Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line

The Hanover - Würzburg high-speed rail line was the first of several high-speed railway lines for InterCityExpress traffic that were built in Germany. While technically starting in the village of Rethen and ending several kilometres north of Würzburg Hauptbahnhof, it is a de facto link between Hanover and Würzburg, with stops at Göttingen, Kassel and Fulda. Construction started as early as 1973, the line opening fully in 1991.At 327 km (or 203 miles) length, it still is the longest newly built rail line in Germany, and its costs are estimated at around DM 40 million (€ 20.45 million) per kilometre.

History

The Deutsche Bundesbahn began construction of the line in 1973. Since it was designed for fast passenger trains as well as for express freight trains, its maximum incline is a mere 1.25 ‰. Combined with the hilly terrain, this made the construction of 61 tunnels and 10 large bridges necessary. Of the 327 km of total length, 120 km are in tunnels, the two longest being the Landrückentunnel (10,779 m) south of Fulda, the second longest being the Mündener Tunnel (10,525 m) south of Hann. Münden. The highest bridge is the Rombachtalbrücke near Schlitz at 95 metres.

Withstanding 10,700 complaints and 360 lawsuits, the line was opened fully in 1991, though the Würzburg-Fulda part was used by InterCity trains as early as 1988. The standard speed on the line is 250 km/h (155 mph); 280 km/h may be reached by trains running late.

On May 1, 1988 the InterCityExperimental set a new land speed record for railed vehicles at 406.9 km/h (252.8 mph) between Fulda and Würzburg.

On 26 April 2008, trainset 11, travelling as ICE 885, collided with a flock of sheep near Fulda. Both powerheads and ten of the 12 cars derailed. The train came to a stop 1300 meters into the Landrückentunnel. 19 of the 130 passengers suffered mostly minor injuries; four of them had to be treated in hospitals. [ [http://www.wecowi.org/view/ICE-Unfall_bei_Fulda ICE-Unfall bei Fulda (www.wecowi.org; map)] ]

Safety

Deutsche Bahn AG keeps special trains for accident assistance ready, when passenger trains are on the line; from midnight to early morning these trains are out of service and the line is used for cargo transport. These are hauled by two specially rebuilt Class 714 locomotives and are designed to get firefighters and rescue workers to accident scenes in tunnels and on difficult to access sections of track. Both engines are equipped with infrared cameras and remote controls, so that the driver can steer the train into the tunnel from the first (air-tight) car of the train without endangering themselves. The trains on (or near) the Hanover-Würzburg line are stationed in Hildesheim Hbf, Kassel Hbf, Fulda and Würzburg Hbf. At first the trains were painted in a bright reddish-orange livery akin to fire engines, but since the late 1990s they are painted in the standard red of all DB liveries, apparently to make them less obvious to the concerned passenger.

Footnotes and References