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61-424: [REDACTED] The Crailsheim–Heilbronn railway (also called the Hohenlohebahn —"Hohenlohe Railway"—and called the Kocher Railway in the time of the Royal Württemberg State Railways ) is a double-tracked, main line railway in southwest Germany that runs from Heilbronn , crossing the Hohenlohe region. In February and March 1857, the towns of Crailsheim , Heilbronn, Künzelsau and Weinsberg petitioned

122-582: A Württemberg-owned railway through Baden territory, Baden claimed the right to repurchase the section the Western Railway situated on its territory, which was its right under the treaty that originally authorised its construction. The negotiations dragged on over several years until a treaty was signed on 15 November 1878 that enabled Baden to acquire the Bruchsal–Bretten section. Because the Baden railways had

183-557: A branch of the Orient Express running via Nuremberg to Carlsbad. The outbreak of the First World War, however, brought an end to this service. On 31 March 1920 the Baden and Württemberg State Railways were absorbed into the newly founded Deutsche Reichsbahn . Because Germany had to pay war reparations , having lost World War I, there were no funds for further upgrading of the line. Efforts were made in subsequent years to duplicate

244-586: A change in Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental). The Stadtbahn between Heilbronn and Öhringen is operated by Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft , using Stadtbahn electric multiple units of GT8-100C/2S and GT8-100D/2S-M classes. The Regional-Express services have used railcars of class 642 since December 2008 and Regionalbahn services between Öhringen and Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental continue to use class 628 diesel multiple units , which previously also ran between Heilbronn and Öhringen. Between Heilbronn and Öhringen there

305-608: A detour via Hessental. As a result, Hessental station became more important than Schwäbisch Hall station, although it is 4 km from the city centre. Since December 2005, the Heilbronn Stadtbahn has run on the Hohenlohe line to Öhringen-Cappel. This service operates as line S4 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn . This section of the line was electrified for this service and eight new stations were built. To carry out this work at

366-532: A financial crisis, the city of Karlsruhe found it difficult at first to find a contractor to build the line, so that it was not until 15 November 1876 that a contract could be issued. The contractor was Ph. Holzmann & Cie. of Frankfurt am Main . On 15 October 1879, the line was opened from Grötzingen to Eppingen, on 10 October 1878, the Royal Württemberg State Railways opened the section between Heilbronn and Schwaigern and, on 7 August 1880,

427-724: A link through the Ostalb from Aalen to Ulm, but did not achieve this aim until 1875/76. The spa town of Wildbad in the Black Forest was linked in 1868 to the Enz Valley Railway at the junction of Pforzheim in Baden. From Heilbronn the Lower Neckar line was extended in 1866 to Jagstfeld and from there 3 years later the line was extended as the Lower Jagst Valley Railway to Osterburken ; in both stations further links to

488-682: A lower cost the whole line between Öhringen and Heilbronn was closed between June 2003 and December 2005 and replaced by a bus service, avoiding the expenditure of €4 million, according to the DB. Despite this measure, there were repeated unplanned additional costs and delays in rebuilding the line. Even after the development of the line for the Stadtbahn, Deutsche Bahn still operates the route, through its subsidiary Westfrankenbahn , with Regional-Express services between Heilbronn and Crailsheim, as well as Regionalbahn services between Öhringen and Crailsheim (with

549-482: A plan for a line from Karlsruhe (more precisely Grötzingen) via Bretten and Eppingen to Heilbronn. In addition to the local needs, the proposed line was also seen to play a role in the larger context, namely the idea of a possible direct line from France towards Nuremberg and from there to the east. Such a direct connection was supported in Heilbronn in preference to a purely Baden route that would have connected Bretten to

610-459: A ramp to connect back to the Hohenlohe Railway with a reversal of safeworking procedures from BOStrab to EBO and of the electrification system. Through trains run between Karlsruhe and Heilbronn twice an hour, with one of the services operating as an "express train" with a smaller number of intermediate stops. The travel time between the central squares of the two cities by the stopping trains

