Mannheim–Karlsruhe–Basel railway

• For the largely parallel railway from Mannheim Rastatt to Haguenau see Rheinbahn (Baden).
• For the French Rhine Valley line from Strasbourg to Basel Mulhouse over see railway Strasbourg- Basel.
• For Swiss Rhine Valley Railway from Chur to St.Margrethen see railway Chur- St. Margrethen.
• For the railway line from Wiesbaden to Oberlahnstein see Nassauische Rheinbahn.

The Rhine Valley line is a double-track electrified railway mainline in Baden- Württemberg. It runs through the Upper Rhine Valley from Mannheim via Heidelberg, Bruchsal, Karlsruhe, Rastatt, Baden -Baden, Offenburg and Freiburg im Breisgau to Basel and is therefore also called the Upper Rhine Railway.

The line was built as part of the Baden main track. Between Mannheim and Rastatt it runs parallel to Baden Rheinbahn. Under the title " new and upgraded line Karlsruhe -Basel 'began in April 1987 on four-track new and upgraded line. Meanwhile, originally set for 2008 envisaged completion is currently (as of 2012) can not be foreseen.

The Rhine Valley Railway is one of the most important routes in the network of Deutsche Bahn.

History

The German side Rhine Valley line was financed and built by the Baden State Railways. With the Baden Baden Act for the construction of main line from March 28, 1838 only the starting point in Mannheim and endpoint in Basel were determined. The route was determined only by the 1837 formed the Technical Building Committee, which formulated their basic demands that the construction costs should be kept as low as possible to achieve good driving times, be as straight as possible to build as possible all the major cities were to be binding. They concluded to build as possible in the Upper Rhine Plain. The first section between Mannheim and Heidelberg was opened in 1840, until 1855 the line was completed in several parts to Basel. First line designs provided for a range of Heidelberg Schwetzingen to Karlsruhe. After it was learned in the then third largest city of Baden, Bruchsal, of these plans, politicians sat in the Baden Parliament for a connection Bruchsal and Durlach one. On January 2, 1846 met in St. Ilgen together two trains. One person died and 16 others were injured. This was one of the earliest railroad fatalities in Germany.

The line was initially built with a track width of 1,600 millimeters. However, since the surrounding countries and other railway lines constituted the standard gauge of 1435 millimeters, the entire route was converted to standard gauge 1854-1855.

Since the city of Mannheim, the natural catchment area lay near Schwetzingen and Hockenheim round, the detour via Heidelberg did not like, was opened in 1870 as the second track on the Rhine railway Mannheim- Schwetzingen -Graben - Neudorf- Eggenstein -Karlsruhe. During the construction of strategic railways came in 1895 then the route Graben-Neudorf - Karlsruhe Blankenloch - added, which is shorter than the connection via Eggenstein and is conveniently connected to the central station in Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe yard. The route Graben-Neudorf - Eggenstein -Karlsruhe thus became to the sidelines (see Hardt Railway ).

In the northern part between Mannheim and Karlsruhe So, there are two separate routes, the route Mannheim- Graben-Neudorf -Karlsruhe (known as "Rhine railway ") and the line Mannheim -Heidelberg - Bruchsal -Karlsruhe -Durlach -Karlsruhe (Baden- Palatinate -Bahn ) which represents a section of the Rhine Valley line. Especially after the First World War won the route for international traffic in importance. From the fifties, the Rhine Valley line was therefore electrified until mid-1958 was continuously electrically passable.

In the late 1960s the fundamental renewal of the signaling systems began the 120 km long section between Offenburg and Basel. Until then - with the exception of the station Freiburg - with mechanical interlocking equipped section was converted to relay interlockings. The course load was the late 1960s, already well over 100 trains per day in each direction.

With the commissioning of the first section of the new railway line Mannheim- Stuttgart, between Mannheim and Graben-Neudorf, the Rhine Valley line was relieved and an equally clocked transport permits. The signal boxes in Achern and Freiburg were built in computer technology, also Leutersberg, Bad Krozingen, Heiterheim and garbage home received electro mix interlocking technology and were equipped CIR - ELKE compatible.

The current Baden-Baden station was originally called Oos, between 1906 and the closure of the city train station 1977 Baden- Oos and then received its name.

