Mid-Germany Railway
Encyclopedia
The Mid-Germany Railway is a rail link between German states
of Thuringia
and Saxony
. The central element of this link connects Chemnitz
and Glauchau
in the east via Gera
and Jena
to Weimar
in the west. It includes the Dresden–Werdau line (between Chemnitz and Glauchau), the Glauchau–Gößnitz line, the Gera–Gößnitz line and the Weimar–Gera line.
It is part of a possible direct rail connection from the Ruhr
and Frankfurt am Main via Eisenach
, Erfurt
, Weimar, Jena West, Jena-Göschwitz
, Gera, Gößnitz
, Werdau
, Zwickau
, Chemnitz as far as Dresden
and offers an alternative route to the route currently used by long-distance traffic from Erfurt to Dresden via Leipzig.
and western Germany. It also formed an important connection with the Elster Valley Railway
between Bohemia and western Germany.
During the time of East Germany, the line provided relief for the important lines running from Halle
and Leipzig. In the euphoria immediately after German reunification
, an extension of this route was planned, since it was now classified as an important link between western Saxony (Chemnitz) and western Germany. The connection was not actually listed under the legislation for the German Unity Transport Projects, but it was listed as a "priority" in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1993. Priority was subsequently given, however, to the line via Leipzig. Nevertheless, InterRegio
line 41 was established on the line providing a fast modern long-distance link. It offered a transfer-free connection between Chemnitz and Aachen at four hour intervals. Because of the lack of overhead contact wire between Gößnitz and Weimar, locomotive changes have been necessary in Weimar since 1995. Until May 1995, diesel locomotives ran from Erfurt to Bebra
, as the electrification of the Neudietendorf
–Bebra section of the Thuringian Railway was still not complete. The diesel power was provided by class 219 and 232 locomotives
.
The initial euphoria over reunification era soon gave way to disillusion, as there was no money to for the project. For Gera
, the second largest city in Thuringia, the upgrade was a matter of prestige, as it was the largest city in Germany without a double-track rail connection. This was followed by political disputes, and the benefit-cost ratio
of the Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway was also questioned.
Despite an agreement between Deutsche Bahn
and the state of Thuringia of 15 May 1997 for the partial double-tracking of the line and upgrading of the line for tilting train
s, a decision had already been taken that year to discontinue long-distance services on the line. The reason was a decision of Deutsche Bahn to abandon InterRegio traffic nationwide. In 1999, two years before the closing of long distance passenger services in 2001, scheduled freight traffic was closed between Gera and Weimar on the Mid-German Connection.
; approximately 2007/08, Ronneburg–Glauchau. According to the Federal Government, the completion of construction of the first stage is scheduled for 2012 (as of November 2008).
The second stage involves the extension of duplication for 160 km / h for tilting trains and the electrification of the line. This is classified as an "additional requirement" and was not included in the five-year plan (2006 to 2010). The single-track sections between Weimar and Großschwabhausen and between Neue Schenke and Stadtroda are due to be duplicated by 2014. The expansion plans and further prospects continue to be debated and are highly politicised.
, running every two hours. All trains that travel over the whole route operate as railcars with three sets combined from Göttingen via Gotha
(where trains reverse) and Erfurt to Gößnitz, where the train is broken into its three sets. One set continues to Chemnitz and another to Zwickau. The third set runs back to Gera and sometimes to Gotha. Services between Glauchau and Weimar are scheduled to take about two hours.
Regionalbahn
service use class 642 diesel multiple units. Many passengers use the service, especially students of the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
, who commute each day between the university and their homes. In addition Regionalbahn services run between Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera, resulting in services at 30 to 40 minute intervals as far as Gera.
A problem for long-distance connections is the that Intercity-Express (ICE) services on the Munich
–Nuremberg
–Berlin
route on the Saal Railway
through the Saale
valley do not stop at Jena-Göschwitz station
(ICE trains stop instead at Jena Paradies
), which prevents a direct transfer to services on the Mid-Germany Railway running to Chemnitz via Gera and Zwickau and to Erfurt via Weimar.
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
and Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. The central element of this link connects Chemnitz
Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof of Chemnitz in Germany.-Station building :The station has a combination of terminating and through platforms. Platform tracks 1 to 9 terminate and tracks 10 to14 continue to the west of Chemnitz towards Zwickau, Nuremberg and Göttingen. Tracks 11 to 14 are reached by a passenger...
and Glauchau
Glauchau (Sachs) station
Glauchau station is the main station of Glauchau in southwest of the German state of Saxony on the Dresden–Werdau line. Glauchau also has another station at Glauchau-Schönbörnchen.-History :...
in the east via Gera
Gera Hauptbahnhof
is the main station of the Thuringian town of Gera. Gera is one of the largest cities in Germany with no long-distance rail connections and no electrified lines. The station is a significant regional transport hub...
