The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 tram-train

Tram-train

A tram-train is a light-rail public transport system where trams run both on an urban tramway network and on main-line railways to combine the tram's flexibility and availability and the train's greater speed...

 system combining tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 lines in the city of Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

 with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine

Upper Rhine

The Upper Rhine is the section of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Plain between Basel, Switzerland and Bingen, Germany. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometers 170 to 529 ....

 valley and creating connections to neighbouring regions. The Stadtbahn

Stadtbahn

A ' is a tramway or light railway that includes segments built to rapid transit standards, usually as part of a process of conversion to a metro railway, mainly by the building of tunnels in the central city area....

 combines an efficient urban railway in the city with an S-Bahn

S-Bahn

S-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...

 (suburban railway), overcoming the boundary between trams/light railways and heavy railways. Its logo does not include the green and white S-Bahn symbol used in other German suburban rail systems and the symbol is only used at stops and stations outside the inner-city tram-operation area.

The idea to link tram and railway lines with one another in order to be able to offer an attractive transport system for town and outskirts was developed in Karlsruhe and implemented gradually in the 1980s and 1990s. This idea, known as the Karlsruhe model

Karlsruhe model

The Karlsruhe model reflects urban and heavy rail trains running on the same tracks. It was initially developed and implemented in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany by the local transit authority, Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund. It provides a connection between the regular railway network and the city's...

or tram-train, has been adapted by other European cities.

The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is operated in co-operation by Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft

Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft

The Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft is a company, which is owned 100% by the city of Karlsruhe and operates rail and bus services in the Karlsruhe area....

 (Alb valley transport corporation, AVG), Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe

Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe

The Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe , is the municipal transport company of the city of Karlsruhe in Germany. It runs the tram and bus network within the city, as well as the Turmbergbahn funicular railway....

 (Karlsruhe transport authority, VBK) and 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...

 (DB). The two urban transport operators, VBK and AVG, operate most services, while DB is responsible for the sections from Pforzheim

Pforzheim

Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Until 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden. Because of that it gained the nickname...

 and Bretten

Bretten

Bretten is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-Geography:Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Stuttgart as corners. It has a population of approximately 28,000. The centre of...

 to Bietigheim-Bissingen

Bietigheim-Bissingen

Bietigheim-Bissingen is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz, close to its confluence with the Neckar, about 19 km north of Stuttgart, and 20 km south of Heilbronn.- Buildings...

.

Network

The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn includes ten lines, in four different forms:

• tram lines under the German law regulating tram operations
  BOStrab
  The Verordnung über den Bau und Betrieb der Straßenbahnen is a German law governing regulations for tramway, metro and light rail operations....
  
  , in a modernised form with a large proportion of segregated track and priority at traffic lights. These lines are electrified at 750 V
  Volt
  The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
  
   DC: Stadtbahn line S2 (operated by VBK in addition to its own seven tram lines).
• a combination of tram line sections within urban Karlsruhe and the secondary lines of the AVG, electrified at 750 V DC
  Direct current
  Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
  
  : lines S1 and S11.
• a combination of tram line sections within urban Karlsruhe, Wörth am Rhein
  Wörth am Rhein
  Wörth am Rhein is a municipality in the southernmost part of the district of Germersheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km west of the city center of Karlsruhe and just north of the German-French border....
  
  , Bad Wildbad
  Bad Wildbad
  Bad Wildbad is a town in Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located in the government district of Karlsruhe and in the district of Calw. Its coordinates are 48° 45' N, 8° 33' E. About 11,250 people live there...
  
   and Heilbronn
  Heilbronn
  Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
  
   and the railway lines of the DB and AVG, electrified at 15 kV AC
  Alternating current
  In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
  
  , 16.7 Hz
  Hertz
  The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
  
  : lines S4, S41, S5, S51, S52 and S6.
• pure rail operations on DB and AVG tracks, electrified at 15 kV AC: lines S31, S32 and S9.