Between 1975 and 1977, committed a blackmailer, who described himself as " Monsieur X", several attacks on the route.

The Rhine Valley line should be developed as part of the new and upgraded line Karlsruhe- Basel to plans in 1990 between Karlsruhe and Offenburg for continuous 160 km / h. By 2008, the entire route should be extended at least four tracks for a Swiss-German State Treaty, to then serve as the northern main access route to the new Gotthard Base Tunnel to Italy. The German Railway has launched the project this new and upgraded line Karlsruhe- Basel.

Between Karlsruhe and Rastatt run a relatively short distance also the two routes of the Rhine Valley Railway and the Rheinbahn. Between the Rastatt Train Station and the junction with the A 5, the route is not yet double track, as the track leadership in this area has long been controversial. Now a tunnel under Rastatt Rastatt - through between Niederbühl and the branch of B 3 and B 36 is planned. Between Rastatt and Durmersheim earthworks along the B 36 have been carried out for the new line. Between Baden -Baden and Offenburg Haueneberstein two new high-speed tracks were now consistently put into operation in addition to the two old tracks. Since December 2012 the operation of the Katzenberg tunnel between Freiburg and Basel is to bypass the eye of the needle " Isteiner block ". The remaining area between Offenburg and Basel is currently still in the planning stage.

Current situation

The Rhine Valley line is now one of the busiest rail routes in Germany both for passengers and for freight, partly because of the country- border traffic in Switzerland and France on this route. Fernzughalte are always Mannheim, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Freiburg and Basel Bad Bf, partly Wiesloch -Walldorf, Bruchsal, Karlsruhe- Durlach, Rastatt, Baden -Baden and Offenburg.

On the Mannheim -Karlsruhe section have been running since December 2003, the lines S3 ( Germersheim -Karlsruhe ) and S4 ( Germersheim - Bruchsal ) of the S - Bahn Rhein Neckar. Between Bruchsal and Rastatt the light rail lines S31, S32, S4, and S41 of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, the S32 and S4 operate even up to Achern. Between Karlsruhe and Offenburg the RE trains of the Black Forest Railway run every hour, since December 2009, partly half-hour; RE and RB trains complement between Offenburg and Basel to a half hour.

Is in each case one of the largest marshalling yards in Europe at both endpoints: Mannheim Rbf and beyond the state border in the village of Muttenz Basel SBB RB, both applied two-sided. The other marshalling yards this route - in Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Offenburg, Freiburg and Baden Basel Bahnhof - have been shut down.

Since 9 December 2012, the two-track new line is opened by the Katzenberg tunnel between Schliengen and Haltingen. This is accompanied by the future segregation of the fast long-distance passenger transport and freight transport in the Basel area. The purpose of the extension of the so-called junction line between Basel Baden train station ( north of the Rhine ) and the branch Gellert ( south of the Rhine ) by another bridge over the Rhine.

As part of the expansion measures for the S- Bahn Rhein Neckar planning for a three-pronged section between the main station Mannheim and Mannheim -Friedrich field south running. In addition to this four-tracked expansion to Heidelberg is located in the design phase (as of 2012). In March 2014, the EU provided grants amounting to 30 to 40% ( instead of 10 %) in view.

Service offer

Long-distance traffic

In Long-distance passenger transport, the Rhine Valley line is traversed by several intercity express and intercity lines.

See also List of Intercity - Express lines or list of intercity lines.

Transport

In rail transport, the Rhine Valley line is served by an inter-regional express line, as well as various Regional Express, Regional Bahn, S -Bahn and tram lines.

Rolling stock

In EC-/IC-Verkehr locomotives of the series 101 units of the class 146 and class 111 double -deck coaches or n- trolleys are mostly used in regional transport, however. In Mittelbaden Albtal traffic -Gesellschaft ( AVG) used on the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe dual-system Stadtbahn cars of the series 450, depending on the delivery series baths and panoramic windows. On the Upper Rhine are in the RB- traffic often railcar class 425 in use as well as occasionally the 111 series with n- cars. The SWEG and the BOD set Regio -Shuttle (BR 650) and 2- Talent railcars one. The OSB also used Regio -Shuttle (BR 650). Between Basel SBB and Basel Bad. Bf wrong SBB with vehicles of the type Stadler Flirt.