Elster Valley Railway

The railway line Gera South Weischlitz (also: Elstertal train) is a single-track main line in Thuringia and Saxony, which was originally built and operated by the Saxon-Thuringian Railway Company. It runs in the valley of the White Elster of Gera and Plauen to Greiz Weischlitz.

History

Original starting point was the Wolfsgefährth station on the existing Prussian railway Leipzig- Probstzella. The section of Wolfsgefärth to Greiz went on 17 July 1875 in operation. The second section of the route of Greiz to Plauen lower station was put into operation on September 8, the last section to Weischlitz followed on 20 September of the same year, this opens a route to the railway Plauen- Eger. However, the many bridges and tunnels eight drove the Saxon-Thuringian Railway Company in 1876 in the financial crisis, so that the track had to be sold to the Royal Saxon State Railways.

The Royal Saxon State Railways opened on December 1, 1892 a direct route from the train station Saxon Gera ( Reuss ) Sächs STSB (today Gera Süd ) to Wünschendorf. The original link to the Prussian railway station Wolfsgefärth was abandoned at the same time.

The so-called lower web is continuous for the twin-track operation traced out (tunnel, bridge abutments ). The second track was actually laid only on the portions of Gera - Wünschendorf and Plauen ( Vogtl ) Chrieschwitz -Plauen ( Vogtl ) unt Bf After the end of World War II it was dismantled.

On 16 April 1945, the Elstertalbrücke was blown up by the German Wehrmacht, until autumn 1945, the continuous movement of trains could be taken after clearing the debris again. After the Second World War the line for freight traffic had a great importance, since the towns on the White Elster were important industrial sites. It also reversed some long-distance trains in Czechoslovakia, since until well into the 1970s, the further east upper sheet over Werdau and Reichenbach after the dismantling of the postwar period were sometimes only a single track and thus overloaded. Similarly, the parallel Route Weida Mehltheuer was used as a relief route, but for connections to southern Germany. After the route Reichenbach - Plauen Upper station was completely double-tracked for traffic again, eased the workload of the bottom web. At the beginning of the 1980s, a high quality remote connection in the form of DMUs was created with the Ex 68 " Karola " again. This was made possible after the Zugeinsätze of Vindobona in 1979 switched from Triebzugreihe VT 18:16 on locomotive-hauled trains, and these were therefore available elsewhere. From 1981/82 then reversed only trains of freight and transport. Typically here the locomotives of the former 112 series (later 202 series ) in passenger rail service and the former series were 120 (later 220 series ) for freight trains.

After German reunification in 1990, the long-distance transport accounted for completely. Or Gera The Roadmap 1992/93 a pair Greiz Express Train are only ever - - Erfurt ( Fulda) - Adorf ( Vogtl ) provided. Freight traffic shrank to a few moves to Greiz - Dölau and some through freight trains to the Czech Republic. The branch line Greiz- Neumark was shut down and dismantled in 1999.

The passenger train is operated on a pro rata of the Vogtlandbahn and the German railway, since December 9, 2012. The Vogtlandbahn operates trains between Weischlitz and Gera and sets Desiro and Regio-Shuttle RS1 one on the track, the German railway in sections Greiz - Gera the DB Class 612 On the entire route there is a two-hour clock with junction in Elsterberg to hour, which is compressed between Greiz and Gera an hour with junction in Berga shortly before the half hour. Trips by steam locomotives between Gera and Cheb held on weekends and public holidays in the fall mostly. The freight is normally limited to trains between Gera and Greiz- Dölau and handoffs between Weischlitz and Plauen- Chrieschwitz. The tank car trains are biased between Gera and Greiz- Dölau locomotives of the series 203, 261 or 294. The transfers to the connections in Plauen city area (viscose staple fiber, lower station, Chrieschwitz ) are biased locomotives of the series 261 currently (May 2013). These transfers operate from Plauen whether Bf on the railway line to Eger ( " topsheet " ) and change in Weischlitz the direction of travel.

Due to the need of restructuring state of the lover Schwitzer viaduct ( speed restriction of 10 km / h) DB considered several options for the future traffic towards Weischlitz. By 2016 a branch is to be created from the track after Weida between Röppisch and Wolfsgefärth and (formerly Zwötzen East) will be decommissioned, the section on Liebschwitz and Gera East. In addition, the Zwötzen station is (currently only breakpoint ) be expanded again to a train station and receive a second platform, since there are next to keep the trains to Zeulenroda, yard and Saalfeld also trains to Greiz and Weischlitz future.

Route

The South Station Gera is initially rely on double track until after crossing under Südosttangente south the route to Saalfeld and east branches off the route Goessnitz. The Elstertal railway now follows the Saalfeld route southwards through the district Zwötzen and approaches her close Wolfsgefärth to a few meters to. In this section, the Weisse Elster is already twice traversed. At the level of expectations villages dolomite plant the disused railway line Weida Wünschendorf - Werdau is passed under until that hits the track in Elstertal Wünschendorf station. Both routes leave the city and the villages wishes pools in parallel and achieve the slim-cut and densely forested valley of the Elster, the Elstertal track changes to the west riverbank. After passing through the quartzite quarry, the route turns eastward from Werdauer in the Fuchsbachtal while the Elstertal route first leads through a tunnel and crossed the river again. In Berga State Road 175 is crossed and south of the city first roams an agricultural floodplain, up the river crossed again and the valley is abbreviated on the 264 m long tunnel Rüßdorfer. From the Lehnamühle the route leads through the nature reserve Greiz- Werdauer forest, past the railway station of Neumühlestrasse and after a double crossing of the river through the tunnel Neumühlestrasse. On the way to Greiz the river is still traversed twice, where in this section to the nennenswerteren engineering structures also include the popular photo motif as Schlossberg tunnel under the Upper Castle in Greiz.

On the second half of the course the Weisse Elster is crossed fourteen times, also extends to Elsterberg the federal highway 92 with largely by the Elster. At the exit of the train station Greizer branches off to the east from the disused line to Neumark, at the same time the old steel bridge of fir village road will pass under. Behind the mouth of the Göltzsch in the Weisse Elster crossed the line twice the magpie and leads through the tunnel Dölau or Roth Thaler tunnel before it reaches the station of Greiz- Dölau. Between Greiz- Dölau and Elsterberg the route remains on the eastern shore Elster and passes the border with the Free State of Saxony, before it six times leads to the following section to Barthmühle over the river and through two tunnels. Among the most prominent route points include the following implementation under the Elstertalbrücke, which in turn carries the railway line Leipzig -Hof. Immediately afterwards, the route leads past the mouth of the engine and the 800 meters to the east lying Pohl dam. There follow the tunnel Barthmühle and four other magpie bridge, until the industrial city of Plauen, with its only partially operated stations Chrieschwitz, Lower Station and viscose staple fiber is achieved. After leaving the city approaches from the north, the railway Plauen- Cheb, which finally in Kürbitz meets at the Elstertal train and the remaining scarce two kilometers to Weischlitz parallel.

Vehicle use

In the 1990s and locomotives of the series 219 and 232 came in passenger traffic in addition to the 202 series are used, which attracted mostly UIC -Z coaches, but sometimes UIC -X Schnellzugwagen the former Federal Railroad. In 2000, the first Desiros appeared on the track. The timetable change in 2012 was the DB Class 612 is used.