  Line no.	Route	Stations	Railways	Operator
  	Hochstetten Linkenheim-Hochstetten Linkenheim-Hochstetten is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 17 km north of Karlsruhe.... –Bad Herrenalb Bad Herrenalb Bad Herrenalb is a municipality in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 15 km east of Baden-Baden, and 22 km southwest of Pforzheim.... Hochstetten – Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen/BW is a town of about 15000 inhabitants located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Federal Republic of Germany. It lies about 12 km north of Karlsruhe and is the site of the northern campus of a research centre Karlsruhe Institute of Technology...  – Neureut – Yorckstraße – Marktplatz – Hauptbahnhof Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof is the central railway station in the German city of Karlsruhe. The station is classified as one of the major Category 1 stations in Germany, due to its function as a hub connecting several railway lines with each other.- History :...  – Alb Valley Railway Alb Valley Railway The Alb Valley Railway is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft ....  – Rüppurr – Ettlingen Ettlingen Ettlingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about south of the city of Karlsruhe. Ettlingen is the second largest town in the district of Karlsruhe, after Bruchsal.-Geography:...  – Busenbach Waldbronn Waldbronn is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 11 km southeast of Karlsruhe.-Geography:...  – Bad Herrenalb Bad Herrenalb Bad Herrenalb is a municipality in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 15 km east of Baden-Baden, and 22 km southwest of Pforzheim....	54	Hardt Railway Hardt Railway The Hardt Railway is a railway line in the Karlsruhe region of Germany. Originally built as part of a through main line, it now forms a branch line from Karlruhe to Hochstetten... , Alb Valley Railway Alb Valley Railway The Alb Valley Railway is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft ....	AVG Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft The Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft is a company, which is owned 100% by the city of Karlsruhe and operates rail and bus services in the Karlsruhe area....
  	Hochstetten Linkenheim-Hochstetten Linkenheim-Hochstetten is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 17 km north of Karlsruhe.... –Ittersbach Hochstetten – Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen – Neureut – Yorckstraße – Marktplatz – Hauptbahnhof – Albtalbahnhof – Rüppurr – Ettlingen – Busenbach – Ittersbach	56
  	Spöck–Rheinstetten Rheinstetten Rheinstetten is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg. The town is situated 7 km southwest of Karlsruhe. Several people from Karlsruhe live in this Vorort.-Geography:... Spöck – Blankenloch – Hagsfeld – Durlacher Tor – Marktplatz – Entenfang – Daxlanden – Rheinstetten	47	Karlsruher Lokalbahn, Entenfang–Rheinstetten Stadtbahn line	VBK Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe The Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe , is the municipal transport company of the city of Karlsruhe in Germany. It runs the tram and bus network within the city, as well as the Turmbergbahn funicular railway....
  	Freudenstadt Freudenstadt Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the town of Freudenstadt in the German state of Baden-Württemberg and is an important railway junction in the northern Black Forest.-Location :... –Odenheim Östringen Östringen is a town in Northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Östringen is a sister city with Abergavenny, South Wales.-References:... Freudenstadt – Baiersbronn Baiersbronn Baiersbronn is a municipality in the district of Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest on the Murg river.Administratively, Baiersbronn consists of the following nine villages:* Baiersbronn* Friedrichstal...  – Forbach Forbach (Baden) Forbach is a village in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies in the district of Rastatt. It is located in the Murg river valley, in the northern part of the Schwarzwald mountains. Forbach is further broken down into the following districts: Langenbrand, Bermersbach, Gausbach, Hundsbach, Herrenwies,...  – Rastatt Rastatt station Rastatt station is together with Rastatt Beinl station one of two passenger stations in the city of Rastatt in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is an important station for the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, being served by four of its lines, which are operated by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft...  – Muggensturm Muggensturm Muggensturm is a town in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....  – Hauptbahnhof – Durlach Karlsruhe-Durlach station Karlsruhe-Durlach station is the second largest station in the city of Karlsruhe in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof...  – Bruchsal Bruchsal station Bruchsal station is the centre of the rail transport in the city of Bruchsal in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.-History :The original station of the baroque town of Bruchsal opened on 10 April 1843 as part of the Karlsruhe–Heidelberg section of the old Baden main line, which eventually...  – Odenheim	56	Murg Valley Railway Murg Valley Railway The Murg Valley Railway is a 58 kilometre long railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in Germany, that links Rastatt and Freudenstadt. It was opened in stages from 1868 to 1928 being built outwards from both Rastatt and Freudenstadt. The route through the narrow Murg Valley required... , Rhine Valley Railway, Katzbach Railway Katzbach Railway The Katzbach Railway is a branch line in southwestern Germany from Bruchsal to Odenheim that opened in 1896, and was extended in 1900 to Hilsbach. In 1960 services between Tiefenbach and Hilsbach were withdrawn, in 1975 the section between Odenheim Ost and Tiefenbach followed and, in 1986, the...	AVG, DB Regio DB Regio DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates short and medium distance passenger train services in Germany, and operates light and heavy rail infrastructure in the United Kingdom.-Germany:...
  	Achern Achern Achern is a city in Western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 18 km southwest of Baden-Baden and 19 km northeast of Offenburg... –Menzingen Kraichtal Kraichtal is a town in the north-eastern part of the Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was founded in 1971 by a merger of nine smaller municipalities.-Geography:... Achern – Baden-Baden Baden-Baden station Baden-Baden station is the most important of the three stations in the city of Baden-Baden in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is regularly served by local and long distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn. It is also the served by two lines of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, operated by...  – Rastatt – Muggensturm – Hauptbahnhof – Durlach – Bruchsal – Menzingen	30	Rhine Valley Railway, Kraich Valley Railway Kraich Valley Railway The Kraich Valley Railway is a branch line in southwestern Germany running from Bruchsal to Menzingen. It is now integrated as line 32 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn.- Route :The Kraich Valley Railway runs from Bruchsal in the Kraichgau...
  	Achern–Öhringen Öhringen Öhringen is the largest city in Hohenlohe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany, near Heilbronn. Öhringen is on the railways to Schwäbisch Hall and Crailsheim.With a population of 22,745 , the city is diverse... -Cappel Achern – Baden-Baden – Rastatt – Durmersheim Durmersheim Durmersheim is a small town in the district of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany and has a population of 12,049 .Durmersheim is situated between Karlsruhe and Rastatt, in the valley of the river Rhine near the border to France. There is also a forest in the valley, named Hardtwald, c...  – Albtalbahnhof – Hauptbahnhof – Marktplatz – Durlacher Tor – Tullastraße / VBK – Durlach – Grötzingen Oberausstraße – Bretten Bretten station Bretten station is the centre of rail transport in the town of Bretten in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The Württemberg Western Railway and the Kraichgau line cross at the station.-History :...  – Eppingen Eppingen Eppingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district....  – Heilbronn Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof is the main passenger station in Heilbronn in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.-Description :The station is located about 1 km west of the inner city of Heilbronn and the Old Neckar on a 1 km wide island between the old Neckar and the modern canalised Neckar. Southwest of the modern...  – Öhringen-Cappel	86	Rhine Valley Railway, Karlsruhe–Mühlacker Railway, Kraichgau Railway Kraichgau Railway The Kraichgau Railway is a 64.8 km long railway line in the region of Kraichgau in northwestern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Karlsruhe via Bretten and Eppingen to Heilbronn and was built in 1880... , Hohenlohe Railway Hohenlohe Railway The Hohenlohe Railway is a double-tracked, main line railway in southwest Germany that runs from Heilbronn, crossing the Hohenlohe region.-History:...
  	Eutingen im Gäu Eutingen im Gäu Eutingen is a town in the district of Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.-References:... –Tullastraße / VBK Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe The Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe , is the municipal transport company of the city of Karlsruhe in Germany. It runs the tram and bus network within the city, as well as the Turmbergbahn funicular railway.... Eutingen im Gäu – Freudenstadt – Baiersbronn – Forbach – Rastatt – Durmersheim – Hauptbahnhof – Marktplatz – Tullastraße / VBK	53	Gäu Railway, Murg Valley Railway, Rhine Valley Railway
