Main–Weser Railway

Main-Weser Railway (Main-Weser-Bahn)
Route number:	614.9 (RegioTram to Treysa) 620 (Kassel–Gießen) 630 (Gießen–Frankfurt) 645.6 (S-Bahn to Friedberg)
Line number:	3900
Line length:	199.8 km (124.1 mi)
Gauge:	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Voltage:	15 kV, 16⅔ Hz AC
Maximum speed:	160 km/h (99.4 mph) Southern part only
Legend 0.0 Kassel Hbf Halle-Kassel railway to Hann. Münden Frederick William Northern Railway to Warburg 1.5 L 3420 2.6 K 32 2.7 Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe 4.3 Hercules Railway (metre gauge) and L 3218 Kassel-Naumburg railway 6.3 K 2 7.0 B 520 Oberzwehren junction 7.6 L 3219 Oberzwehren crossing structure 7.9 Kassel-Oberzwehren 8,9 A 49 10,0 A 44 10.6 K 15 10.7 Baunatal-Rengershausen 11,4 Hannover–Würzburg HSL to Fulda 13.5 Bauna Frederick William Northern Railway (to Bebra) 13.7 Baunatal-Guntershausen 16.3 L 3221 16.6 Edermünde-Grifte 17.2 Grifte–Gudensberg Light Railway 18.2 Eder 20.0 Felsberg-Wolfershausen 23,2 K 151 23.5 Felsberg-Altenbrunslar 23.9 L 3222 26.3 27.3 L 3220 27.4 Felsberg-Gensungen 30.3 Schwalm 33.9 Wabern) 34.0 B 254 Edersee Railway to Bad Wildungen 34.4 Forststraße 35.4 L 3148 36.2 36.9 37.3 L 3148 37.4 Abzw Uttershausen nach Wabern Kimm 37.8 Schwalm 38.7 39.3 L 3149 39.4 Singlis PREAG siding 42.6 L 3384 42.9 Borken (Hessen) 43.4 PREAG power station and mine railway Hessian Brown Coal Mining Museum 44.6 PREAG siding 45.7 L 3149 47.4 L 3067 48.7 L 3067 49.1 L 3149 49.2 Zimmersrode Kellerwald Railway to Gemünden (Wohra) 50,1 51.5 L 3074 54.7 Schlierbach (Schwalm-Eder-Kr) 54.7 K 56 56.7 L 3067 60.7 Treysa (until 1908) 61.1 B 454 61.5 Schwalm 61.9 Leinefelde–Treysa railway 61.9 Bad Hersfeld–Treysa railway 62.0 L 3145 62.3 Treysa (since 1908) 63.3 Road overpass 67.0 B 454 67.1 Schwalmstadt-Wiera 67.9 K 105 70.1 B 454 71.0 L 3263 71.1 Neustadt (Hessen) 72.2 L 3071 76.0 Wasserscheide (watershed) block post Weser and Main 80.0 81.4 Herrenwald-Kaserne industrial siding 81.4 (Fritz Winter Eisengießerei industrial siding ) Herrenwald-Kaserne 82.1 Stadtallendorf 82.5 L 3290 83.1 B 454 86.4 K 15 Ohm Valley Railway (from Gemünden (Felda)) 89.1 Hindenburgstraße 89.2 Kirchhain 89.5 L 3073 Wohra Valley Railway to Gemünden (Wohra) 90.1 Wohra 90.2 90.8 K 11 93.5 K 31 94.2 Anzefahr 95.2 96.7 97.3 Bürgeln 98.0 B 3 99.2 B 62 99.5 Lahn 99.8 Lahn Obere Lahn Valley Railway to Erndtebrück and Burgwald Railway to Frankenberg (Eder) 100.3 Cölbe 101.4 Lahn 101.6 L 3089 102.0 Siemensstraße 102.1 B 3 103.2 L 3089 104.2 Marburg (Lahn) 104.5 Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße Marburg Mitte (planned) 105.8 L 3089 107.1 L 3088 107.2 Marburg SouthPassenger station until 1956 107.4 Marburg-Süd 107.6 Heizöllager until 1998 107.7 Marburg District Railway 108.5 B 255 / L 3125 108.6 Industrial siding until 1998 108.7 to Dreihausen 109.1 B 3 110.0 Lahn 110.5 B 255 111.9 Niederweimar 114.5 K 60 Aar-Salzböde Railway to Herborn (closed 2002) 115.4 Niederwalgern (Keilbahnhof) 116.0 K 59 118.5 L 3048 118.9 Fronhausen (Lahn) 119.6 DB siding substation 119.6 Lahn 122.8 Friedelhausen 122.9 K 26 125.0 125.3 Lumda Valley Railway from Londorf 125.9 Lollar ) to Lollar–Wetzlar railway to Wetzlar 128.7 A 480 132.9 Gießen Oswaldsgarten 133.0 K 28 133.3 L 3499 133.6 Wieseck Vogelsberg Railway to Fulda and… …Lahn-Kinzig railway to Gelnhausen 134.0 Gießen (Keilbahnhof) 135.5 Dill Railway to Siegen and Koblenz Hbf 135.7 L 3475 135.7 B 49 Dill Railway to Siegen and Koblenz Hbf 136.4 Straßenüberführung 136.6 Gießen-Bergwald 137.5 A 485 139.7 Großen Linden 140.0 L 3129 141.2 A 45 143.4 Langgöns 143.5 L 3133 146.1 Kirch-Göns 151.0 Butzbach-Lich railway (connecting curve… 151.3 …to HLB workshop and line to Münzenberg) 151.3 B 3 151.9 Butzbach 152.6 L 3053 154.6 Ostheim (Butzbach) 156.9 A 5 151.3 B 275 160.6 Steinfurther Straße Butzbach-Lich Railway 161.9 Bad Nauheim 162.4 L 3143 163.1 B 3 163.2 Salinenstraße to Schwalheim 164.4 B 455 164.3 Horloff Valley Railway from Hungen/Nidda 165.0 Rosental Viaduct 165.1 165.6 Road overpass 165.7 Friedberg terminus S6 Friedberg–Friedrichsdorf railway Friedberg–Hanau railway 166.5 B 275 167.3 Bridge over the Görbelheimer Hohl 170.1 Bruchenbrücken 172.8 Rosbach Bridge 173.0 Wöllstadt-Nieder-Wöllstadt B 3 176.2 Okarben since 1894 178.4 Groß-Karben 179.2 Industrial siding 181.4 Dortelweil Nidder Valley Railway from Stockheim 183.6 Bad Vilbel 184.5 Nidda Bridge 184.9 Bad Vilbel Süd B 3 187.5 Berkersheim 189.3 L 3003 189.4 Frankfurter Berg (Frankfurt-Bonames until 1986) 191.6 Eschersheim U-Bahn lines U1, 2, 3 193.2 Bundesgartenschau… … to be re-opened as Frankfurt-Ginnheim U-Bahn line U1 195.4 S-Bahn overbridge from Frankfurt-Rödelheim S3, S4 and S5 right line and branch-off to: Homburg Railway 196.4 Frankfurt West 197.3 Frankfurt Messe former central goods station 198.1 Frankfurt Galluswarte Main-Lahn Railway, Taunus Railway Main-Neckar Railway, goods track Hauptbahnhof approach (Main Railway etc) City Tunnel 199.8 Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt Main-Weser station (to 1888)