671-490: A result, the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (Alb Valley Transport Company, AVG), an undertaking of the city of Karlsruhe, took over, from about 1990, the funding of the modernisation and electrification of the line as a pilot project. The electrification system used was the usual Deutsche Bahn system of 15 kV AC . The Karlsruhe–Bretten-Gölshausen section of the line was opened on 25 September 1992 as line B of

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732-605: A section of the Hohenlohe Railway . With a length of 155 km and a travel time of more than 3.5 hours, the Kraichgau Railway became in 2003–2004 part of the longest light railway line in the world, as a continuous run from Freudenstadt on the Murg Valley Railway to Karlsruhe and on to Heilbronn. As these services were prone to delays, they were abandoned with the extension of Stadtbahn services to Öhringen and

793-635: A turning loop northeast of the station. After crossing the Rhine Valley Railway , running between Karlsruhe and Heidelberg by a bridge on which Hubstraße Stadtbahn stop is located, and running parallel with the Karlsruhe–Mühlacker railway , it changes its safe-working system from the tram operating procedures ( BOStrab ) to rail operating procedures EBO shortly before Grötzingen. The Kraichgau Railway branches off at Grötzingen Oberaustraße station, running from Jöhlingen West to Wössingen Ost as

854-553: A two-track line. At Bretten station it passes over the Württemberg Western Railway on a bridge, which is now served by Karlsruhe Stadtbahn line S 9 and regional service R 91. It has sections of double track from Bretten-Gölshausen to Gölshausen Industriegebiet and Eppingen West to Epping station. The only other sections of double track are near stations. After Eppingen the Steinsfurt–Eppingen line branches off to

915-515: A vast territory on the border of Baden and Württemberg around the Baden city of Eppingen. These diverted the traditional trade routes and threatened the general economic development of the Eppingen region, which as a result sought the construction of a railway through the region in order to overcome this disadvantage. The Württemberg city of Heilbronn, which desired better transport links to the west, and Karlsruhe supported this proposal. This gave rise to

976-497: A winding route with significant gradients. Overall, it crosses five mountain ridges between the valleys of the Pfinz , Walzbach, Saalbach , Kraichbach , Elsenz and Lein , requiring three tunnels. It only runs for a significant distance in a river valley between Flehingen and Sulzfeld, in this case the valley of the Kohlbach. In the eastern sections the natural conditions are favourable and

1037-417: Is 98 minutes and it is 81 minutes by the express trains. Although the Kraichgau Railway connects the cities of Karlsruhe and Heilbronn, freight traffic between the two cities was never significant. Agricultural traffic from the fertile Kraichgau was of significance for the line, especially for the removal of sugar beet during the beet harvest. Deutsche Bahn abandoned this form of transport by the end of 1993 on

1098-578: Is and additional pair of locomotive-hauled trains in the morning rush hour. Since the re-opening of the line between Öhringen and Heilbronn in December 2005, wagons are shunted daily between the factory of the Öhringen packaging manufacturer Huber and Heilbronn. In addition, freight trains run between Crailsheim and Hessental on the Nuremberg– Kornwestheim marshalling yard (Stuttgart) route. Between Heilbronn Trappensee and Heilbronn Karlstor stations

1159-537: Is known as tram-train and its adoption on the Kraichgau Railway was the final step in the development of the Karlsruhe model . While the existing stations were modernised, several new stations were established, especially in the town of Bretten, for example, Bretten Stadtmitte in central Bretten. The AVG also restored several sections of double track, while a continuous second track was created from Jöhlingen West to Wössingen Ost. Since all tunnels were built for two tracks,

1220-580: Is seen as the birthday for the K.W.St.E. . The law expressly envisaged that the construction of branch routes by private companies should also be possible. This law was at the same time the impetus for the foundation of the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen ('Esslingen Engineering Works'), that played a decisive role in railway construction and railway technology in Württemberg. In the Kingdom of Württemberg

