62-567: 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 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
124-400: A flagman in a nearby booth who would, on the approach of a train, wave a red flag or lantern to stop all traffic and clear the tracks. This was a dangerous job that cost the lives of gatekeepers and their spouses, their children, their pets and their livestock, due to the inability for a train to stop from a suitable distance. Gated crossings became commonplace in many areas, as they protected
186-510: A common sight along railroads in industrial and rural cities alike. As automobile and roadway technology improved throughout the early and mid-20th century, most low volume industry spurs were abandoned in favor of the greater flexibility and economic savings of trucking. Today, railroads remain the most economical way to ship large quantities of material, a fact that is reflected in industrial spurs. Most modern day spurs serve very large industries that require hundreds, if not thousands, of carloads
248-571: 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 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
310-464: A mainline, they tend to have lower maintenance and signaling (train control) standards. Before the rise of the long-distance trucking in the early 1930s, railroads were the primary means of transportation around the world. Industries of the era were commonly built along railroad lines specifically to allow for easy access to shipping. Short (under a mile, oftentimes only several hundred yards) industrial spurs with very small (under ten car) capacities were
372-737: A road in the same fashion. Other names include railway level crossing , railway crossing (chiefly international), grade crossing or railroad crossing (chiefly American), road through railroad , criss-cross , train crossing , and RXR (abbreviated). There are more than 100,000 level crossings in Europe and more than 200,000 in North America. Road-grade crossings are considered incompatible with high-speed rail and are virtually non-existent in European high-speed train operations. The types of early level crossings varied by location, but often, they had
434-566: A secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line . A very short branch line may be called a spur line . Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located on a main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines. An industrial spur is a type of secondary track used by railroads to allow customers at a location to load and unload railcars without interfering with other railroad operations. Industrial spurs can vary greatly in length and railcar capacity depending on
496-786: A section of the West Rail line . Discontinued services include the Sha Tau Kok Railway and the Wo Hop Shek Branch . A spur line to Siu Sai Wan has been proposed. Delhi On the Delhi Metro , the Blue Line has a Branch Line with 8 Stations, linking Yamuna Bank to Ghaziabad via Anand Vihar ISBT and terminating at Vaishali. The first section of the Branch opened on 8 January 2010 with Anand Vihar as its terminal with six stations. It
558-399: 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 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
620-519: A significant risk of collisions between trains and road vehicles. This list is not a definitive list of the world's worst accidents and the events listed are limited to those where a separate article describes the event in question. Aircraft runways sometimes cross roads or rail lines, and require signaling to avoid collisions. Winston Churchill Avenue intersects the runway of Gibraltar International Airport at surface level; movable barricades close when aircraft land or take off. As of March 2023,
682-523: A subsidy for grain transport, and instead allowed railways to absorb branch line subsidies freely without making effort to improve the profitability of the lines. The term "grain-dependent branch lines" began being used as early as 1978 to refer to the special case of these branch lines in agricultural areas whose viability depended on the economics of grain transport. The Western Grain Transportation Act of 1983 addressed this case specifically, but
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#1733093519284744-533: A train is present, may differ from municipality to municipality. There are a number of possible arrangements: In France, cameras have been installed on some level crossings to obtain images to improve understanding of an incident when a technical investigation occurs. In England, cameras have been installed at some level crossings. In South Australia, cameras have been installed at some level crossings to deter non-compliance with signals. Designs of level crossings vary between countries. Level crossings present
806-474: 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 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
868-605: A tunnel under the runway opened to regular traffic, and the level crossing will only be available to pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooters. The Fianarantsoa-Côte Est railway crosses the runway at Manakara Airport . It is one of the few airports in the world that crosses an active railway line. A level crossing near Gisborne , sees the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line cross one of Gisborne Airport 's runways . Aircraft landing on sealed 1310-metre runway 14L/32R are signalled with two red flashing lights on either side of
930-461: A year. There is an international branch line between Italy and Vatican: the 300-metre Vatican Railway , connecting from the Pisa-Rome railway mainline at Roma San Pietro railway station , to Vatican City station . Many British railway branch lines were closed as a result of the " Beeching cuts " in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways . The smallest branch line that
992-552: Is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town . Operating on a single track, the journey is 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometres) long and the train takes around two and a half minutes to complete its journey. In North America, little-used branch lines are often sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout
1054-491: 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 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
1116-478: The 1968 Vienna Convention states (chapter 3, article 23b) that: This has been implemented in many countries, including countries which are not part of the Vienna Convention. Trains have a much larger mass relative to their braking capability, and thus a far longer braking distance than road vehicles. With rare exceptions, trains do not stop at level crossings and rely on vehicles and pedestrians to clear
1178-529: The Bay of Plenty Region , lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks . In Auckland and Wellington , two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see
