Bavarian Forest Railway

The railway platform Ling- Bavarian Eisenstein, also called the Bavarian Forest Railway is a major railway in Bavaria. It connects the central Bavarian Forest to rain and Zwiesel one hand with Plattling and the Danube Valley, the other, on Bavarian Eisenstein with the Czech Republic. In Plattling she meets with the mainline railway line Nuremberg -Regensburg -Passau ( KBS 880 ) and the transport distance in the direction Landshut and Munich ( KBS 931) together. In Bavarian Eisenstein she goes to the railway line to Pilsen and Prague.

• 5.1 stops
• 5.2 New Danube Bridge
• 5.3 Regentalbahn - workshop

History

After Plattling already since 1860 had a railway station, and six years later a branch line to Deggendorf was built, the Bavarian state developed from 1867 studies to investigate a rail link from Plattling about Deggendorf, rain and Zwiesel the Bohemian border to stimulate the economy in the Bavarian Forest. The Bavarian- Austrian State Treaty of June 21, 1851 saw besides the already realized rail connections to Bohemia in Furth iW and in Passau in Eisenstein before connecting to the Czech railway network. The railroad Pilsen- Billed ( - Komotau ) was prepared to extend their range Pilsen- Dux to the border with Eisenstein.

On the initiative of some local personalities AG Bayerische Ostbahnen received with the Bavarian concession of 25 November 1872 approving the construction of the railway line. The given her already on August 3, 1869 concession to build a route from Straubing to Cham let the Eastern Railway expire then. Back in 1873, began the preliminary work on the new route. The finding of a suitable route was extremely complicated by the rise of the Danube River in the Bavarian Forest and the necessary crossing of many valleys and promised high construction costs at moderate profitability. On the other hand, however, promised to be at a better link the new track from Plattling on through the Isar Valley to Munich a lucrative connection with Bohemia. 1874 could be started with the construction.

Streckenbau

In Plattling station the distance from the main railway Regensburg -Passau branches off to the north to Deggendorf and crosses there the Danube. For this, the Plattlinger station was moved to the west and rebuilt. The operated there since March 1, 1866 8.7 km long private Deggendorf Plattlinger goods train was canceled. Her two 2/2 coupled and 1866 supplied by Maffei tender locomotives with the name " DEGGENDORF " and " BAYER. FOREST " took over the Bavarian State Railways as DII 1176 and 1177th She looked at both machines in 1895.

For the rise of Deggendorf (320 m asl ) to the heights for God's cell (600 m above sea level ) were obtained from Chief Engineer Badhauser two different routes checked: a direct connection via Hirschberg with a slope of 20 ‰ and an artificial by 9.794 km route extension significantly flatter, which had only a gradient of 12.5 ‰. was despite higher construction costs realized due to the long term cheaper and faster operation by means of a double reverse loop between the upper Kandel Bach and Graf Ling and the tunnel at Ulrich mountain. On the construction work for this section of road up to 4,000 workers were partially involved. The valleys lying in the other route were traversed by long bridges or by long and high dams.

The most important engineering structures of the trail:

• Bridge over the Danube near Deggendorf, length 365 m
• Kohlbach dam at Earl Ling, length 390 m, 44 m high
• Kühbergkehrtunnel with Ulrich Berg, length 476 m
• Hochbühltunnel in God cell, length 569 m
• Zach Berger incision at Zachenberg, length 397 m, 29 m deep
• Ohebrücke in rain, length 308 m, 48 m high
• Rain Bridge in rain length 114 m, 25 m high
• Rain Bridge at Schweinhütt, length 70 m, 19 m high
• Rain Bridge in Zwiesel, length 135 m, 14 m high
• Deffernikbrücke at Ludwigsthal, length 102 m, 30 m high

The Ohebrücke is just behind the railway bridge Königswart ( height 50 m, length 279 m) at Wasserburg am Inn is the second highest railway bridge in Bavaria. In the Bavarian Eisenstein station a large reception building was built by the two railway companies to the state border through the center of the border runs. The line was built single track, but be prepared for a two-pronged expansion. However, this was omitted until today, as well as the connection to the 1875 route opened Mühldorf ( Upper Bavaria ) Plattling and in 1880 was put into operation link Pilsting -Landshut did not bring the hoped-for increase in traffic for the forest track and cross-border traffic.

