a line connecting the German states and Italy via the

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass ( , shortly ; ) is a mountain pass over the Alps which forms the Austria-Italy border, border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Alps, major passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowes ...

and via

towards

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and the

Semmering Pass Semmering () is a mountain pass in the Eastern Northern Limestone Alps connecting Lower Austria and Styria, between which it forms a natural border. Location Semmering Pass is located west of Sonnwendstein and Hirschenkogel and east of the ...

. It promised good traffic flows to and from the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

port at

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

. Appropriate conventions were agreed with the Kingdom of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

and with the Austrian government in 1851. The Munich–Augsburg line, which had been opened by the Munich–Augsburg Railway Company (''München-Augsburger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft)'' in 1839 and 1840 and nationalised in 1846 was included in the new line. The line connected to the Württemberg Southern Railway in Ulm and ran for 84 kilometers to Augsburg.

Construction

The 83.7 km line from Augsburg to Ulm was opened in four sections: * 1 May 1854 – Mitte Donaubrücke Ulm–Neu-Ulm, 1.3 km. * 26 September 1853 – Neu-Ulm–Burgau, 38.1 km. * 1 May 1854 – Burgau–Dinkelscherben, 17.9 km. * 26 September 1853 – Dinkelscherben–Augsburg, 26.4 km.

The line today

The line is a major traffic axis. Every hour or two

Intercity-Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this Train categories in Europe, category) is a high-speed rail in Germany, high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland an ...

and

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 run from Munich via Augsburg and Ulm to

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 ...

and from there to various other destinations.

Ulm–Augsburg upgraded line

The line between Ulm and Augsburg is part of the Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded line project. Eventually this line should be part of the Magistrale for Europe from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

via

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

and Ulm to Munich,

and

Notes

References

*Ücker, Bernhard, 150 Jahre Eisenbahn in Bayern, Fürstenfeldbruck 1985 * Wolfgang Klee/Ludwig v. Welser, Bayern-Report, volumes 1–5, Fürstenfeldbruck, 1993–1995. *Dt. Reichsbahn, Die deutschen Eisenbahnen in ihrer Entwicklung 1835–1935, Berlin, 1935.

External links

NBS/ABS Augsburg-Olching-München project
at

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulm-Augsburg railway Railway lines in Bavaria Rail transport in Augsburg Transport in Ulm Railway lines opened in 1853 1853 establishments in Bavaria Buildings and structures in Augsburg (district) Buildings and structures in Günzburg (district) Neu-Ulm (district)