Lake Constance Belt Railway
The Lake Constance belt path is a continuous single-track railway line from German Stahringen to Lindau - Aeschach. It runs mostly along the northern shore of Lake Constance and carries the timetable route number 731 ( Radolfzell -Lindau Hbf).
History
The line on the north side of the lake came about when the end points of the railway companies of the surrounding countries:
- Grand Ducal Baden State Railways
- Royal Württemberg State Railways
- Royal Bavarian State Railways.
After Stahringen was connected to the railroad network had on 20 July 1867 the hegau Ablachtal Railway, the first section of Lake Constance Belt Railway of Stahringen to Überlingen was only on 18 August 1895 in operation. On October 2, 1901 finally Friedrichshafen city station was reached. From there two years earlier on October 1, 1899, the section had been taken to Lindau in operation. Friedrichshafen had been reached by the Southern Railway since 1847 by Ulm.
On 22 December 1939, on the route to a big train wreck, as between Mark and village Kluftern a passenger and a freight train collided, resulting in the deaths of 102 people. Since two express trains earlier on the same day in Genthin already collided with each other ( 186 deaths), this December 22 is considered to be the worst day of German railway history.
Branching routes
- Oberuhldingen Muhlhofen (now Uhldingen Mühlhofen ) Unteruhldingen, 2.53 km long; opened on 2 October 1901 and decommissioned on 31 October 1950 passenger
- Mimmenhausen - Neufrach (now Salem ) Frickingen, 8.23 km long; opened on December 1, 1905, decommissioned on October 4, 1953 at the passenger
Operation
The Lake Belt railway is operated in the rail transport of two lines on which different trains are used. The entire route Radolfzell -Lindau will consistently drive on only two pairs of trains a day.
Radolfzell - Friedrichshafen
On the Radolfzell - Friedrichshafen section runs every hour since 2003 the transport line Seehänsele with railcars of the type Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1. Some trains stop singing and to Friedrichshafen harbor. Moreover runs every two hours InterRegio Express Sprinter Ulm -Basel Bad Bf ( tilting trains ), which holds, however, only in Friedrichshafen, Überlingen and Radolfzell.
Friedrichshafen -Lindau
On the Friedrichshafen -Lindau section run hourly regional trains at a distance of 40 to 80 minutes, which consist either of Regio-Shuttle, the 611 series or the 628 series. In addition, hourly urban InterRegio Express (Stuttgart ) Ulm -Lindau, which holds everywhere, as well as an intercity train pair from Munster to Innsbruck. In the winter season runs on Saturdays also the Intercity Express ski Arlberg from Munich to Frankfurt.
Uhldingen Mühlhofen
Langenargen
Future / Expansion Plans
As part of the electrification of the Southern Railway and the section Friedrichshafen -Lindau, Lake Constance belt path is to be electrified. This project was started in March 2012 in the Investment Framework Plan 2011-2015 for the federal transport infrastructure.