During construction, Bavaria, the Act of April 15, 1875 approved the nationalization of the Bavarian Eastern Railway 10 May 1875, and led them on 1 January 1876, the Bavarian State Railroad together. Thus, the distance Platt Ling- Deggendorf God cell Rain Zwiesel - Ludwigsthal of the Bavarian State Railroad was put into operation on 16 September 1877. After completion of the Deffernikbrücke the 74.7 km route to Eisenstein went on 15 November 1877 in operation.

On the Czech side, the route was completed by moderns to Eisenstein already on 20 October 1877, and put into operation. The station building, the construction of the two railway companies had only decided on 17 May 1877 was not completed until 1878.

Sidings

A further development of the central Bavarian Forest by railways was of the forest railway track by several branch lines.

• On September 1, 1890 railway Zwiesel -Grafenau, 31.5 km long, by Bayer. State Railways (now KBS 906)
• On November 10, 1890 God's cell Viechtach, 25 km long, through the AG Lokalbahn God cell Viechtach with continuation of 1928 Blaibach and following the railway line was opened in 1892 State Cham - Kötzting.
• On October 17, 1891 Deggendorf - Metten, 4.2 km long, by the local railway Deggendorf - Metten AG.
• On November 26, 1913 Deggendorf Hengersberg, 11.6 km long, by Bayer. State Railway with continuation to Kalteneck and after the 1890/92 State Railway opened Passau - Freyung.
• On September 3, 1928 railway Zwiesel - ground corn, 14.5 km long, by the German State Railroad (now KBS 907)

Train services

The Bavarian State Railways had ordered on January 31, 1877 at the locomotive factory Maffei in Munich 6 pretty strong tank locomotives with the wheel arrangement C. One month after the opening of the forest railway ordered it after 4 other machines that were delivered in February / March 1878. They were given the name Ulrich Berg, God cell, Ludwigsthal and Eisenstein. In the DR they still got the numbers 89 8107-110 and were retired in 1925-1928. This tank locomotives were used on the forest railway for many years mainly in freight service. The passenger train service initially sided the two Eastern Railway Equipment E 1 and E 2, Tender machines with the wheel arrangement B. Then according to von Welser (see Bibliography ), the former Eastern Railway vehicles of category B, BB wheel 1 B, used in passenger train service here. They were out at the state railway in the BV class with the numbers 1003 to 1068.

On May 15, 1880 ran in passenger traffic on the forest track day 4 pairs of trains. Two pairs of trains had accelerated connection from / to Prague and ran from / of Landau. They needed for the route Eisenstein Plattling 2 hours 20 minutes, the other pairs of trains every 4 hours.

In May 1897 ran 4 trains daily from Eisenstein to Plattling and 5 trains in the opposite direction. The travel time ranged from 2 to 2 ½ hours. However, there was also a train to Eisenstein, presumably with the carriage of goods, the required 5 hours for the route. A pair of trains had coaches first - third Class for the route Landshut Pilsen. Two additional pairs of trains ran on the track Deggendorf Pilsting - Neumarkt- Mühldorf -Rosenheim. A continuous connection to Landshut did not exist.

In October 1913, Landshut -Landau Eisenstein the course book table instead of Eisenstein platform Ling -Rosenheim is now. It ran on the track Plattling Eisenstein daily 5 pairs of trains with cars, 2nd and 3rd class. In the direction of Eisenstein, the trains needed to 2 hours 20 minutes in the direction Plattling only 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours. More 4 pairs of trains ran daily between Deggendorf and Landshut. Toward Mühldorf / Rosenheim now had to be switched in Landau. Continuous car to Bohemia are no longer indicated.

1936 called the German Reichsbahn in their course book table 426 Landshut platform Ling- Eisenstein 7 pairs of trains daily, including 6 pairs of trains to / from Landshut. These trains also run the 2nd class. Since two pairs of trains the luggage and bicycles is limited, it could have acted as railcars. An early train managed the distance in 1 hour and 30 minutes the other trains ran 10 to 15 minutes longer. In addition, commuted another 4 pairs of trains daily between Deggendorf and Plattling. A Drive to Bohemia was 5 times a day possible, but always with stays of one or more hours in Eisenstein.