and Jena
Jena West station
Jena West station is to the west of the centre of the city of Jena in the German state of Thuringia at the 22.59 km mark of the Weimar–Gera railway between Weimar, Jena-Göschwitz station and Gera Hauptbahnhof. This line is also called the Holzland Railway and it is part of the Mid-German Connection...
to Weimar
Weimar station
Weimar station is the main station in the city of Weimar in the German state of Thuringia, located on the Thuringian Railway. It is an Intercity-Express stop on the line between Frankfurt am Main and Dresden. Weimar station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station. It is officially...
in the west. It includes the Dresden–Werdau line (between Chemnitz and Glauchau), the Glauchau–Gößnitz line, the Gera–Gößnitz line and the Weimar–Gera line.
It is part of a possible direct rail connection from the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
and Frankfurt am Main via Eisenach
Eisenach station
Eisenach Station is the main station of the city of Eisenach in the German state of Thuringia. It is a transportation hub, located on the Thuringian Railway Halle–Bebra and at the Werra Railway .Eisenach station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 station.-Facilities :Facilities...
, Erfurt
Erfurt Hauptbahnhof
is the central railway station of Erfurt in Germany. It is an important junctions of the German railways and is served by numerous local and long-distance rail services. Immediately north of the station, is Erfurt's city center. It had approximately 12.5 million passengers in 2006, that is an...
, Weimar, Jena West, Jena-Göschwitz
Jena-Göschwitz station
Jena-Göschwitz station is a railway station in city of Jena in the German state of Thuringia. It is 152.21 metres above sea level and is located 32.22 km from Großheringen on the Saal Railway and 27.50 from Weimar station on the Weimar–Gera railway. It was opened and on 1 July 1876...
, Gera, Gößnitz
Gößnitz
Gößnitz is a town in the Altenburger Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Pleiße, 12 km south of Altenburg, and 20 km northwest of Zwickau....
, Werdau
Werdau
Werdau is a town in Germany, part of the Landkreis Zwickau in the administrative region of Chemnitz, the Free State of Saxony. It is situated on the river Pleiße, 8 km from Zwickau....
, Zwickau
Zwickau Hauptbahnhof
is the main railway station of Zwickau in the German state of Saxony.-History :On 18 September 1845 Zwickau was connected by a branch line to the Leipzig–Reichenbach railway line...
, Chemnitz as far as Dresden
Dresden Hauptbahnhof
is one of two main inter-city transit hubs in the German city of Dresden. Designed by Ernst Giese and Paul Weidner, it was built between 1892 and 1897 at the southern border of the inner city and was important in the growth and development of the city....
and offers an alternative route to the route currently used by long-distance traffic from Erfurt to Dresden via Leipzig.
History
Before the division of Germany the Mid-German Railway was an important link between the industrial areas of SaxonySaxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
and western Germany. It also formed an important connection with the Elster Valley Railway
Elster Valley Railway
The Elster Valley Railway is a main railway line in the German federal states of Thuringia and Saxony that runs along the valley of the White Elster from Gera via Greiz and Plauen to Weischlitz.- History :...
between Bohemia and western Germany.
During the time of East Germany, the line provided relief for the important lines running from Halle
Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof
Halle Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the city of Halle in southern part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt...
and Leipzig. In the euphoria immediately after German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, an extension of this route was planned, since it was now classified as an important link between western Saxony (Chemnitz) and western Germany. The connection was not actually listed under the legislation for the German Unity Transport Projects, but it was listed as a "priority" in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1993. Priority was subsequently given, however, to the line via Leipzig. Nevertheless, InterRegio
InterRegio
The InterRegio is a train service seen in some European countries. Mostly they are trains that run "from region to region", as best described by Swiss Federal Railways.-Switzerland:...
line 41 was established on the line providing a fast modern long-distance link. It offered a transfer-free connection between Chemnitz and Aachen at four hour intervals. Because of the lack of overhead contact wire between Gößnitz and Weimar, locomotive changes have been necessary in Weimar since 1995. Until May 1995, diesel locomotives ran from Erfurt to 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...
, as the electrification of the Neudietendorf
Neudietendorf
Neudietendorf is a village and a former municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 December 2009, it is part of the municipality Nesse-Apfelstädt. Since the mid-18th Century it has been the seat of a Congregation of the Moravian Church who established well-known...
–Bebra section of the Thuringian Railway was still not complete. The diesel power was provided by class 219 and 232 locomotives
DR Class 130 family
The DR 130 family of locomotives comprises the DR Class 130 , DR Class 131 , DR Class 132 and DR Class 142 .They were produced in the Soviet Union in Lugansk,...
.
The initial euphoria over reunification era soon gave way to disillusion, as there was no money to for the project. For Gera
Gera
Gera, the third-largest city in the German state of Thuringia , lies in east Thuringia on the river Weiße Elster, approximately 60 kilometres to the south of the city of Leipzig and 80 kilometres to the east of Erfurt...
, the second largest city in Thuringia, the upgrade was a matter of prestige, as it was the largest city in Germany without a double-track rail connection. This was followed by political disputes, and the benefit-cost ratio
Benefit-cost ratio
A benefit-cost ratio is an indicator, used in the formal discipline of cost-benefit analysis, that attempts to summarize the overall value for money of a project or proposal. A BCR is the ratio of the benefits of a project or proposal, expressed in monetary terms, relative to its costs, also...
of the Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway was also questioned.
Despite an agreement between Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
and the state of Thuringia of 15 May 1997 for the partial double-tracking of the line and upgrading of the line for tilting train
Tilting train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest due to...
s, a decision had already been taken that year to discontinue long-distance services on the line. The reason was a decision of Deutsche Bahn to abandon InterRegio traffic nationwide. In 1999, two years before the closing of long distance passenger services in 2001, scheduled freight traffic was closed between Gera and Weimar on the Mid-German Connection.
Further upgrade
The first stage consists of upgrading the line to allow tilting trains to run at 140 km / h and the installation of electronic interlocking. Work was completed as follows: 2002, Weimar–Jena–Göschwitz; approximately 2006/07, Göschwitz–Gera–RonneburgRonneburg, Thuringia
Ronneburg is a town in the district of Greiz, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 7 km east of Gera.-External links:*...
; approximately 2007/08, Ronneburg–Glauchau. According to the Federal Government, the completion of construction of the first stage is scheduled for 2012 (as of November 2008).
The second stage involves the extension of duplication for 160 km / h for tilting trains and the electrification of the line. This is classified as an "additional requirement" and was not included in the five-year plan (2006 to 2010). The single-track sections between Weimar and Großschwabhausen and between Neue Schenke and Stadtroda are due to be duplicated by 2014. The expansion plans and further prospects continue to be debated and are highly politicised.
Operations
Since 2000, the former long-distance services have been replaced by Regional-Express services, using class 612 diesel multiple unitsRegioSwinger
The RegioSwinger is a tilting Diesel Multiple Unit passenger train used for fast regional traffic on unelectrified lines.- Development and Service :...
, running every two hours. All trains that travel over the whole route operate as railcars with three sets combined from Göttingen via Gotha
Gotha station
Gotha station is the main station of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It is served by InterCity trains and every two hours by Intercity-Express trains on the Thuringian Railway...
(where trains reverse) and Erfurt to Gößnitz, where the train is broken into its three sets. One set continues to Chemnitz and another to Zwickau. The third set runs back to Gera and sometimes to Gotha. Services between Glauchau and Weimar are scheduled to take about two hours.
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...
service use class 642 diesel multiple units. Many passengers use the service, especially students of the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
Friedrich Schiller University of Jena , is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany....
, who commute each day between the university and their homes. In addition Regionalbahn services run between Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera, resulting in services at 30 to 40 minute intervals as far as Gera.
A problem for long-distance connections is the that Intercity-Express (ICE) services on the Munich
München Hauptbahnhof
Munich Central Station is the main railway station of the city of Munich in Germany. It is one of the three long distance train stations in Munich, the others being München-Pasing and München Ost. The station sees about 350,000 passengers a day, which puts it on par with other large stations in...
–Nuremberg
Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof
Nuremberg Central Station is the main railway station for the city of Nuremberg in Germany. It is the largest station in north Bavaria and belongs to the 20 stations in the highest category of importance allocated by DB Station&Service....
–Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
route on the Saal Railway
Saal Railway
The Saal Railway is a 153 kilometre-long double-track main line in the German state of Thuringia. It connects the Thuringian Railway at Großheringen with the Franconian Forest Railway at at Saalfeld and is part of the north-south main line, Munich–Nuremberg–Halle / Leipzig–Berlin...
through the Saale
Saale
The Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale and Thuringian Saale , is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale in Lower Saxony, a tributary of the Leine.-Course:The Saale...
valley do not stop at Jena-Göschwitz station
Jena-Göschwitz station
Jena-Göschwitz station is a railway station in city of Jena in the German state of Thuringia. It is 152.21 metres above sea level and is located 32.22 km from Großheringen on the Saal Railway and 27.50 from Weimar station on the Weimar–Gera railway. It was opened and on 1 July 1876...
(ICE trains stop instead at Jena Paradies
Jena Paradies station
Jena Paradies station is the main railway station of the city of Jena in the German state of Thuringia. It is on the Saal Railway and is served by Intercity-Express trains on the Berlin–Munich route and regional trains to and from Naumburg, Saalfeld and Pößneck...
), which prevents a direct transfer to services on the Mid-Germany Railway running to Chemnitz via Gera and Zwickau and to Erfurt via Weimar.