Leipzig–Hof railway

Leipzig Bavarian station–Hof station
Overview
Locale	Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria
Line number	6362, 6377
Technical
Line length
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius	300 m (984 ft)
Operating speed	160 km/h (99.4 mph) (maximum)
Maximum incline	1.0
Route number	530
Route map Legend 0.000 (Beginning of line) 0.110 Leipzig Bayer Bf 120 m City-Tunnel from Leipzig Nord Leipzig MDR Connecting curve to Leipzig-Stötteritz to Leipzig Hbf 3.52 Leipzig-Connewitz 119 m to Plagwitz (1888 to 1925) 4.458 Pleißetal Viaduct (221 m) 0 Markkleeberg Nord 6.18 Markkleeberg 115 m 8.07 Markkleeberg-Großstädteln 115 m from Leipzig-Plagwitz 9.44 Markkleeberg-Gaschwitz 121 m to Meuselwitz 11.56 Großdeuben 128 m 14.58 Böhlen 132 m to Espenhain 16.70 Böhlen Werke 137 m 18.48 Trachenau junction (Bk) from Pegau 21.128 Neukieritzsch 144 m to Chemnitz 23.588 Bk Bergisdorf 25.15 Deutzen 149 m 25.860 Bk Röthigen 28.70 Regis-Breitingen 160 m Saxony–Thuringia state border 32.848 Treben-Lehma(former station) 170 m to Zeitz 38.635 Altenburg 180 m 40.80 Block Wilchwitz ~41.9 Münsa Viaduct (80 m) 42.06 Bk Kotteritz Stellerei to Narsdorf 43.815 Paditz 180 m 48.12 Lehndorf (Kr. Altenburg) 198 m to Gera 50.47 Bk Zehma 53.624 Gößnitz 208 m to Glauchau 55.88 Bk Nörditz 57.682 Ponitz 222 m Saxony–Thuringia state border 60.37 Bk Frankenhausen 62.967 Crimmitschau 238 m 66.743 Schweinsburg-Culten 255 m 68.975 Langenhessen Viaduct (113 m) 69.44 Bk Langenhessen 71.796 Werdau Nord 290 m from Mehltheuer–Weida 73.806 Werdau 303 m 75.210 Steinpleiß Viaduct (126 m) 75.279 Werdau Bogendreieck W12 junction to Dresden 75.904 Werdau Bogendreieck junction 77.96 Bk Römertal 79.94 Bk Beiersdorf 82.226 Neumark 374 m to Greiz 84.690 Bk Schönbach 87.08 Bk Linde from Lengenfeld–Göltzsch Viaduct 90.961 Reichenbach (Vogtland) Oberer Bahnhof 401 m 93.96 Bk Göltzsch Viaduct 94.889 Göltzsch Viaduct (579 m) 96.226 Netzschkau 380 m 99.116 Limbach (Vogtl) 405 m 101.554 Herlasgrün 429 m to Falkenstein 104.32 Bk Christgrün 105.910 Ruppertsgrün 400 m 108.394 Jocketa 373 m 108.695 Elster Viaduct (Elster Valley Railway; 280 m) 111.660 Jößnitz 385 m 113.55 Bk Haselbrunn 116.111 Plauen (Vogtland) Oberer Bahnhof 407 m to Cheb 119.70 Bk Waldgrün 122.316 Syrau 460 m from Werdau–Weida 127.250 Mehltheuer 509 m 130.664 Bk Drochaus 133.492 Schönberg (Vogtl) 515 m to Schleiz to Hirschberg 136.23 Bk Kornbach 139.08 Bk Rodau 141.390 Reuth (Vogtl) 581 m 144.50 Bk Mißlareuth 147.01 Bk Grobau 147.680 Grobau 572 m 149.681 Gutenfürst 571 m 151.699 Saxony–Bavaria state border 151.86 Bk Landesgrenze 154.60 Bk Unterhartmannsreuth 156.977 Feilitzsch(former station) 504 m 160.09 Bk Unterkotzau 160.842 Unterkotzau Viaduct (174 m) 162.461 Hof Nord 500 m from Bad Steben 164.746 Hof Hbf 495 m to Bamberg and to Regensburg Source: German railway atlas

The Leipzig–Hof Railway is a two-track main line in the German states of Saxony, Thuringia and Bavaria, originally built and operated by the Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company (German: Sächsisch-Baiersche Eisenbahn-Compagnie). It runs from Leipzig through Altenburg, Werdau, Reichenbach and Plauen to Hof. The Werdau–Hof section is part of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line (Sachsen-Franken-Magistrale), the line connecting Dresden and Nuremberg. Its first section opened in 1842 and it is one of the oldest railways in Germany.

History

Altenburg station 1860

File:Elstertalbruecke bei jocketa um 1900.jpg

Elster Viaduct 1900

Modeled after the successful Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company, the Sächsisch-Baiersche Eisenbahn-Compagnie was founded on 12 June 1841 as a private company to fund and build the planned line. Like the Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway the route passed through several states, in addition to the Kingdom of Saxony, it passed through the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, and the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The easy section from the Leipzig Bavarian station to Reichenbach was built between 1842 and 1846. In addition a branch was built to the city of Zwickau.

The construction of the final section between Reichenbach and the Bavarian border was more difficult and required two large viaducts to cross the Göltzsch and Elster valleys. Since no bridges of this size had been built, the two viaducts eventually cost twice as much as originally estimated. Although the railway had run a competition in German newspapers seeking cost-effective ideas on how to build the Göltzsch Viaduct, the resulting ideas were of limited usefulness. On 21 September 1846 the Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company acknowledged that it could no longer finance the construction and asked the Kingdom of Saxony for help. 1 April 1847 the Kingdom of Saxony bought the company and it eventually became part of the Royal Saxon State Railways (Königlich Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen); it the meantime it was operated as the Saxon-Bavarian State Railways (Sächsisch-Bayerische Staatseisenbahn). The remaining sections were completed in 1851.

