Kinzig Valley Railway (Hesse)
Encyclopedia
The Frankfurt–Bebra Railway runs from Bebra to Frankfurt am Main via Fulda
, Gelnhausen
, Hanau
and Offenbach am Main in south central Germany. The southern section between Fulda and Frankfurt is known as the Kinzig Valley Railway due to the route it follows through the Kinzig
Valley.
This important north-south link was planned by the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel
as the Bebra–Hanau Railway but was first opened under Prussia
n management. This line was extended as far as Frankfurt under the name Frankfurt–Bebra Railway. Today it is part of the Intercity-Express (ICE) lines from north and central Germany to Frankfurt. Just as important is the Regional-Express connexion from Fulda
to Frankfurt and the Regionalbahn
link from Wächtersbach
to Frankfurt. With the Main-Weser Railway
it is one of the most important north-south freight lines in central Germany.
in 1815 were its capital Kassel
and the city of Hanau
in its far south. Initially it was not practical to build a railway to connect Kurhessen through the mountainous country between Hanau and Fulda
. Instead a railway
was established jointly by the three countries of Kurhessen, the Grand Duchy of Hesse
and Free City of Frankfurt
, and completed between Frankfurt and Kassel in 1852. Meanwhile the private Frankfurt–Hanau Railway was opened in 1848, allowing a connection between Kassel and Hanau via Frankfurt, although the lines were not physically linked.
With improvements to railway technology, it became more practical to build a railway between Kassel and Hanau via almost exclusively on Kurhessen territory. The Kurhessen Parliament passed a law authorising the construction of a railway in 1863.
valley, not that of the Fulda, which was in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Therefore, a winding route was necessary.
After the annexation of the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel by Prussia
as a result of the Austro-Prussian War
in 1866, the project was taken over by Prussia. At the same time construction of the southern section commenced. Prussia was able to complete the line within two years, and trains began to run between Hanau and Frankfurt, initially via the Frankfurt-Hanau railway and the Frankfurt City Link Line (Verbindungsbahn) on the northern bank of the Main to Frankfurt's western stations
. In 1873 the bridge over the Main at Hanau-Steinheim was completed, which enabled trains to run on the newly built track via Offenbach am Main, Frankfurt Bebra Station and the Main-Neckar Railway
bridge (now the location of the "Freedom" road bridge—Friedensbrücke) into Frankfurt. This new route avoided the old Hanau station and this required a new, larger station to be built on the line in order to continue to serve Hanau at the point where the Frankfurt-Bebra line intersected with the Main–Spessart Railway on its way to Aschaffenburg
, initially called Hanau East, and later renamed Hanau central station
.
line in order to avoid building an almost 4 km long tunnel. This required all through trains to reverse at Elm
, which led to increasing congestion as traffic increased with the connection of the Flieden–Gemünden railway to the line at Elm in 1873. Tunnel-building technology had improved significantly by the beginning of the 20th Century, notably with the increased availability of dynamite
. Thus in 1909 construction of the Schlüchtern tunnel began under Distelrasen; it was completed on 14 February 1914 and put into operation on 1 May. In 2009 a second tube was opened and the old tunnel is now being rebuilt as a single-track tunnel.
In 1914, a compound curve was opened to the south of Bebra allowing trains to run without reversal or stop at Bebra between the line from Frankfurt to the Thuringian Railway to Leipzig
and Berlin
; this line has become commonly known as the Berlin curve.
In 1963 electrification of the line was completed.
. This meant that the historical line is now divided into several parts for operational purposes:
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
, Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen is a town and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approx. 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig...
, Hanau
Hanau
Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main. Its station is a major railway junction.- Geography :...
and Offenbach am Main in south central Germany. The southern section between Fulda and Frankfurt is known as the Kinzig Valley Railway due to the route it follows through the Kinzig
Kinzig (Main)
The Kinzig is a river in southern Hesse, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Main. It is 82 km long. Its source is in the Spessart hills, near Schlüchtern. The Kinzig flows into the Main in Hanau. The Main-Kinzig-Kreis was named after the river...
Valley.
This important north-south link was planned by the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
as the Bebra–Hanau Railway but was first opened under Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n management. This line was extended as far as Frankfurt under the name Frankfurt–Bebra Railway. Today it is part of the Intercity-Express (ICE) lines from north and central Germany to Frankfurt. Just as important is the Regional-Express connexion from Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
to Frankfurt and the Regionalbahn
RegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
link from Wächtersbach
Wächtersbach
-Location:Wächtersbach lies between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg Mountains in the middle Kinzig valley at the edge of the Büdingen Forest, not far from the towns of Gelnhausen, Birstein, Bad Orb and Bad Soden-Salmünster.-Neighbouring communities:...
to Frankfurt. With the Main-Weser Railway
Main-Weser Railway
The Main-Weser Railway is the railway line in central Germany that runs from Frankfurt am Main via Gießen to Kassel and named after the railway company that built the line and also operated it until 1880. It was opened between 1849 and 1852 and was one of the first railways in Germany.- Route...
it is one of the most important north-south freight lines in central Germany.