1240-519: The European Railway Agency (ERA). The ERA manages and is responsible for the entire data collection. The Eurostat data constitute a part of the data collected by ERA and are part of the so-called Common Safety Indicators (CSIs). Note: Since 2010, use of national definitions is no longer permitted: 2010 CSI data represent the first fully harmonized set of figures Traffic signal -controlled intersections next to level crossings on at least one of
1302-717: The Gladstone Branch in New Jersey; as well as the New Canaan Branch , Danbury Branch , and Waterbury Branch in Connecticut . The Long Island Rail Road also refers to its services as "branches". In Chile, there are a lot of branch lines on its main line, of only a few remain operational. Most only operating in turistic services (like the Antilhue-Valdivia branch line), others have been taken over by other railways (like
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#17330935192841364-1013: The Grand Trunk , Canadian National , or Canadian Pacific ) which would acquire formerly independent short line railways for use as branch lines, with the short line often continuing to exist as a subsidiary. For example, when the Canadian Pacific acquired the Algoma Eastern Railway (a short line) in 1930, it soon after abandoned much of the Algoma Eastern mainline, but retained sections close to Algoma Eastern–Canadian Pacific junctions as short branch lines or spurs. The National Transportation Act of 1967 provided government subsidies for branch lines. Western railway development in Canada worked in concert with land settlement and cultivation, as pioneers were settled near railway lines, often on land
1426-761: The North South Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang stations was operated as a separate line, known as the Branch line . It was merged into the North–South Line with the opening of the Woodlands Extension in 1996. The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line will also have branch lines. New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury , Otago , and Southland . Many were built in
1488-724: The Regionalbahnkonzept 2014+ concept. This provides for new rolling stock and an hourly service on the Brunswick–Uelzen line. In addition, connections between 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
1550-672: The South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to LOHAS Park station , opened in 2009. Earlier, a spur line was built in 1985 on the East Rail line to serve Racecourse station , bypassing Fo Tan station . Also, the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension [ yue ] was built in 2004 on the East Rail line to serve East Tsim Sha Tsui station . However, after the Kowloon Southern Link was completed in 2009, this spur line turns into
1612-405: The list of New Zealand railway lines . Level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path , or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel . The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses
1674-411: 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 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
1736-666: The San Rosendo-Talcahuano branch line, which has been taken over by Biotrén and the Laja-Talcahuano train service) however, there is one branch line that still remains as fully operative. The Talca-Constitución branch line, which uses trains with bus motors. Two extensions to the MTR rapid transit network were built as branches of existing lines: the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to Lok Ma Chau station , which opened in 2007; and
1798-599: The U.S. state of New Jersey . The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line , running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. Also known as the "Dinky Line", at 2.9 mi (4.7 km) it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Other than the Princeton Line, other surviving branch lines include
1860-578: The United States are killed in level crossing accidents. Collisions can occur with vehicles as well as pedestrians; pedestrian collisions are more likely to result in a fatality. Among pedestrians, young people (5–19 years), older people (60 years and over), and males are considered to be higher risk users. On some commuter lines most trains may slow to stop at a station but some express or freight trains pass through stations at high speed without stopping. As far as warning systems for road users are concerned, level crossings either have "passive" protection, in
1922-469: The United States and Canada, branch lines link smaller towns too distant from the main line to be served efficiently, or to serve a certain industrial site such as a power station either because of a location away from the main line or to reduce congestion. They were typically built to lower standards, using lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. Much of Canada's branch line history relates to large rail transport conglomerates (such as
Brunswick–Uelzen railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
1984-476: 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 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
2046-484: 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 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
2108-424: 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, 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,
2170-515: 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 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
2232-552: The first president of the Canadian National Railway , said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are even essential to make main lines pay. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act . The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in
2294-648: The form of various types of warning signs, or " active " protection, using automatic warning devices such as flashing lights, warning sounds, and barriers or gates. In the 19th century and for much of the 20th, a sign warning "Stop, look, and listen" (or similar wording) was the sole protection at most level crossings. Today, active protection is widely available, and fewer collisions take place at level crossings with active warning systems. Modern radar sensor systems can detect if level crossings are free of obstructions as trains approach. These improve safety by not lowering crossing barriers that may trap vehicles or pedestrians on
2356-534: The late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast , an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and
2418-574: 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 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
2480-511: 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 the line. To about 1994 there was a siding in Meine to the old sugar factory , that was frequently used by goods trains during