1281-627: The Baden state railways were made. From Horb, the Upper Neckar line reached Rottweil in 1867/68, and from there in 1869, the Baden town of Villingen in the Black Forest. In the same year the first trains ran on the Upper Danube line from Rottweil to Tuttlingen , from where in 1870 the connexion to Immendingen on the Black Forest line was built. The Danube Valley line was built in 1868 from Ulm in

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1342-502: The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway to operate the line, initially paying rent and later buying the line by instalments. The government of Baden went along with this proposal, and so the law authorising its construction was passed on 30 March 1872. Before construction could begin, however, negotiations had to be carried out with Württemberg. This resulted in a treaty agreed to on 29 December 1873, which envisaged other connections between

1403-802: The King and the Estates of Württemberg to be linked by a railway. In April, the Wurttemberg Chamber of Deputies recommended the construction of a railway line on the Heilbronn–Crailsheim– Nuremberg route. In May 1858, the Estates supported a route via Weinsberg and Öhringen to Crailsheim. This variant, proposed at a formal meeting of the Oberamt (district) of Weinsberg and by the people of the Weinberg valley ,

1464-610: The Kraichgau Railway as well as on all other railway lines in Baden-Württemberg. In 2001, the complete cessation of freight traffic on the line was considered as part of the rationalisation of freight operations known as MORA C . Then AVG took over passenger and freight transport on the Kraichgau line between Bretten and Heilbronn, while between Karlsruhe and Bretten there was for some time no freight traffic. Currently (May 2006)

1525-576: The Meckenheim–Jagstfeld railway . The project received approval from state authorities in both countries. The Baden government was not able to quickly implement construction, as it was busy with other railways (mainly the Black Forest Railway ). To accelerate construction, the city of Karlsruhe, under Mayor Wilhelm Florentin Lauter, offered to build the Baden section to Eppingen as directed with

1586-449: The Saarland to Lorraine . The importance of the connection in peacetime, however, remained low, and the administrators of the Kraichgau Railway did not listen to requests for fast trains between Karlsruhe and Würzburg /Nuremberg. However, due to overloading at Stuttgart from 1906 to 1914, a luxury train, the "Paris– Carlsbad Express" ran over the Kraichgau Railway. It was considered to be

1647-572: The Upper Neckar Railway that ran from Plochingen and reached Reutlingen in 1859, the bishop's town of Rottenburg am Neckar via Tübingen in 1861 and Eyach and the junction of Horb am Neckar in 1864/66. In eastern Württemberg the Rems line was built in 1861, running from Cannstatt via Schorndorf – Aalen to Wasseralfingen and in 1863 the junction at Nördlingen to the Bavarian railway network

1708-536: The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn network; the first Stadtbahn line, which had operated since 1975 on the Alb Valley Railway , was renamed as line A. While the latter was operated continuously with 750 V direct current , the Kraichgau Railway was the world's first line that changed over the course of its journey from tram and rail operating procedures in addition to the change between AC and DC. This form of operations

1769-623: The Kraichgau Railway to the Meckenheim–Jagstfeld line . This line runs was along the Elsenz . The towns of Dürrenbüchig and Gölshausen (now both districts of Bretten) that are located on the Kraichgau Railway had complained about not having stations. Their wishes were finally granted in 1906. In 1888 the Bretten–Eppingen–Heilbronn section of the line was duplicated as part of a military supply route from central Germany via Nuremberg , Crailsheim , Heilbronn, Bretten, Bruchsal, Zweibrücken in

1830-451: The Stadtbahn was extended to Heilbronn station, following the operation of trial Stadtbahn services between Eppingen and Heilbronn on weekends from March 1999. In 2000, Bretten station was modernised. Since 2001, the trains on the Kraichgau Railway run from Heilbronn station through the city centre and since 2004 though Heilbronn's eastern suburbs. On 10 December 2005 Stadtbahn services were extended to Öhringen after two years of construction on

1891-415: The alignment was changed to run to Baden-Baden and Achern. The 2005/2006 timetable included a daily continuous service between Freudenstadt and Öhringen with a journey time of 4:14 h. The electrified line is now operated by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft as a section of line S 4 (Öhringen–Heilbronn–Karlsruhe–Rastatt–Achern) with modern electric Stadtbahn vehicles of class GT8-100C/2S and GT8-100D/2S-M. On

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1952-415: The continuous electrification of the line was possible without great effort because the single track could be moved to the middle of the tunnels. The success of the new Stadtbahn line was immediate: instead of the previous average of 1,800 passengers using the line between Karlsruhe and Bretten, in early 1993 it was used by 8,500 passengers per day. Patronage even grew on Deutsche Bundesbahn's DMU services on

2013-429: The country from about 1825. Private interest groups were formed and, from 1834, the state also worked on the question, giving experts the task of finding suitable solutions. After years of preparatory work, it was decided to set up a railway network, the main lines of which would be built by the state. The Railway Bill of 18 April 1843, established the legal foundation for the construction of the railway network; this date

2074-634: The development of the network is at History of the Railway in Württemberg Until about 1865, the K.W.St.E.' s railway technology was based, not on an English prototype like the majority of German states, but on the United States. As far as rolling stock was concerned, this meant, for example, that locomotives as well as coaches used bogies. This more advanced route was temporarily given up under strong influences, predominantly from Prussia. Responsible for

2135-585: The direction of Blaubeuren -Riedlingen, but only reached Sigmaringen in 1873. It was another six years before the Zollernalb line finished the connexion from Tübingen, that had linked Hechingen in 1869 and Balingen in 1874. The Black Forest line branched off in 1868/69 in Zuffenhausen to Weil der Stadt and got as far as the towns of Calw and Nagold in 1872. In 1874 the Nagold Valley Railway

2196-403: The gap was closed between Eppingen and Schwaigern. Planning and construction of the Württemberg section came under construction supervisor ( Oberbaurat ) Carl Julius Abel. During the discussion of the remaining section of the route the council of the then independent municipality of Stetten am Heuchelberg presented the designers with a fait accompli: it built a local station before it was clear that

2257-490: The left. The Kraichgau Railway is duplicated from Leingarten West. Shortly before Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof , the line crosses the Franconia Railway on the flat and the Stadtbahn services leave the Kraichgau Railway to run over tram tracks to the station forecourt and through the city of Heilbronn. By 1870, the central Kraichgau was surrounded by four railway lines. These are: The square surrounded by these lines comprises

2318-543: The line on either side of Eppingen. Other transport associations are also affected. The platform height above rail level in Wössingen Ost, Bretten, Gölshausen Industrie and all stations between Eppingen and Heilbronn is 55 cm, thus making possible level access to the Stadtbahn vehicles of class GT 8-100D/2S-M. All other stations have a platform height of 38 cm. All platforms have a minimum length of 120 m, so that during periods of very high traffic load—especially in

2379-462: The line runs largely through the valley of the Lein. Services on the Kraichgau Railway cross from the Karlsruhe tram network to the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft network after crossing the A 5 and before running through the platforms of Karlsruhe-Durlach station , where they stop at platform tracks 11 and 12, which were built in 1992. There is provision for these platforms to be used by trams, including

2440-480: The line would pass through the site at all. With the completion of the line, the Baden State Railway took up the provision of the original agreement, taking full ownership of the railway, by taking over the balance of Karlsruhe's borrowing for the line for 12 million marks . Patronage on the Kraichgau Railway steadily increased in subsequent years. In 1900, the Steinsfurt–Eppingen line was opened connecting

2501-430: The line, together with the line between Eppingen and Sinsheim. So it had dismantled most of the continuous double-track section between Bretten and Heilbronn, replacing it with single track. The closure plans then stirred fierce opposition in the community. In the late 1980s, Class 628 DMUs took over passenger operations. At the same time operation between Bretten and Heilbronn on the weekends were sometimes altered. As

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2562-514: The line. There were now regular services on Sundays, leading to an increase in the number of rail passengers by up to 30 times. So an extension of Stadtbahn route from Bretten seemed to make sense. In 1996, the remaining DB through trains between Karlsruhe and Heilbronn were abandoned. Henceforth, these only shuttled between Bretten-Gölshausen and Heilbronn. On 1 June 1997, Stadtbahn services were extended as far as Eppingen, with DB trains operating between Eppingen and Heilbronn. On 26 September 1999,

2623-463: The morning peak of work and school transport—three sets of multiple units can be coupled. But, because the central on-street sections in Karlsruhe and Heilbronn are designed only to handle two sets coupled and because of the difficulty of separating and recombining trains for the inner city sections, trains rarely run at maximum length. The section from Grötzingen (km 0.0) to beyond Eppingen (km 43.5) has

2684-638: The official route number 4201; the following section to Heilbronn (km 140.0 to 118.6) is part of route 4950, which continues to Crailsheim. The zero point for the measurement of the chainage on the Hohenlohe Railway is at Goldshöfe station on the Upper Jagst Railway . The subsequent stops in Heilbronn's city centre are Bahnhofsvorplatz (with change from EBO to BOStrab procedures and electrification system), Neckar Turm am Kurt-Schumacher-Platz, Rathaus, Harmonie, Friedensplatz, Finanzamt and Pfühlpark. Directly after this station Stadtbahn services operate over

2745-613: The other former state railways of Bavaria , Prussia , Saxony , Baden , Mecklenburg and Oldenburg , formed the basis of the Deutsche Reichsbahn founded on 1 April 1920. German landscape painter Hermann Pleuer achieved fame through his impressionistic paintings of the trains and stations belonging to the K.W.St.E. In everyday speech the German abbreviation for the Royal Württemberg State Railways, K.W.St.E. ,

2806-607: The procurement and conversion of locomotives from 1885 to 1896, amongst others, was chief engineer Adolf Klose . Under his leadership compound locomotives and rack railway engines were procured for the first time. He also built a type of running gear to improve the curve running of locomotives. He was followed by Eugen Kittel . He introduced superheating into Württemberg. Under his direction were, inter alia, Kittel steam railbuses, Württemberg C express train locomotives and Württemberg K class goods engines brought into service. He also tested petrol and accumulator cars. In 1913

2867-490: The ramp to the Heilbronn Stadtbahn inner city line branches off. After the Stadtbahn stop in the forecourt of Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof , the Stadtbahn runs over a level crossing of the Franconia Railway on to the Kraichgau Railway to Karlsruhe . According to surveys of Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft in 2008, 13,400 passengers use the Stadtbahn daily on the route between Heilbronn and Öhringen. The patronage of DB Regio

2928-537: The remaining single section between Durlach and Bretten, without success. From 1935, the so-called Dieseleiltriebwagen (express diesel railcars) of class VT 137 were used on the line. Towards the end of the Second World War the Kraichgau Railway, like most other German railways, suffered significant damage. As the German army had blown up bridges in Grötzingen and Rinklingen and the line between Karlsruhe and Bretten

2989-411: The rural and frugal country folk travelling on the modern reality of railways. Kraichgau Railway The Kraichgau Railway ( German : Kraichgaubahn [ˈkʁaɪçɡaʊbaːn] ) is a 64.8 km long railway line in the region of Kraichgau in northwestern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg . It runs from Karlsruhe via Bretten and Eppingen to Heilbronn and

3050-565: The sections between Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof (AVG station) and Karlsruhe Durlach and between Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof and Heilbronn Pfühlpark the services run on tram lines through streets. AVG has leased the line between Karlsruhe-Grötzingen and Heilbronn from Deutsche Bahn for 25 years. The Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (Karlsruhe Transport Association, KVV) and the Heilbronner Hohenloher Haller Nahverkehr (Heilbronn Hohenlohe Hall Local Transport, H3NV) coordinate fares on

3111-536: The state railway started with the so-called Württemberg main lines. They ran from Stuttgart , along the River Neckar , on one side via Ulm to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance , on the other side via Bretten to Bruchsal in the Grand Duchy of Baden . From Bietigheim the Lower Neckar Railway (North Railway or Nordbahn ) branched off toward Heilbronn . After a pause of several years, work began on