The Main-Weser Railway (German: Main-Weser-Bahn) 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

Based on today’s kilometre markers the line is 199.8 km (124.1 mi) long between its termini. It is double-tracked and electrified. Its maximum speed limit is 160 km/h (99.4 mph), but this is only achievable in places on the southern part of the line. The Main-Weser Railway is one of the most important conventionally-operated German railways.

History

Main-Weser station in Frankfurt in 1889

Covered forecourt at Kassel Wilhelmshöhe station

Signal box on watershed between Weser and Rhine rivers

The idea of building the Main-Weser Railway began in 1838 as a link between Kassel and the Rhine-Main area running exclusively through the territory of Hesse-Kassel (Kurhessen) and connecting the major cities of the electorate from Kassel to Hanau via Fulda. At that time it proved impracticable to build such a line (the route of the Frederick William Northern Railway and the Frankfurt–Bebra railway) because of its mountainous route, particularly at the watershed between the Fulda and Kinzig valleys at Distelrasen, where a tunnel was only completed in 1914.

So instead from 1841 negotiations commenced with some other states and was interrupted several times. On 5 April 1845, a treaty was signed between the Free City of Frankfurt, the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel, establishing a joint state railway company, known as a condominium railway (Kondominalbahn). This established the legal basis for the line via Marburg, Gießen and Friedberg through easier terrain to the originally preferred route, but which crossed national boundaries several times. In the southern sector the route ran after its exit from the Main-Weser station in Frankfurt approximately parallel with the street of Taunusstraße (at that time, only partly built), along the current streets of Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage and Hamburger Allee to the then Kurhessen town of Bockenheim, now the site of Frankfurt (Main) West station. It then ran again through the territory of Frankfurt in Hausen, through Kurhessen in Eschersheim, and through Frankfurt territory in Bonames. The line then went through the Grand Duchy of Hesse town of Boden bis Friedberg, then a piece of Frankfurt-owned territory in Dortelweil. Bad Nauheim was a Kurhessen enclave within the Grand Duchy of Hesse exclave of Oberhessen through which the line ran to Gießen. Under the treaty, each of the participating governments were responsible for the purchase of land on their territory. Financing the construction of the line proved to be more difficult. Construction occurred during the turmoil of the revolutions of 1848 and a financial crisis in the Grand Duchy of Hesse.

Work began on 6 August 1846 in Kurhessen territory. Here the Belgian engineer Frans Splingard and his colleague Edward Hacault were in charge. In Frankfurt construction was directed by Remigius Eyssen. The building of station on almost all sections of the line in Kurhessen was directed by Julius Eugen Ruhl, the first Director General of the Kurhessen railways. The first section between Kassel and Wabern was opened on 29 December 1849. The first continuous rail service from Kassel to Frankfurt ran on 15 May 1852, after the opening of the line between Gießen and Langgöns, connecting the northern and the southern sections of the line.