  	Wörth Wörth am Rhein Wörth am Rhein is a municipality in the southernmost part of the district of Germersheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km west of the city center of Karlsruhe and just north of the German-French border....  Dorschberg–Bietigheim-Bissingen Bietigheim-Bissingen station Bietigheim-Bissingen station is a junction station in the town of Bietigheim-Bissingen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg where the Württemberg Western Railway separates from the Franconia Railway. With its eight station tracks it is the largest station in the district of Ludwigsburg... Wörth am Rhein – Maxau – Entenfang – Yorckstraße – Marktplatz – Durlacher Tor – Tullastraße / VBK – Durlach – Grötzingen Oberausstraße – Pfinztal Pfinztal Pfinztal is a municipality in the district Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It municipality consists of the villages Wöschbach, Berghausen, Söllingen and Kleinsteinbach, which were merged to one municipality in 1974....  – Pforzheim Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the city of Pforzheim in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.-Rail services :Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof is served by several lines operated at regular intervals, including an Interregio-Express/ Regional-Express line, a Regionalbahn line and two Karlsruhe Stadtbahn lines...  – Mühlacker Mühlacker station Mühlacker station is in the town of Mühlacker in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is at the junction of the Karlsruhe–Mühlacker line and the Western Railway. With its five platform tracks, it is the largest station in Enz district...  – Vaihingen an der Enz Vaihingen (Enz) station Vaihingen station is a long-distance and the regional station at an important railway junction in the town of Vaihingen an der Enz in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 station....  – Bietigheim-Bissingen	59	Palatine Maximilian Railway Palatine Maximilian Railway The Palatine Maximilian Railway - sometimes referred to as Maximiliansbahn or just the Maxbahn - is a railway line in southwestern Germany that runs from Neustadt an der Weinstrasse to Wissembourg in Alsace, France, with a branch from Winden via Wörth and the Maxaubahn to Karlsruhe.- Overview :It... , Karlsruhe–Mühlacker Railway, Western Railway Württemberg Western Railway The Western Railway in Württemberg was opened in 1853 and ran from Bietigheim-Bissingen to Bruchsal. It was the first railway link between the states of Württemberg and Baden in Germany and one of the oldest lines in Germany....
  	Germersheim Germersheim station Germersheim station is a junction station in the south of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station. It is the terminus of lines S3 and S4 of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn and the terminus of lines S51 and S52 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn... –Marktplatz Germersheim – Rheinzabern Rheinzabern Rheinzabern is a small town in the south-east of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany near the Rhine river.Currently, Rheinzabern, that belongs to the "Landkreis Germersheim" has approx...  – Wörth am Rhein – Maxau – Westbahnhof – Hauptbahnhof – Markplatz	26	Schifferstadt–Wörth railway, Palatine Maximilian Railway
  	Germersheim–Hauptbahnhof Germersheim – Rheinzabern – Wörth am Rhein – Entenfang – Yorckstraße – Markplatz – Hauptbahnhof	24
  	Pforzheim Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the city of Pforzheim in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.-Rail services :Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof is served by several lines operated at regular intervals, including an Interregio-Express/ Regional-Express line, a Regionalbahn line and two Karlsruhe Stadtbahn lines... –Bad Wildbad Bad Wildbad Bad Wildbad is a town in Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located in the government district of Karlsruhe and in the district of Calw. Its coordinates are 48° 45' N, 8° 33' E. About 11,250 people live there... Pforzheim – Neuenbürg Neuenbürg Neuenbürg is a town in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Enz, 10 km southwest of Pforzheim.The town has three stops, Neuenbürg, Neuenbürg Süd and Neuenbürg Freibad, on route S6 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, which operates over the Enztalbahn railway....  – Bad Wildbad	19	Enz Valley Railway Enz Valley Railway The Enz Valley Railway is a long railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in Germany...	AVG
  	Bruchsal–Mühlacker Bruchsal – Bretten – Mühlacker	17	Western Railway	DB Regio

