Gäu Railway (Eutingen–Freudenstadt)

Eutingen im Gäu–Freudenstadt Hbf
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Route number:	741
Line number:	4880
Line length:	29.9 km
Track gauge:	1,435 mm
Voltage:	15 kV, 16.7 Hz AC
Maximum incline:	<2  %
Maximum speed:	100
Legend Gäu Railway from Stuttgart 57,2 0,0 Eutingen im Gäu 58,5 Eutingen (Württ) Gäu Railway to Singen 1,5 former siding for the fuel bunker of Eutingen airfield Eutingen im Gäu Nordplanned 4,7 Hochdorf (b Horb) Nagold Valley Railway to Pforzheim Horb-Heiligenfeldplanned 9,8 Heiligenfeld industrial siding 12,4 Altheim-Rexingen 16,6 Bittelbronn 19,7 Schopfloch (b Freudenstadt) Dornstetten Mitteplanned 24,2 Dornstetten uncompleted line to Pfalzgrafenweiler Dornstetten-Aachplanned 25,3 Kübelbach Viaduct (296 m) 26,1 Stockerbach Viaduct (296 m) 26,8 Freudenstadt-Grüntalplanned 27,6 Ettenbach Viaduct (162 m) Murg Valley Railway from Rastatt 29,9 Freudenstadt Hbf Kinzig Valley Railway to Hausach

The Gäu Railway (German: Gäubahn) from Eutingen–Freudenstadt is a railway line in the German state of Baden-Württemberg that runs from the cultural landscape of the Gäu to the eastern edge of the Black Forest. It is a section of the Gäu Railway from Stuttgart to Freudenstadt opened on 1 September 1879.

The line was the link from the state capital of Stuttgart to the Kinzig Valley Railway. Both the Gäu Railway and the Kinzig Valley Railway were main lines until 1974. Since the mid-1970s these railways were threatened time and again with closure. Not until 2006 was comprehensive electrification and renovation work carried out as part of the development of the Freudenstädter Stern regional network. Finally the line was integrated into the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn network and once again after a decade a direct link to Stuttgart was introduced.

The Gäu Railway was planned by railway engineer, Georg Morlok, and was characterised by viaducts and deep rock cuttings that were an architectural challenge to build.

See also

• History of the railway in Württemberg with mapping on the construction of the Gäu Railway in comparison with the growth of the whole Württemberg railway network.

Sources

• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf, Burkhard Wollny (1995) (in German), Die Eisenbahn im Nordschwarzwald, Band 1: Historische Entwicklung und Bahnbau, Freiburg im Breisgau: Eisenbahn-Kurier, ISBN 3-88255-763-X 
• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf, Burkhard Wollny (1995) (in German), Die Eisenbahn im Nordschwarzwald, Band 2: Ausgestaltung, Betrieb und Maschinendienst, Freiburg im Breisgau: Eisenbahn-Kurier, ISBN 3-88255-764-8 
• Jürgen Gaßebner, Claus-Jürgen Jacobson (1999) (in German), Bahnanlagen aus der Luft. Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart: Transpress, ISBN 3-613-71098-6