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3172-630: The states in the Neckar Valley and the Kinzig Valley . Württemberg would build the Heilbronn–Eppingen section; Eppingen was identified as the interchange station. The Baden section would cross the Western Railway in Bretten. This was operated along its entire length by Württemberg, including the section through Baden territory between Ruit (near Bretten) and Bruchsal. In order to avoid the operation of

3233-658: The statistics showed the following: After defeat in the First World War , the 1919 Reich Constitution ended the independence of the Württemberg railways. By means of a state agreement between the German Empire and the states, the Württemberg State Railways (the Royal title had been dropped after the abdication of King Wilhelm II on 30 November 1918) transferred into Reich ownership on 1 April 1920, and, together with

3294-595: Was achieved. In 1862, the Kocher Valley line was established. This ran through Heilbronn from Hohenloh Land and on to Schwäbisch Hall . In 1867 it reached Crailsheim where trains on the Upper Jagst line from Aalen called and, in 1869, the connection was made with the Tauber Valley Railway to Mergentheim . The Brenz line , which was opened in 1864 to Heidenheim an der Brenz , had the potential to provide

3355-444: Was around 700 passengers a day; in 2002, before the launch of the Stadtbahn, it was 585. An extension of Stadtbahn from Öhringen-Cappel to Waldenburg or Schwäbisch Hall is being considered. A connection to Künzelsau via Waldenburg was being examined in 2008. Royal W%C3%BCrttemberg State Railways As in many other states of the German Empire , there was increasing debate about how to improve transport communications across

3416-505: Was built in 1880. It gained international renown in 1992 as the first dual-system rail/tram route of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn , the section between Karlsruhe and Bretten being the prototype for the so-called Karlsruhe model . The western section of the line runs across the main direction of stream flows in the Kraichgau. These rivers flow in a north-westerly direction, while the line runs north east from Karlsruhe to Eppingen. The resulting transitions between mountains and valleys require

3477-458: Was completed, running through from Pforzheim via Calw-Nagold to Horb. In Herbertingen the Allgäu line branched in 1869 via Saulgau– Aulendorf to Waldsee . There it went in 1870 as far as Kisslegg and in 1872 to Leutkirch im Allgäu ; in 1874 Isny received its own railway station. Finally the state railway expanded its network by building the following routes: A detailed article in German on

3538-696: Was impassable for several months, services between Karlsruhe and the Kraichgau had to operate via Bruchsal. At the same time some track was dismantled to allow the re-opening of the Bietigheim viaduct on the only rail link between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart in August 1945. The era of scheduled steam operations ended in May 1972. From now on services on the Kraichgau Railway were operated with multiple units and locomotives of class 218 and class 212 hauling Silberling carriages. From 1976, Deutsche Bundesbahn published plans to close

3599-479: Was jokingly said in the Swabian dialect to stand for „ K omm W eible, St eig E i “ or "Come on woman, climb aboard". Their Baden neighbours had a rather less kind interpretation: „ K ein W ürttemberger St irbt E hrlich “ or "No Württemberger dies an honest man!" The comic song "Auf der schwäb'sche Eisebahne" (On the Swabian railways) has been sung by many artists, and versions can be seen on YouTube . It contrasts

3660-526: Was opened on 10 December 1867. Planning and construction of the line were supervised by Carl Julius Abel. The original single-track line was duplicated between 1887 and 1890. In 1879 the Murr Valley Railway was connected to the Kocher Railway in the then neighboring town of Hessental rather than to Schwäbisch Hall station. This was disadvantageous for Schwäbisch Hall as a trip to Stuttgart required

3721-414: Was the longest of three considered and, because it required the construction of the 891 m long Weinberg tunnel between Heilbronn and Weinberg, was much more expensive but had the advantage that all the major places in the Weinberg valley, including importantly Weinberg, could be connected to each other. The Heilbronn–Schwäbisch Hall section was opened on 4 August 1862 and the Schwäbisch Hall–Crailsheim section

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