S-Bahn line S3 between Germersheim

Germersheim

Germersheim is a town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, of around 20,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the Germersheim district. The neighboring towns and cities are Speyer, Landau, Philippsburg, Karlsruhe and Wörth.-Coat of arms:...

, Speyer

Speyer

Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...

, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

 and Bruchsal

Bruchsal

Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...

 and Karlsruhe is controlled by RheinNeckar S-Bahn

RheinNeckar S-Bahn

The Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn forms the backbone of the urban rail transport network of the Rhine Neckar Area, including the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen....

, not by the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn. It is operated by DB Regio

DB Regio

DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates short and medium distance passenger train services in Germany, and operates light and heavy rail infrastructure in the United Kingdom.-Germany:...

 with Class 425

DBAG Class 425

The Classes 425 and 426 EMUs are a class of electric multiple units built by a consortium of Siemens, Bombardier and DWA and operated by DB Regio in Germany...

 EMUs

Electric multiple unit

An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...

.

History

Karlsruhe attempted to create of a network of street and interurban

Interurban

An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...

 tram lines for the development of the surrounding countryside, modelled on the Oberrheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft. However, by the middle of the twentieth century there had been little lasting achievement due to the difficult economic times in between.

Acquisition and extension of the Alb Valley Railway

The acquisition of the Alb Valley Railway

Alb Valley Railway

The Alb Valley Railway is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft ....

 (Albtalbahn) by the city of Karlsruhe, the establishment of AVG and the integration of the Alb Valley Railway cross-country line into the Karlsruhe tram system between 1957 and 1966 formed the foundation for the later Stadtbahn network. The Alb Valley Railway was connected to the tram system and electrified as a tramway, so that modified trams could run through between the southern outskirts and Karlsruhe city centre.

The success of the Alb Valley Railway encouraged the Karlsruhe planners in the 1960s to connect the northern surrounding outskirts by a modern tram/stadbahn system as well. For this it negotiated with Deutsche Bundesbahn

Deutsche Bundesbahn

The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...

 to use the Karlsruhe-Neureut-Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen

Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen

Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen/BW is a town of about 15000 inhabitants located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Federal Republic of Germany. It lies about 12 km north of Karlsruhe and is the site of the northern campus of a research centre Karlsruhe Institute of Technology...

 line, sharing with the local goods traffic, and reached an agreement at the end of the 1970s. After building a connecting line between the tram network and the railway line in 1979 the tram service shared the railway line for 2 km to Neureut, where the few remaining goods trains left the line. In 1986 and 1989 the Stadbahn was extended north to Leopoldshafen and Linkenheim-Hochstetten

Linkenheim-Hochstetten

Linkenheim-Hochstetten is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 17 km north of Karlsruhe....

 and to the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, again sharing existing railway

Hardt Railway

The Hardt Railway is a railway line in the Karlsruhe region of Germany. Originally built as part of a through main line, it now forms a branch line from Karlruhe to Hochstetten...

 tracks. Since the remaining goods traffic was hauled by diesel locomotives, the electrification of the line with the tramway’s 750 V DC system did not cause technical problems.

Line B: introduction of tram-trains

Apart from the Stadtbahn line Hochstetten–Karlsruhe–Alb Valley (formerly line A, since 1994 lines S1/S11), a further Stadtbahn line, S2 (Stutensee

Stutensee

Stutensee is a town in northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.It was founded in 1975 by the voluntary connection of the four villages of Blankenloch with Büchig, Friedrichstal, Spöck and Staffort...

-Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

-Rheinstetten

Rheinstetten

Rheinstetten is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg. The town is situated 7 km southwest of Karlsruhe. Several people from Karlsruhe live in this Vorort.-Geography:...

), was built in stages between 1989 and 2006, extending an existing city tram line. This line connects the northeast with the southwest suburbs. This line included single-track sections in the main streets of the local centres of Blankenloch, Forchheim and Mörsch. This route through the cetres was preferred to a route on the edge of these localities or in a tunnel because it was seen as promoting development.

While the development of the lines to the nearby northern and southern municipalities could be achieved by use of the Alb Valley and Hardt Railway and by building new tram lines, this was not true of the eastern suburbs. Therefore shared operations over the existing railway lines was considered, although they were electrified, at least in sections, with the 15 kV system of the main-line railway. After development of a Stadtbahn vehicle, with the electrical systems of both trams and railways, that could be operated under both the tram

BOStrab

The Verordnung über den Bau und Betrieb der Straßenbahnen is a German law governing regulations for tramway, metro and light rail operations....

 and rail regulations

Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsordnung

The Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsordnung or EBO is a German law specifying rules and regulations for railways....

