Kochelsee Railway

The Kochelseebahn is a 35.47 km long, single-track and continuous electrified railway in Upper Bavaria. It is run by Deutsche Bahn AG as Route number 961. The Kochelseebahn branches in Tutzing from the main railway main station Munich - Garmisch -Partenkirchen and from there, via Penzberg according to Kochel am eponymous Lake Kochel.

The section of Tutzing to Unterbichl is classified as a major railway, the rest as a side alley. The line was electrified on March 4, 1925.

Route description

The trail begins west of Lake Starnberg at Tutzing station and initially runs parallel to the route to Garmisch -Partenkirchen. After 2.5 km the route branches off to the west, while the Kochelseebahn follows the shore of the lake. Between the lake and the main Iffeldorf the route leads along the Osterseen. After the line had to Unterbichl out to the southeast, it changes the direction there, and runs south. In addition, the distance along now leads the Bavarian Alps with the Benediktenwand. West of the Kochelseebahn is now the Loisach and Loisach Lake Kochel -Moore. In Benediktbeuren the railway line leading directly at the local monastery along. After 35.5 km, the distance in Kochel reached its terminus.

History

On the initiative of the cities Weilheim and Penzberg the Royal Bavarian State Railways ( K.Bay.Sts.B ) opened on October 16, 1865 a railway line from Tutzing to Penzberg. One of the main reasons for the construction of the new compound was the transportation needs of the Penzberger coal mine with an annual flow of the improved transport connection within ten years of around 13,000 tonnes rising to about 50,000 t.

On May 23, 1898, the extension of the line of Penzberg about Unterbichl to Kochel was put into operation. These branches already in front of the railway station located in the north Penzberg of the existing line and tangent to the town in the southwest, where a new station is created. The previous station, however, was only used for freight services, for a connecting track between the renamed in Penzberg Gbf old and the new station is created. In Unterbichl until May 31, 1959 was a connection to Isartalbahn to Munich, whose section Unterbichl - Beuerberg was also opened on 23 May 1898.

The electrification of the entire route Tutzing - Kochel including links to Penzberg Gbf was completed on March 4, 1925. North of the Penzberger freight station began in 1942 with the construction of a railway power plant, which - was put into operation on 30 January 1951 - after a wartime setting of works 1944-1947. Up to 1966, resulted setting of coal mining in Penzberg, it was almost exclusively operated with local coal, then the fuels were delivered to the decommissioning of the power plant on 30 April 1971, the Saar and the Ruhr. With the removal of coal mining and power plant, the importance of Penzberger freight station took off. In 1986, the demolition of the overhead line in Penzberg Gbf, 1989, the sale of the station area to the city of Penzberg and then the dismantling of the railway tracks.

During the 1980s, regular trips to the offered "Transparent train " on the track.

With the decline in freight traffic and at the same time declining passenger volumes, the cost of the railway line took off. The German Federal Railroad ( DB), since 1949 the operator and owner of the connection, considered in the 1970s and 1980s, several times publicly its closure, which was not approved at the initiative of the Free State of Bavaria. Especially since the 1994 made ​​improvement in the supply schedule by the introduction of the hour clock is again listed on the Kochelseebahn increasing passenger flow. In the summer of 1997 steam nostalgia trips were offered on weekends on the track, in the summer of 1998, these were limited to Sundays. Today, no more nostalgia trips take place.

The remaining after the end of the coal freight transport, however, was largely discontinued in the 1990s. By early 2008, dealers in railway vehicles and scrap operation was supplied on the premises of the former Penzberger railway power plant sporadically before the siding was removed in May 2008. In August 2008, including the old railway crossing ( Karlstr. / Seeshaupter Str ) and the old broken protection signal was degraded. The gravel of the former railway track and the signs (speed table and Whistle ) on the old route are still present today. On the entire route of the Kochelseebahn there are now no more to freight facilities, they were reduced in almost all stations.

Since May 2010 locomotive-hauled trains are allowed to drive only to Unterbichl because of bridge damage. In 2013, all stations with the exception of the Kochelseebahn Bernried were expanded accessible to allow the commissioning on 15 December 2013, the Will rock track with new vehicles of the series 442 barrier-free access to the trains. Previously drove on the track Electric Railcar of the series 425 and 426

Current operation (2014)

On all weekdays there is an hourly service throughout the day with Train meeting in Unterbichl just before the hour. This running every hour trains stopping in Starnberg to Munich Central Station by, in Tutzing another pull part from Weilheim docked. In the weekday rush hour, there is a half hour in the morning between Kochel and Munich, evenings only between Penzberg and Munich. These trains intersect then in main lake and couple in Tutzing on the draft part of Garmisch -Partenkirchen. As rolling stock is the German railway since 2013 Railcar a series of 442.

At the stations Sesshaupt and Unterbichl are still mechanical interlockings and signals present form. The Dispatcher will set the course and shape of signals by hand lever and cable. While the interlocking Unterbichl was built in the unit type, is in the main lake since 1903, a mechanical interlocking of the type Krauss with crank drive.