The second track was added in 1865—following twelve years of negotiations. The cooperation of the participating countries had not improved despite rapidly developing rail services. The second track significantly eased the transport of Prussian troops in the War of 1866, a war which led to the annexation by Prussia of two of the states involved in Main-Weser Railway, Hesse-Kassel and the Free City of Frankfurt. Their shares were subsequently transferred to Prussia. In 1880, Prussia also acquired the Grand Duchy of Hesse’s shares in the company.

Until the completion of the Frankfurt–Bebra line in 1866, all express trains between Frankfurt and Berlin ran on the Main-Weser Railway. These trains ran on to the Frederick William Northern Railway at Guntershausen to connect with the Thuringian Railway. Express trains continued to run from Frankfurt to Berlin via Kassel until the end of World War II. In the following years of the American occupation trains also ran on this route. In 1878/79 the Treysa–Lollar section of the line was incorporated into the strategic railway known as the Kanonenbahn (English: Cannons Railway) built between Berlin and Metz.

During the 1960s, the first section of the line was electrified between Frankfurt and Giessen; electrification of the line was completed on 20 March 1967.

Operations

Two long distance routes run on the Main-Weser Railway. These are the cross-country routes of Intercity line 26 running at two-hour intervals between Karlsruhe or Constance and Stralsund or Hamburg-Altona and a pair of Euro City trains on line 62 from Siegen to Klagenfurt which run on the line between Giessen and Frankfurt, stopping at Bad Nauheim. Regional-Express train services operate between Frankfurt and Kassel and between Frankfurt and Siegen. The latter leave the line in Gießen, requiring a reversal. Regionalbahn trains operate between Marburg and Giessen and between Giessen and Friedberg. Line S6 of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn operates between Friedberg and Frankfurt South station through the City Tunnel. The section between Treysa and Kassel is operated by RegioTram Kassel Tram-trains as line RT 9. The RegioTram line commenced in May 2007 but initially only on weekends, it has since replaced the Regionalbahn trains on weekdays as well.

Many trains on the lines branching from Bad Vilbel, Friedberg, Giessen and Marburg use some of the main line. Many freight trains operate on the route including container trains and trains carrying farm equipment (such as tractors and combine harvesters) from factory. The line is also regularly used for military movements.

References

• Brake, Ludwig (2000). "Über Fulda oder über Gießen—die Entstehung der Bahnverbindungen zwischen Kassel und Frankfurt im 19. Jahrhundert (Around Fulda or Gießen—the development of the rail links between Kassel and Frankfurt in the 19th Century)" (in German). Jahrbuch für Eisenbahngeschichte (Yearbook of Railway History). 32. pp. 5–16. 
• Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2007. ISBN 978-3-89494-136-9. 
• Krause, Günter (2000). "Die Lokomotiven der Main-Weser-Bahn (The locomotives of the Main-Weser Railway)" (in German). Jahrbuch für Eisenbahngeschichte (Yearbook of Railway History). 32. pp. 17–27. 
• Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen (State Conservation Hesse), ed (2005,) (in German). Eisenbahn in Hessen. Eisenbahnenbauten- und strecken 1839-1939 (Railways in Hesse. Rail construction and lines 1839-1939). 2.1,. Stuttgart: Theiss Verlag. pp. 142ff (Strecke 010). ISBN 3-8062-1917-6. 
• Münzer, Lutz (2000). "Verkehr und Anlagen der nördlichen Main-Weser-Bahn (Transport and facilities of the Northern Main-Weser Railway)" (in German). Jahrbuch für Eisenbahngeschichte (Yearbook of Railway History). 32. pp. 28–60. 
• Münzer, Lutz. "Vom Kondominat zur Preußischen Staatseisenbahn—aus der Geschichte der Main-Weser-Bahn zwischen (From Condominium to Prussian State Railways—from the history of the Main-Weser Railway) 1866–1880" (in German). Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hessische Geschichte 107. pp. 291–314. 
• Münzer, Lutz (2004). "Von der Main-Weser-Bahn zwischen 1866 und 1880 (From the history of the Main-Weser Railway 1866 and 1880)" (in German). Jahrbuch für Eisenbahngeschichte (Yearbook of Railway History). 36. pp. 91–104. 
• Sieburg, Dankwart (2000)). "Zur Entwicklung der Eisenbahnerschließung im Raum Treysa/Neustadt (On the development of railways in the Treysa/Neustadt area)" (in German). Jahrbuch für Eisenbahngeschichte (Yearbook of Railway History). 32. pp. 61–84. 
• (in German) Der Viadukt. Der Rosentalviadukt in Friedberg (The viaduct. The Rosental Viaduct in Friedberg). Friedberg: Bindernagelschen Buchhandlung. 1995. ISBN 3-87076-075-3. 

External links

• ICE diversions on the Main-Weser Railway