2542-501: The need for animal protection diminished with time. Full, half or no-barrier crossings superseded gated crossings, although crossings of older types can still be found in places. In rural regions with sparse traffic, the least expensive type of level crossing to operate is one without flagmen or gates, with only a warning sign posted. This type has been common across North America and in many developing countries. Some international rules have helped to harmonise level crossing. For instance,
Brunswick–Uelzen railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
2604-718: 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 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
2666-789: 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 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
2728-469: The post-steam period, locomotive of classes V 60 and 212 and, between 1999 and 2014, diesel locomotives of Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgitter could be observed. Today, freight transport is hauled by locomotives of class 294 and 261 ( Voith Gravita ) and south of Braunschweig-Watenbüttel by locomotives of the Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen (OHE). Branch line A branch line is
2790-617: The proximity of some stations) rebuilding 51 stations. At railway stations , a pedestrian level crossing is sometimes provided to allow passengers to reach other platforms in the absence of an underpass or bridge, or for disabled access. Where third rail systems have level crossings, there is a gap in the third rail over the level crossing, but this does not necessarily interrupt the power supply to trains since they may have current collectors on multiple cars. Source: US Department of Transportation. (1 mile=1.6 km) Source: Eurostat : The rail accident data are provided to Eurostat by
2852-405: The railroad crossing which will turn red, keeping new traffic from crossing the tracks. This is in addition to the flashing lights on the crossing barriers). After enough time to clear the crossing, the signal will turn. The crossing lights may begin flashing and the barriers lower immediately, or this might be delayed until after the traffic light turns red. The operation of a traffic signal, while
2914-471: The railway from people trespassing and livestock, and they protected the users of the crossing when closed by the signalman/gateman. In the second quarter of the 20th century , manual or electrical closable gates that barricaded the roadway started to be introduced, intended to be a complete barrier against intrusion of any road traffic onto the railway. Automatic crossings are now commonplace in some countries as motor vehicles replaced horse-drawn vehicles and
2976-556: The railways had owned. However, by the mid-20th century, railways began neglecting lines in western agricultural regions. This was historically driven by factors such as the Crow Rate , which regulated the price railways could charge for shipping grain. Railways had little incentive to invest in rural Prairie branch lines, but were legally unable to abandon them under the National Transportation Act , which also did not provide
3038-507: The requirements of the customer the spur is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it is not uncommon for one industrial spur to have multiple sidings to several different customers. Typically, spurs are serviced by local trains responsible for collecting small numbers of railcars and delivering them to a larger yard, where these railcars are sorted and dispatched in larger trains with other cars destined to similar locations. Because industrial spurs generally have less capacity and traffic than
3100-458: The roads in the intersection usually feature traffic signal preemption . In the US, approaching trains activate a routine where, before the road lights and barriers are activated, all traffic signal phases go to red, except for the signal immediately after the crossing, which turns green (or flashing yellow) to allow traffic on the tracks to clear (in some cases, there are auxiliary traffic signals prior to
3162-440: The runway and a horizontal bar of flashing red lights to indicate the runway south of the railway line is closed, and may only land on the 866 metres (2,841 ft) section of the runway north of the railway line. When the full length of the runway is open, a vertical bar of green lights signal to the aircraft, with regular rail signals on either side of the runway indicating trains to stop. The runway of Ometepe Airport crosses
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#17330935192843224-712: 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 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
3286-694: 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 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
3348-413: 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 the time of the "hedgerow semi-fast trains," was rebuilt. The platforms were adapted in whole or in part to the entry height of
3410-474: The tracks in advance. Several accidents have occurred where a heavy load on a slow road transporter has not cleared the line in time, eg Dalfsen train crash and Hixon rail crash . At Hixon the police escort had received no training in their responsiblities. Level crossings constitute a significant safety concern internationally. On average, each year around 400 people in the European Union and over 300 in
3472-414: The tracks, while signalling trains to brake until the obstruction clears. However, they cannot prevent a vehicle from moving out onto the track once it is far too late for the locomotive to slow even slightly. Due to the increase in road and rail traffic as well as for safety reasons, level crossings are increasingly being removed. As of 2024 Melbourne is closing 110 level crossings by 2030 and (due to
3534-483: 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 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
3596-496: Was further extended to Vaishali in 2011. The line is planned to be extended from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar via Sahibabad Station to link with the main line. The East West Line of the MRT system in Singapore has a two-station branch to Changi Airport . The first station, Expo , opened in 2001. It was extended to Changi Airport station the next year. From 1990 to 1996, the section of
3658-488: Was repealed in 1994 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement and budget-balancing initiatives in favour of a one-time payout by the federal government directly to farmers, to arrange transport of grain themselves. From the mid-1970s to the late 2010s, more than 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Prairie branch lines were abandoned or had a discontinuance of service. David Blyth Hanna ,
3720-579: 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
3782-481: 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 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,
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#17330935192843844-467: 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, 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,
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