History
When railways began to be built in Germany in the nineteenth century the two largest cities of the Hesse-Kassel (Kurhessen), which had been re-established by the Congress of ViennaCongress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
in 1815 were its capital Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
and the city of Hanau
Hanau
Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main. Its station is a major railway junction.- Geography :...
in its far south. Initially it was not practical to build a railway to connect Kurhessen through the mountainous country between Hanau and Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
. Instead a railway
Main-Weser Railway
The Main-Weser Railway is the railway line in central Germany that runs from Frankfurt am Main via Gießen to Kassel and named after the railway company that built the line and also operated it until 1880. It was opened between 1849 and 1852 and was one of the first railways in Germany.- Route...
was established jointly by the three countries of Kurhessen, the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
and Free City of Frankfurt
Free City of Frankfurt
For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt am Main was a city-state within two major Germanic states:*The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt...
, and completed between Frankfurt and Kassel in 1852. Meanwhile the private Frankfurt–Hanau Railway was opened in 1848, allowing a connection between Kassel and Hanau via Frankfurt, although the lines were not physically linked.
With improvements to railway technology, it became more practical to build a railway between Kassel and Hanau via almost exclusively on Kurhessen territory. The Kurhessen Parliament passed a law authorising the construction of a railway in 1863.
Construction
The Friedrich Wilhelm North Railway (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn) already connected Bebra with Kassel. Initially the proposed railway was called the Bebra-Hanau railway (German: Bebra-Hanauer Eisenbahn). In order not to leave Kurhessen territory, the line followed the route of the HauneHaune
The Haune is a 64 km long river in Hesse, Germany, right tributary of the Fulda. Its source is southeast of the town Fulda, in the Rhön Mountains. The Haune flows generally north through the towns Hünfeld, Burghaun and Haunetal. It flows into the Fulda in Bad Hersfeld....
valley, not that of the Fulda, which was in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Therefore, a winding route was necessary.
After the annexation of the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
as a result of the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
in 1866, the project was taken over by Prussia. At the same time construction of the southern section commenced. Prussia was able to complete the line within two years, and trains began to run between Hanau and Frankfurt, initially via the Frankfurt-Hanau railway and the Frankfurt City Link Line (Verbindungsbahn) on the northern bank of the Main to Frankfurt's western stations
Frankfurt western stations
The Frankfurt western stations were a group of three stations on the western edge of the former city walls of Frankfurt am Main, Germany between the modern Willy-Brandt-Platz, then the location of Gallustor and Taunustor...
. In 1873 the bridge over the Main at Hanau-Steinheim was completed, which enabled trains to run on the newly built track via Offenbach am Main, Frankfurt Bebra Station and the Main-Neckar Railway
Main-Neckar Railway
The Main-Neckar Railway is a main line railway west of the Odenwald in the Upper Rhine Plain of Germany that connects Frankfurt am Main to Heidelberg via Darmstadt, Bensheim and Weinheim...
bridge (now the location of the "Freedom" road bridge—Friedensbrücke) into Frankfurt. This new route avoided the old Hanau station and this required a new, larger station to be built on the line in order to continue to serve Hanau at the point where the Frankfurt-Bebra line intersected with the Main–Spessart Railway on its way to Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg Hauptbahnhof
is the central railway station of Aschaffenburg in Germany.The station was built in 1854 by the Ludwigs-West-Bahn. It remained largely unchanged until destroyed in a 1944 air raid, after which it was rebuilt in the style typical for the 1950s...
, initially called Hanau East, and later renamed Hanau central station
Hanau Hauptbahnhof
is the central station for Hanau, Germany and a major rail junction east of Frankfurt am Main.The first Hanau station was built on the Frankfurt-Hanau Railway at the location of the current Hanau West station, close to Hanau city centre....
.
| 22 January 1866 | Bebra Bebra station Bebra station is a railway station on the German passenger and freight rail network in the northern Hesse town of Bebra. It is a railway junction as well as an intercity stop on the Dortmund–Berlin–Stralsund route. The station was opened in 1846 and quickly became a major transport hub... –Bad Hersfeld Bad Hersfeld station Bad Hersfeld station is a through station in Bad Hersfeld in the German state of Hesse on the Bebra–Fulda railway. The first station was opened in 1866 and the current station building was completed in 1883. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 station... |
|---|---|
| 1 October 1866 | Bad Hersfeld via Hünfeld Hünfeld Hünfeld is a town in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 16 km northeast of Fulda.-Notable people:* Wilm Hosenfeld *Johann Leonhard Pfaff , bishop of Fulda* Konrad Zuse -Transport:... to Fulda |
| 1 May 1867 | Hanau Hanau Hauptbahnhof is the central station for Hanau, Germany and a major rail junction east of Frankfurt am Main.The first Hanau station was built on the Frankfurt-Hanau Railway at the location of the current Hanau West station, close to Hanau city centre.... –Wächtersbach Wächtersbach -Location:Wächtersbach lies between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg Mountains in the middle Kinzig valley at the edge of the Büdingen Forest, not far from the towns of Gelnhausen, Birstein, Bad Orb and Bad Soden-Salmünster.-Neighbouring communities:... |
| 1 July 1868 | Fulda–Neuhof |
| 1 July 1868 | Wächtersbach–Steinau an der Straße Steinau an der Straße Steinau an der Straße is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the river Kinzig, 32 km southwest of Fulda.-History:... |
| 15 December 1868 | Neuhof–Steinau an der Straße (including the zig zag Zig Zag (railway) A railway zig zag, also called a switchback, is a way of climbing hills in difficult country with a minimal need for tunnels and heavy earthworks. For a short distance , the direction of travel is reversed, before the original direction is resumed.A location on railways constructed e.g... in Elm Schlüchtern Schlüchtern is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hessen, Germany. It is located on the river Kinzig at the southwest of a hill called Landrücken, approx. 30 km southwest of Fulda.-History:... ) |
| 15 November 1873 | Hanau–Frankfurt Bebra Station |
| 1 December 1875 | Frankfurt Bebra Station–Frankfurt Main-Neckar Station |
Later changes
The mountains between Flieden and Schlüchtern south of Fulda initially led to the decision to build a zig zagZig Zag (railway)
A railway zig zag, also called a switchback, is a way of climbing hills in difficult country with a minimal need for tunnels and heavy earthworks. For a short distance , the direction of travel is reversed, before the original direction is resumed.A location on railways constructed e.g...
line in order to avoid building an almost 4 km long tunnel. This required all through trains to reverse at Elm
Schlüchtern
Schlüchtern is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hessen, Germany. It is located on the river Kinzig at the southwest of a hill called Landrücken, approx. 30 km southwest of Fulda.-History:...
, which led to increasing congestion as traffic increased with the connection of the Flieden–Gemünden railway to the line at Elm in 1873. Tunnel-building technology had improved significantly by the beginning of the 20th Century, notably with the increased availability of dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
. Thus in 1909 construction of the Schlüchtern tunnel began under Distelrasen; it was completed on 14 February 1914 and put into operation on 1 May. In 2009 a second tube was opened and the old tunnel is now being rebuilt as a single-track tunnel.
In 1914, a compound curve was opened to the south of Bebra allowing trains to run without reversal or stop at Bebra between the line from Frankfurt to the Thuringian Railway to Leipzig
Leipzig Hauptbahnhof
is, at 83,460 m², Europe's largest railway station when measured by floor area. It has 24 platforms housed in six iron trainsheds; a multi-level concourse with towering stone arches; and a 293 metre-long facade...
and Berlin
Berlin Hauptbahnhof
' , is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, and until it opened as a main line station, it was a stop on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily...
; this line has become commonly known as the Berlin curve.
In 1963 electrification of the line was completed.
Operations
Since it was built, the traffic load on the line has changed several times. Until the Second World War it was used primarily to transport on the Frankfurt–Leipzig line. As a result of the division of Germany, this east–west traffic came to a standstill, except for transit trains from West Germany to West Berlin and the inter-zonal trains between West and East Germany which now ran with a locomotive change and a reversal in Bebra. This meant that the main traffic shifted to the north–south direction, from Hanover and Hamburg to Frankfurt and also via the Fulda–Main line towards BavariaBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. This meant that the historical line is now divided into several parts for operational purposes:
- The Frankfurt–Hanau south bank line
- The Kinzig Valley RailwayKinzig Valley Railway (Hesse)The Frankfurt–Bebra Railway runs from Bebra to Frankfurt am Main via Fulda, Gelnhausen, Hanau and Offenbach am Main in south central Germany. The southern section between Fulda and Frankfurt is known as the Kinzig Valley Railway due to the route it follows through the Kinzig Valley.This important...
between Hanau and Fulda - the Bebra–Fulda railway, connecting with the Flieden–Gemünden line (Fulda–Main line) via the Kinzig Valley Railway near Flieden.