Gotha–Leinefelde railway

The railway line Gotha - leash field is a non-electrified railway line between Gotha and Leinefelde in Thuringia. It was opened in 1870 by the Thuringian Railway Company. The distance is about 67.1 km. Every two hours operate regional express trains series 612 between Göttingen and Glauchau or Zwickau ( RE 1). Between this clock also operate the regional rail line RB 52 (Erfurt Hbf - line field ) and RB 53 ( Gotha -Bad Langensalza ), as well as the newly established regional train RE 2 (Erfurt Hbf -Kassel- Wilhelm height). All lines are since December 2013 operated by DB Regio, the regional trains and the new express line are operated by railcars of series 641 and 642, respectively. The scheduled journey time is approximately 40 minutes ( regional express train ) and 61 minutes ( regional trains ) for each direction.

It is thus part of the fastest connection of Jena, Weimar and Erfurt to Hanover.

History

Already in the 1840s, was thinking about a railway from Hannover to Bavaria through Thuringia. When the construction of the Hanoverian Southern Railway Hannover- Göttingen ( -Kassel, opened 1854) and the railway line Eisenach- Lichtenfels ( opened in 1859 ) became apparent, a combination of these paths over Mühlhausen was planned. From Göttingen to Leinefelde the provisional western end of the railway line hall - Hann should. Be shared Munden ( Nordhausen Leinefelde- Arenshausen - Friedland -Göttingen in 1867 opened ). However, the States concerned (Hannover, Prussia, Saxony -Weimar and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ) could not agree on a long alignment, especially the southern terminus ( Eisenach, Gotha and Erfurt ) was controversial. At the end, they agreed on Gotha, 1868 could begin the construction, in 1870 the traffic was recorded. To connect to the Werrabahn, the route from the East to the existing station since 1847 Gotha ( Halle- Bebra railway line ) was introduced. This means that today mainly aiming at Erfurt trains in Gotha must change direction.

However, the success was as large north-south axis from, inter alia, is because the connection only in a roundabout way was possible to the Werrabahn. 1876, the later north-south route of the Federal Railroad between Friedland and Bebra was opened, which is shorter and passable with higher load was ( 1:80 slopes over 1:50 on the Werrabahn ). As early as 1884 the railway line between Arenshausen and Friedland was abandoned, so that had to be changed from Gotha to Göttingen in Eichenberg the direction of travel or changed.

The 1880 connected Kanonenbahn remained of secondary importance; after all, this was the section Leinefelde - Silberhausen separation station expanded to double track. After the Treaty of Versailles the Kanonenbahn including the section Leinefelde 1919 /20 - Silberhausen separation station back one track.

By 1945 the railway Gotha - line field was mainly regional transport and long-distance services from Erfurt to Hannover with individual D- trains. During the communist era perverse traits of Gotha either Leinefelde or even just to Mulhouse and from Erfurt to Bad Langensalza or Mulhouse.

Since reunification, and the reopening of the railway line between Arenshausen and Eichenberg 1990 trips between Erfurt and Kassel are offered after completion of Eichenberger curve since 1998 to Göttingen. Because of the constantly deteriorating track condition on the railway line Kühnhausen bath Langensalza and because of the new building of the Gotha viaduct was built to 1993 the curve to bypass the station Gotha, which was then used but runs regularly up to 1997.

The railway line field -Gotha was expanded by the state of Thuringia as " public transport route pattern No.1 " for tilting up to 160 km / hr. After this model proved to be successful, they built the railway line between Erfurt and Würzburg and the railway line Weimar -Gera in this way from. The Regional Express line RE 1 is served by the series 612 and reached for regional traffic conditions maximum speed 160 km / h: So for example, the travel time on the 20 km long section between Mulhouse and Bad Langensalza 10 minutes, which an average cruise speed of 120 km / h results.

For Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2015, therefore, the Thuringian State Government has notified the electrification of the railway line. At the same time the route Weimar- Gera ( - Goessnitz ) is to be electrified, so that the middle - Germany connection of Göttingen Erfurt to Chemnitz could then be operated electrically. The building measures are a prerequisite for the possible resumption of long-distance traffic on the relation be dar. discussed first single InterCity trains with support from the state government so that it could be used within Thuringia also about the public transport fare.

From May 2000 to December 2013, the RB was served 53 Gotha -Bad Langensalza of the Erfurt train with railcar Regio-Shuttle.