Opening dates

• Leipzig–Altenburg: 19 September 1842
• Altenburg–Crimmitschau: 15 March 1844
• Crimmitschau–Werdau: 18 September 1845
• Werdau–Reichenbach: 31 In May 1846
• Plauen–Hof: 20 November 1848
• Reichenbach–Plauen: 15 July 1851

Nationalisation

1 April 1920 the Royal Saxon State Railways became part of the German Railway (Deutsche Reichsbahn).

Extensions

In 1865 the Neumark–Greiz line was opened to Greiz. It was nationalised in 1876 and it became part of the Saxon-Bavarian Railway. It was closed in 1999.

On 14 January 1867 a 6.8 km-long branch line was opened from Neukieritzsch to Borna. On 8 April 1872 this was extended by 55.7 km to become the direct Leipzig–Chemnitz line.

Between 1876 and 1878, the inconvenient terminal station in Altenburg was converted into a through station. This required a new alignment with a tunnel through a ridge south of the town. The tunnel had to be opened out prior to the 1958/59 electrification of the line because of its restricted structure gauge and water damage.

1 September 1879 a 9.9 km-long branch line was opened from Gaschwitz (now in Markkleeberg) on the main line branches via Gautzsch (now Markkleeberg West) to the Royal Saxon State Railways’ Plagwitz-Lindenau station on the southern outskirts of Leipzig.

In 1880, the terminal station in Hof was replaced by a through station.

In 1888, the Plagwitz–Connewitz freight railway was built branched off the Bavarian line the south of Connewitz station to connect the Leipzig Bavarian station with the Plagwitz-Lindenau station. This line was closed in 1925 during the construction of new flood defences for Leipzig.

On 2 October 1961 electrification was completed on the line from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof and Leipzig Bavarian station to Böhlen. Several more sections of electrification were opened finally reaching Reichenbach on 20 December 1963.

In the early 1990s there was a proposal to build a new line between Weischlitz on the Plauen-Cheb line to Feilitzsch that would have shortened the Plauen–Hof section from the current 49 km to only 32 km. This did not prove viable due to its high costs and because most long distance traffic between Berlin and Munich travels on the Saal Railway.

Electrification between Reichenbach and Hof

Electrification has been extended on the 74 km from Reichenbach to Hof because diesel-powered trains are not allowed to operate through the Leipzig City Tunnel tunnel, which was opened for passenger services in December 2013. This work was estimated to cost €120 million and was funded by the federal government, the state governments of Saxony and Bavaria and the European Union. It includes the erection of 3,000 overhead line masts, 170 km of overhead wiring and substations in Plauen and Hof. Construction work began on 21 July 2010. Work was completed to Plauen between February and December 2012, including the replacement of three overbridges. Power on the overhead wire between Plauen (Vogtland) and Hof was connected on 9 November 2013 and regular electric train services commenced to Hof on 15 December 2013.

Since 15 December 2013, the Leipzig Bayer Bf–Werdau Bogendreieck section has been operated as lines S5 and S5X of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland. Line S4 runs from Leipzig Bayer Bf to Neukieritzsch and continues to Geithain. Line S2 runs from Leipzig Bayer Bf to Markkleeberg-Gaschwitz. Lines S1 and S3 running towards Leipzig-Stötteritz use the short section between Leipzig Bayer Bf and Leipzig MDR.

Route

The starting point of the line was traditionally at the Bavarian railway station in Leipzig, which is at currently out of service because of construction work on the City Tunnel. At Leipzig–Connewitz station the line connects with the link line to Leipzig Hbf, which currently carries all traffic. First, the line runs through southern Leipzig, which is dominated by coal mining and mining landscapes composed of lakes and slag heaps. As far as Gaschwitz there are four tracks, then three tracks to Böhlen. In the Thuringian town of Altenburg, the landscape becomes hilly and the line then follows the valley of the Pleiße. In Gößnitz the line intersects with the Mid-Germany link line (the line connecting Chemnitz and Glauchau in the east via Gera and Jena to Weimar in the west) and then passes through Crimmitschau and Werdau before reaching the Werdau triangle, where it connects with the Dresden line to Werdau. It then enters northern Vogtland. Two kilometres west of Neumark the line to Greiz branched off until it was closed in 1999. Electrification of the line currently ends at Reichenbach, where a section with interesting structures begins, including the Göltzschtal Viaduct at Netzschkau and the Elstertal Viaduct at Jocketa. The route then reaches Plauen, which has seven stations, but trains on the Saxon-Bavarian Railway only stop at Plauen upper station and Jößnitz. In July 2010, DB launched a project to electrify 73 km Reichenbach - Plauen - Hof, which should be completed in 2013.

File:Netzschkau - Göltzschtalbrücke 2009 1 (aka).jpg

Göltzsch Viaduct

After Plauen station, the line turns back to the north, while the line to Bad Bramstedt and Cheb turns off to the south. After Syrau the line turns back to the west and in Mehltheuer it connects with the line from Gera. At Schönberg after connecting with the line to Schleiz and the closed line to Hirschberg, it turns south and three times crosses into very short sections of Thuringian territory. The last station in Saxony is the former border station of Gutenfürst. At the 151.699 km mark (from the Leipzig Bavarian station) the line leaves Saxony.

In Bavaria the line crosses the A72 autobahn and passes through the village of Feilitzsch. The station was closed in June 1973, but re-opened on 15 September 2006; it is only served by the Vogtlandbahn. 164 kilometres from Leipzig, the city of Hof is reached.

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons