Saal Railway

The railway line Großheringen -Saalfeld (also: hall train) is an electrified, double-track main line in Thuringia, which was originally built and operated by the Hall Railway Company. You along the Saale of Großheringen to Saalfeld. It is part of the German North -South main connection between Berlin, Leipzig, Nuremberg and Munich.

The designation hall track, based on the Hall Railway Company, which the Jena Saalbahnhof gave its name is used in publications of Werner Drescher. Hall railway can be found as track name in the literature.

History

Since 1850, there have been efforts in the Saale valley local rail Committee for the construction of a railway line. In particular, the university town of Jena strove to join in the emerging railway network. However, the different interests of the affected small Thuringian states for a long time prevented the implementation of the plans. Only after the State Treaty of October 8, 1870 between Sachsen -Weimar- Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg and Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt and the concession was on 3 April 1871, the newly formed Hall Railway Company to construct and operate a railway line from Großheringen about Jena, Rudolstadt Saalfeld granted. On April 30, 1874, the solemn opening track followed.

In Großheringen the railroad in the hall -Unstrut Railway Company was opened about three months later after Sömmerda Straußfurt on 14 August 1874. This line was mitbetrieben of the Nordhausen - Erfurt railway company.

At first it was just a route of regional importance which the Thuringian Main Line, running from Bebra about Erfurt to White Rock, joined in Großheringen with the north-south range of Weissenfels Gera in Saalfeld. Due to the economic failures and Prussian pressure the hall Railroad in 1895 was sold to Prussia and assigned to the Royal Railway Directorate in Erfurt. Only in 1899 was the connection path taken at East Großheringen in operation, which Großheringen could be avoided. Thus, the traits of Weissenfels Coming drove over the 25 km shorter hall track ( as Gera ) directly to Saalfeld. The hall railway was thus together with the subsequent line to Probstzella and the secondary on the Bavarian side francs forest route to Lichtenfels one of the major north -south routes in Germany. Between 1936 and 1939, among other things, the wrong remote high-speed railcars that connected Berlin with Munich or Stuttgart, on the hall train and reached there at an average speed of 95 km / h From 1935 to mid-1941 was the electrification of the line and thus a connection between the central German and southern German network.

But in the context of war reparations to the Soviet Union, all components for the electrical equipment and in addition the second Streckengleis Five years later, were dismantled. Due to the division of Germany, the route over the next four decades, lost its importance as a north- south railway, but remained important for the Saale valley with Saalfeld as a major rail yard. In Probstzella at that time was one of eight railway border crossings, which is why the hall track was also used by inter-zonal trains. In 1981 the track was twofold passable again, previously a northern route section was electrified in 1967 and Camburg. With the reunification of Germany in 1990, the hall web has become an important rail freeway between Central and Southern Germany again. It was electrified by 1995 and renovated again in 2005. As of 2017, the west across Erfurt running new lines Erfurt- Leipzig and Nuremberg -Erfurt to take over the long-distance transport function of the winding and thus slower train hall. In 2007, an ICE for the 85- kilometer section of Naumburg -Saalfeld needed by 53 minutes, which corresponds to a speed of 96 km / h.

Even the name hall track is historically and today has hardly any significance. In the colloquial language of the people along the route is generally rather the name Saale railway analogous to river names familiar.

Route

The hall has the train kilometer 0.0 in Großheringen and crosses the junction line the West Ilm. The connection path starts at the east branch Saaleck at kilometer 55,89 the track Weissenfels -Erfurt, crossed the Saale and joins after 2.2 kilometers to the junction line west to the former block location Gs Up Rudolstadt - Schwarza where the hall is crossed, the route runs on the western side of the river. In parallel with the railway line running from Camburg Schwarza to the main road and 88 of Schwarza to Saalfeld B85. The height difference between Großheringen and Saalfeld is 99 meters, the maximum distance tendency 1:200 (5 ‰). As the route follows the course of the Saale, occur eighty bow change, the minimum radius is 450 meters, which means the maximum line speed of 120 km / h comparatively low. For trains with tilting technology are in the so-called arc- fast operation, however, speeds up to 160 km / h.