Trains after the Second World War

After the war, the train service with Bohemia came to a complete standstill. With the establishment of the Iron Curtain, a wire fence was drawn across the railway facilities of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic on the border and stopped the tracks. The Czech trains now ended in a few miles north of the border situated place Železná Ruda. The DB went with her ​​face to the buffer stop at the border fence of the station Bavarian Eisenstein and took the southern half of the divided reception building. The building had been completed the separation by walls.

The steam operation of the DB ended for freight transport in the 1970s. On March 6, 1974 drove the last scheduled steam locomotive 053063-4 N 2964 from Plattling to Bavarian Eisenstein and the return north in 2977 on 7 March.

Since April 1952 railcars were used on this route. The two railcars VT 95 953 and 955 were, however, initially on loan at the start of the summer schedule 1952 the operating plant in Regensburg. Only at the beginning of the summer schedule in 1953 these were then used regularly on this route. In the following years further VT were umbeheimatet 95 to Plattling and came here and on the branch lines are used. From October 1955 the operating Plattling were assigned 98 more railcars of type VT with the numbers 9517-9521. On this route were from April 1962 diesel locomotives of Class V 100.10 and shortly thereafter from September 1963 her sister locomotives of Class V 100.2. For summer timetable of 1965, the single-engined railcars VT 95 Series have been completely replaced by the twin-engined railcars and diesel locomotives. The operating Plattling was disbanded in June 1985. The vehicles then went over to the depot yard. In the winter timetable 1985/86, the entire operation was converted to locomotive-hauled carriage trains. In the summer timetables 1980-1987 perverted one to two times per week on this route organized by the DER rides the Alpine Lake Express. These were carried out with VT -601 multiple units and resulted from Hamburg to ground corn or from Dortmund to Grafenau. On the route Plattling -Zwiesel this perverted incorporated as a 20 - car trains. In addition, these drive trains ran on special order in the industrial cycle traffic over this route from Dortmund to ground corn. After elimination of railcars an IC through coach traffic to Zwiesel has been set up, which was set in 2002. These were drawn with locomotives of the DB Class 218.

The border crossing Bavarian Eisenstein was re-opened on 2 June 1991. Since then, one can in a short stay back in the trains of České drahy ( ČD ) to Klatovy ( Klattau ) and Plzeň (Pilsen) change. In both shunting railway companies use the tracks without regard to the limit.

Rail traffic today

While the two sidings Deggendorf - Metten 1984 in passenger and freight transport in 1991 and Deggendorf Kalteneck 1972 ( Eging - Kalteneck ) or 1981 ( Deggendorf Eging ) decommissioned in passenger and 1999 ( Eging - Kalteneck ) and 2004 ( Hengersberg - Eging ) were cut, the other connecting lines of the forest railway remained. From Deggendorf to Hengersberg still is the track. From God cell to Viechtach regular passenger has been closed since 1 May 1991. Today, operate only vehicles that are transferred to the workshop Regentalbahn in Viechtach. Moreover, mainly in the summer months, tourism trains of " walking path " ( KBS 12905 ) with a renovated historic livery Regentalbahn Esslinger railcars. These typical non- railcar operated from 1993 to 1997, the two connecting lines Zwiesel - ground corn and Zwiesel -Grafenau.

Since the summer timetable 1997 Regentalbahn, as a subcontractor of DB Regio Bayern, the Bavarian Forest Railway ( KBS 905 ), and the connecting lines to Grafenau ( KBS 906) and ground corn ( KBS 907) with Regio -Shuttle operates under the brand name "Forest path ".

After the tourists IC connection was set to Zwiesel in 2002, a feeder service to the samstägig traffic vacationers IC " Rottaler country " from Hamburg was created to Mühldorf in 2007. This holds out the clock node in Plattling so incurred with regular trains long waits. For this reason, two compounds of Zwiesel created after Plattling allowing short connecting flights on this pair of trains to the north.

Zwiesel is since the timetable change on 13 December 2003 clock nodes with low transfer shortly before the hour in all directions involved, since the intersection on the forest railway was moved by rain a few years ago. This was made possible again by the laying of the previous intersection in Ulrich mountain to a newly built Ausweiche a little further north ( at Graf Ling ). By this measure, the transfer times to the beat node Plattling could be shortened to six minutes. On this date also the interlocking in Ulrich mountain and rain was taken out of service.