, lengthy negotiations with DB were required (well before rail reform legally permitted access by other rail operators to Germany’s rail infrastructure) before it was agreed that the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn could share the Karlsruhe–Bretten line.

In 1992, Stadtbahn operations between Karlsruhe and Bretten-Gölshausen started on the Kraichgau Railway

Kraichgau Railway

The Kraichgau Railway is a 64.8 km long railway line in the region of Kraichgau in northwestern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Karlsruhe via Bretten and Eppingen to Heilbronn and was built in 1880...

 (then line B, now S4). The tram and rail networks were linked by building a connecting line between Durlacher Allee and Grötzingen station. This connecting line also contains the equipment that controls the change between the two electrification systems.

Extension of the network

The unexpected success of the new Stadtbahn line between Karlsruhe and Bretten (passenger numbers increased fivefold in fewer weeks) led to an accelerated development of the Stadtbahn system in the 1990s. The modernization and integration of additional lines resulted:

• 1994 to Baden-Baden via Durmersheim and Rastatt im Vorlaufbetrieb via DB tracks, to Bruchsal via Weingarten; Bretten - Bruchsal
• 1996 Bruchsal - Menzingen; Karlsruhe inner city - Baden-Baden via Rastatt
• 1997 to Pforzheim via Pfinztal; Bretten - Eppingen/Wörth
• 1998 Bruchsal - Odenheim
• 1999 Bretten - Mühlacker; Pforzheim - Bietigheim-Bissingen; Eppingen - Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof (station)
• 2001 Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof - Heilbronn city centre (new construction)
• 2002 Rastatt - Forbach on the Murgtalbahn; Pforzheim - Bad Wildbad
• 2003 Forbach - Freudenstadt on the Murgtalbahn; Bad Wildbad town tram line (new construction)
• 2004 Baden-Baden - Achern
• 2005 Heilbronn - Öhringen
• 2006 Blankenloch - Spöck; Freudenstadt Hbf - Eutingen im Gäu
• 2010 Wörth – Germersheim

The Karlsruher Stadtbahn is over 400 km long with over 120 trains. The longest line (S4) runs from Achern to Öhringen and takes three hours.

Rolling stock

Stadtbahn cars of the Karlsruhe type have been used since 1983. The fleet includes 60 single-current vehicles for the direct current services only and operate on lines S1, S11 and S2. This type was derived from the Stadtbahnwagen B

Stadtbahnwagen B

The Stadtbahnwagen Typ B is a light rail vehicle used by several Stadtbahn networks in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was mainly developed by Düsseldorf-based DUEWAG, who also built the majoritiy of vehicles in a consortium with Siemens and Kiepe...

. 40 vehicles are 38 m-long 8-axle cars, while the remaining 20 6-axle cars are 28 m-long.

For services running under a mixture of direct and alternating current overhead line an 8-axle two-system car of the design GT8-100C/2Sy was developed from the direct current vehicles, and 36 examples were supplied between 1991 and 1995. As technology advanced the follow-up design GT8-100D/2Sy-M was developed in 1997.

New cars have been ordered by the VBK and AVG. Bombardier won its first order in late 2009 (30 Stadtbahn cars), and Vossloh won the 2011 order of 25 cars. The delivery is beginning in 2012 for Bombardier and 2013 for Vossloh.

Planned works

The extensive development of the network into the 1990s opened all of Karlsruhe’s surrounding countryside. The proposed urban tramways in Bruchsal, Rastatt, Baden-Baden and Landau

Landau

Landau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...

 failed to proceed, however, because of the political resistance of local politicians. A separate network, the Stadtbahn Heilbronn, is planned in the Heilbronn area to link with line S4.

Few lines have been opened so far to the area west of the Rhine, the Vorderpfalz (eastern Palatinate). This area has a lower population density, has closer connections to Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

 and Ludwigshafen and the railways connecting it to Karlsruhe are not electrified.

External links

• Homepage of Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV)
• Homepage of Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG)
• Karlsruher Stadtbahn in Stadtwiki Karlsruhe