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32-542: The Wittingen–Oebisfelde Light Railway opened its line from Wittingen to Brome on 15 September 1909 and, on 20 November of the same year, to the terminus at Oebisfelde Nord, the last section of which lay in the Prussian Province of Saxony (today Saxony-Anhalt ). By 1843 it had drawn up plans to build a link from Uelzen via Brome to the southeast. Initially, however, the Uelzen–Wittingen– Gifhorn line

64-503: A regular hourly rate. In addition to the infrastructure upgrade being unfinished, the financing of additional rolling stock has not been resolved. During the steam locomotive era, classes 03 , 38 , 50 , 55 , 57 and 64 among others were operated. In the 1930s, there were also apparent benefits from using accumulator railcar ETA 177. In the 1970s, passenger service were operated with two-engine Uerdingen railbuses (class VT 98.9) and class 628.0 and 614 diesel multiple units and

96-461: Is about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northeast of Gifhorn , and 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Uelzen . Wittingen consists of 27 districts: The earliest identified record of Wittingen appears in a document dated 781 which defines the territorial borders of the Bishopric of Hildesheim . Another early mention dates from 803 during the reign of Charlemagne , this time identifying the borders of

128-482: Is situated at the Brunswick-Uelzen railway and offers connections to Braunschweig . The Privatbrauerei Wittingen produces with 100 employees 365 000 hectolitres of beer per year. Brunswick-Uelzen railway The Brunswick–Uelzen railway line is a largely, single-tracked, non-electrified branch line in the north German state of Lower Saxony . It serves the northern part of Brunswick Land and

160-668: The Church of St Stephen built. By the beginning of the thirteenth century Wittingen had been granted Town privileges , and was a part owner of the Lüneburg Mint. The fourteenth century was a period of political instability in this part of Europe and in 1340 ownership of Wittingen was transferred to the Welfs of Celle . Later, with the outbreak of the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud , the town was almost completely destroyed in 1519. Consequently,

192-769: The Brunswick–Wieren railway and the America line. A regional service once again connected Brunswick with Bremen over this route in 2010 and 2011. This tradition came to an end temporarily with the takeover of local traffic on the Uelzen–Bremen line by erixx GmbH in December 2011. The tracks on the Bad Bodenteich–Wieren section were relaid in July 2011 on a ten-kilometre section from Vorhop towards Neudorf-Platendorf via Wahrenholz in

224-660: The Stadtbahn and the Regionalbahn in Braunschweig-Gliesmarode would be improved. In the long term, a half-hourly service would be provided between Brunswick and Gifhorn Stadt. The infrastructure would have to be upgraded to handle the increased number of services. In the area of Rötgesbüttel, for example, a second track is to be built so that the trains can cross every hour. The infrastructure was originally planned to be upgraded by 2016. Only then could rail services operate at

256-481: The autumn of 2012. At the same time, the freight tracks in Wahrenholz station were dismantled (this part of the station was formerly called the Ölbf. , "oil station", as it was used for the loading of oil from the town’s two oil wells). The renewal of the tracks between Vorhop and Stöcken followed in 2013, with the simultaneous upgrading of all sets of points on the former freight tracks of Wittingen station. In addition,

288-514: The building of town fortifications began shortly afterwards. According to the Lower Saxony State Department for Statistics 12,291 people lived in the town of Wittingen in 2005 in 3,745 buildings with a total of 5,399 homes at an average floor space of 49.9 square metres (537 sq ft) per person. Since the formation of the borough, the population grew steadily, both by natural population increase as well as immigration. 21.3% of

320-522: The dust jacket of the first edition of Bernward Vesper's short novel, The Reise ("The Journey", 1977). In the 1970s, so-called Heckeneilzuge ("hedgerow semi-fast trains") worked the line. These were Eilzug trains than ran on secondary routes rather than main lines . For example, in 1975 there were pairs of trains on the Flensburg – Lübeck –Wittingen– Kreiensen and Hamburg –Wittingen– Goslar –Kreiensen routes. Today there are almost no goods trains on