After Bavarian Eisenstein and ground corn is from Plattling with change in Zwiesel an hourly service to Grafenau the motor coaches depart every 2 hours. As part of the modernization of rail transport to make on this route and to public transport for tourists and locals attractive, 1999 was a special ticket offer, the Bavarian Forest ticket, designed - one day ticket, which on sections of the forest railway, as well as many bus lines of the districts of rain and Freyung -Grafenau and Cham applies. This has been supplemented since May 2010 by the " guest service environment Ticket " ( GUTi ). This integrates the validity of a ticket in the Bavarian Forest Kurkarten of participating communities.

Following a tender " regional trains network Eastern Bavaria " by the Bavarian Railway Company the train services this railway line were reassigned. Regentalbahn takes over from December 2013 those services in-house. You travel on this route since 1997 on behalf of DB Regio. The range between Plattling and Deggendorf to be compressed to a half hour. Between Bay. Eisenstein and Klatovy should be established in consultation with the local Czech ordering organization, a two-hour clock with direct trains.

After a Gleismesszug had discovered several rail position error and a rail grinding should fix these was defective, the railway line from August 5 to August 25, 2013 has been closed for several weeks between Deggendorf and Zwiesel.

Cross-border rail traffic

For introduction of the summer timetable on 28 May 2006 for the first time took control features of the forest railway in the two- hour directly from Plattling about Bavarian Eisenstein to Czech Station Špičák ( Spitzberg ) and back. The Roadmap 2008 daily drive two pairs of trains to Špičák. In addition to three pairs of trains on weekdays and five pairs of trains will run on weekends in the winter season. In the summer season three additional trains daily. Since 1 March 2012, the trains were back in Bay. Eisenstein broken, since the legal situation of cross- border trains changed in the Czech Republic. From 1 April 2012 by popular trains will go back.

Extension

Stops

Between 2005 and 2007, several stops were renewed. Here, a consistent use of length of all platforms of 100 m was reached, so that a four- traction of trains running currently here Regioshuttles can keep on the platforms.

In the community Grafling 370,000 euros more expensive new platform by Strabag Rail was in the district Arzting from 16 September to the end of November, a 120 m long and 55 cm high and built in night shutdown periods. It was opened to the timetable change on 15 December 2013. A result, the passenger potential is developed, which was 10 years ago on this 23 km long road section broke since the abandonment of the former stations Ulrich Berg and Graf Ling.

New bridge across the Danube

Besides minor route construction is larger than building a new bridge over the Danube near Deggendorf since June 28, 2010 officially put into operation. The old bridge was allowed to be driven in this condition only until 28 June 2010. In the late evening of 23 June 2010, the last scheduled passenger train was driving the train number 32446 (departure in Plattling scheduled 23:10 clock ), the historic bridge in Zwiesel. To replace this, in March 2008, a new building 15 meters upstream was created and has been relocated to two kilometers of track length, the entire track. The 466 m long bridge was increased over the existing vertical clearance for ships of 4.30 m to about 8 m. This makes it the largest railway bridge in Bavaria. The construction costs amounted to 32 million euros. Payers of the building are each half of the Rhine -Main-Danube waterway AG and DB Netz AG. In addition, a replacement building for the upstream bridge over the main road was created in 2074. Here the city of Deggendorf contributes 80 % of the cost of 2.9 million euros expensive construction, the rest is applied by DB Netz AG. Part of the pillars of the old railway bridge will continue to be used for a pedestrian bridge that will connect the two parts of the great state garden show in 2014 at both sides of the Danube. Two of the old piers that are located in the fairway were removed. On 29 September 2010 the fairway about exciting part of the old bridge was dismantled, bringing the ships in the area Deggendorf is consistently the least 8 feet headroom.

Regentalbahn - workshop

In Zwiesel station built Regentalbahn can save a two-pronged workshop for light maintenance work to transfer trips to Viechtach by the end of 2013.

Others

• The track is in its stage of construction from 1983 some of the published on 22 October 2006 Expansion " German Railroads Volume 7 The Bavarian Forest " of the Microsoft Train Simulator.