352-609: The eastern part of the Lüneburg Heath, and reaches Wieren after passing through Wittingen , where there is a junction to the East Hanoverian Railways network, and Bad Bodenteich . At Wieren it merges into the electrified Stendal–Uelzen railway , the eastern section of the America Line , sharing its trackbed to Uelzen . The Brunswick–Uelzen railway is the shortest link from Brunswick, Salzgitter and Wolfsburg to

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384-827: The eastern region of the Lüneburg Heath . The most important station en route is Gifhorn . The line has also been called the Mühlenbahn ("Mill Railway") for several years due to the many mills along its route. The line runs from Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof to the north, bridges the Mittelland Canal and crosses the Hanover–Wolfsburg line (part of the Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway ), in Gifhorn (old station name: Isenbüttel-Gifhorn ). It then traverses Gifhorn district and

416-429: The end of the 19th century. Since then it has been regularly worked by passenger trains. The first train ran on 1 March 1889, when the line was cleared for goods traffic from Isenbüttel -Gifhorn to Meine , and the first passenger train on the line ran on 1 July 1890. North of Isenbüttel-Gifhorn the next section to Triangel was opened to goods traffic on 1 May 1889 and passenger services on 1 November 1889. Both sections of

448-750: The hedgerow semi-fast trains were hauled by class V 200.0 locomotives. The operation was successively operated with classes 634, 613 and 515 sets until the operation was switched to Silberling carriages hauled by locomotives. For a long time passenger trains hauled by DB Class 218 diesel locomotives dominated the scene. They ran with driving coaches for the first time in the 2002/03 timetable. In 2003, this chapter in passenger train history came to an end. Since then trains running between Brunswick and Uelzen have been made up almost exclusively of DB Class 628 multiple units . Until December 2008 some trains were provided by Class 614s . Since December 2014, erixx GmbH has operated LINT 54 sets. In freight traffic in

480-518: The last regional train left Brunswick about 19:37 towards Gifhorn. Since December 2014, the line has been operated by the erixx railway company based in Soltau with Lint 54 railcars. With the exception of a later evening connection from Brunswick to Wittingen, the extension of another late-evening service to Uelzen from Fridays to Sundays, a late connection on Sunday from Brunswick to Wittingen and two improved early connections between Uelzen and Gifhorn,

512-429: The level crossings near Meine ( federal route 4 ) and Ausbüttel due to defective barriers. In these situations, the police have to react quickly to direct the traffic manually. Very occasionally the line is used by museum railways . It was intended that the section of line between Gifhorn Stadt and Brunswick would constitute part of a new Brunswick RegioStadtBahn . Several stations and halts would have been rebuilt and

544-500: The line each day. In addition there was a Kleinbahn Bus on the Brome–Wittingen section. In 1944 the company was merged into the East Hanoverian Railways ( Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen ) along with several other firms. In 2008 the line from Wittingen to Rühen largely still exists. Wittingen Wittingen ( German pronunciation: [ˈvɪ.tɪŋ.ən] ) is a town in the district of Gifhorn , Lower Saxony , Germany . It

576-585: The line. To about 1994 there was a siding in Meine to the old sugar factory , that was frequently used by goods trains during the sugar beet season, but in the 1970s was taken out of service. In early 2008 the urban level crossings in Meine were replaced and the bridge over the Midland Canal near Bechtsbüttel renovated. Several regional services on the Brunswick– Bremen route operated until December 2008 over

608-525: The newly established Bishopric of Halberstadt . Neither of these sources pins down a date for the foundation of Wittingen, however. During the Medieval period Wittingen was not merely a frontier point, but also a focus for traffic crossing into and out of the Altmark . The town was a trading point and an overnight stop for east-west commerce. Its significance was signaled in the ninth century when The Bishopric had

640-570: The north. Because it not been significantly upgraded, however, (maximum speeds on the line up to 80 km/h), routes via Lehrte are much faster. Running roughly parallel to the railway, but at distance of a few kilometres, are the Elbe Lateral Canal , which is crossed twice, the B ;4 federal road and the planned route of the A ;39 motorway. The railway was taken into service shortly before

672-456: The number of trains on this line would have been increased to match the more frequent intervals of the RegioStadtBahn. In another stage of the project, RegioStadtBahn services would have also been extended over the line to Uelzen. The entire project was originally intended to be completed by 2014. The project failed in 2010, because significantly increased vehicle procurement costs meant that it

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704-556: The points for the crossing loop in Bad Bodenteich and the entire length of track 2 including the sets of points in Gifhorn Stadt were renewed. In 2014, the track was renewed between Stöcken and Bad Bodenteich, where it connects with the subsequently constructed island platform, which enables the crossings of the few trains that have run hourly since December 2014. Platform 1, next to the station building, which had been dismantled at

736-399: The population in 2005 were under 18 years old, 7.1% from 18 to 25, 27.0% from 25 to 45, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 20.3% were 65 years old or older. The unemployment rate stood at an average of 11.3% (men: 9.4%, women: 14.0%). 2,247 people commute regularly out of the town and 1745 into it daily. Wittingen has one hospital (Städtisches Krankenhaus), four pharmacies and six dentists. Wittingen

768-418: The railway was the requirement to transport agricultural produce and goods. Farmers promised themselves lower transportation costs for the delivery of fertilizer in a region with few fertile soils. That would, in turn, increase yields which the railway could dispatch. In 1909 operations began with four steam locomotives from the firm of Borsig hauling passenger and goods trains. The station at Wittingen West

800-419: The range of services has not yet improved dramatically as some connections that did not conform to the regular-interval pattern have also been dropped. Freight traffic still operates from and to Knesebeck (timber loading, a siding to the firm of Butting), from and to the port of Wittingen as well as south of Braunschweig-Gliesmarode. In places the line needs to be upgraded. There are sometimes traffic jams at

832-496: The route were initially operated by the Berlin-Lehrte Railway Company . The southern link to Brunswick was opened on 1 July 1894 and the northern line to Uelzen on 1 September 1900. Until 1913 trains from Brunswick ran from the west into the old station of Isenbüttel-Gifhorn. There they had to continue to Uelzen in order to change direction. Following an extensive relaying of the track, from 1913 trains could approach

864-463: The same time the station forecourt was enlarged with the installation of a bus station and extra parking. Until December 2014, Regionalbahn trains operated by DB Regio provided passenger services more-or-less every 2 hours, usually using Class 628 diesel multiple units . The timetable was unappealing because of the two-hourly cycle and the early last service. Thus, on Mondays to Fridays only eleven train pairs ran between Brunswick and Gifhorn and

896-573: The station from the east which shortened journey times. During the Second World War there were two serious accidents at Isenbüttel-Gifhorn station. Both were collisions in which two trains were involved. On 22 January 1941 a train ran into a military transport with about 1,000 Belgian prisoners-of-war . As a result, over 120 passengers lost their lives. On 11 October 1944 nine people died in another accident and 15 were seriously injured. A photograph of Triangel station near Neudorf-Platendorf graces

928-493: The time of the "hedgerow semi-fast trains," was rebuilt. The platforms were adapted in whole or in part to the entry height of the new railcars in the stations of Gifhorn Stadt, Neudorf-Platendorf, Wahrenholz and Knesebeck. A new island platform was installed in Wittingen station in 2017 and the old platform 1 was dismantled at the same time. Platforms 1 and 2 in Gifhorn Stadt were completely renewed in their previous location and at

960-626: Was also used from the outset by the Celle–Wittingen Light Railway and the Altmärkische Light Railway . In 1924/25 a steam engine was procured from Hanomag in Hanover . The high workload of the route is evinced, for example, by figures from the year 1928. That year six locomotives hauled 100,000 passengers and about 125,000 tonnes of freight. In 1933 and 1938 two railbuses were bought. In 1939 on three pairs of trains ran on

992-603: Was built. This route lay entirely on the territory of the Kingdom of Hanover , whilst the line to Oebisfelde ran to Prussia. In 1900 after plans to build a state railway line came to nothing, there were attempts to found a light railway or Kleinbahn . Its sponsors were the numerous local parishes, other regional bodies such as the Kingdoms of Prussia and Hanover and the Brunswick Land as well as several private investors. The reason for

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1024-668: Was no longer economically viable. In order to be able to increase the attractiveness of the regional train services even without the RegionalStadtBahn, the Zweckverband Großraum Braunschweig (Greater Brunswick Municipal Association, ZGB) developed the Regionalbahnkonzept 2014+ concept. This provides for new rolling stock and an hourly service on the Brunswick–Uelzen line. In addition, connections between

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