The Halle–Bebra railway, known in German as the Thüringer Bahn ("Thuringian Railway"), is a 210 kilometre-long railway line from Halle (Saale) via Erfurt and Gerstungen to Bebra, mainly in Thuringia. As far as Gerstungen the line originally belonged to the Thuringian Railway Company. From Gerstungen to Bebra, it was owned by the Frederick William Northern Railway (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn), named after the Prussian king, Frederick William IV. It is now a two-track, electrified, standard gauge mainline operated by DB Netze. It was opened between 1846 and 1849 and was the first railway line in Thuringia (apart from a small piece of the Leipzig–Hof line of the Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company —Sächsisch-Bayerische Eisenbahn-Compagnie— near Altenburg). All types of trains from Regionalbahn to ICE currently run on the line except Interregio-Express. Four of the six largest cities in Thuringia are located on the line.
History The Thuringian Railway is part of the southern east–west line between Halle and Kassel. It follows an old trade route, the Via Regia between Leipzig and Frankfurt. Its construction was agreed to under a treaty signed on 20 December 1841 between the Kingdom of Prussia, the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The first section from Halle to Weissenfels was opened by the Thuringian Railway Company (Thüringische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) on 20 June 1846. Six months later, on 19 December, it was opened to Weimar and on 1 April 1847, it was opened to Erfurt. The Erfurt–Eisenach section opened on 24 June 1847 and the rest on 25 September 1849.
Modernisation since 1990 In February 1990, rail workers and executives of both national railways came together in Eisenach to initiate the closing of the gap between Bebra and Eisenach. In May 1991, the first train ran on the reconstructed section. The Eisenach–Gerstungen section was reopened for the 1991 timetable change and the second track was opened on 26 September 1992. At the same time, the Förtha–Gerstungen railway was abandoned as a bypass of the West German territory and was dismantled in 1993.
The electrotechnical services of Deutsche Reichsbahn and Deutsche Bundesbahn took part in discussions on the electrification of the 88 km-long section between Bebra and Neudietendorf. This resulted in an upgrade program which, among other things, increased the speed of the line to 160 km/h (and potentially 200 km/h), the elimination of level crossings and the reconstruction of the Berlin Curve (Berliner Kurve) that bypasses Bebra towards Fulda. A framework design was adopted for the Neudietendorf–Eisenach section by the beginning of 1993. The planning for the free route between Eisenach and Gerstungen had been completed and the preliminary design for Gerstungen station had been confirmed. The state's plan was sufficiently developed for the initiation of the planning approval process of the 110-kV line in Thuringia and fine-tuning was in progress in the spring of 1993.
The further modernisation of the Erfurt–Bebra section was carried out as Verkehrsprojekt Deutsche Einheit Nr. 7 (German Unity Transport Project no. 7). The estimated cost of the section between Neudietendorf and the state border was 1.6 billion DM. The electrification of the section was started in 1993 and completed in the summer of 1995 in time for a timetable change. Since May 1995, the line has been electrified and the maximum speed is 160 km/h in substantial parts, with the exception, for example, of Erfurt and Bebra stations and the Hönebach Tunnel (983 m long, 90 km/h). Electronic interlockings were installed in Eisenach and Neudietendorf and another was later installed at Erfurt Hauptbahnhof. The Neudietendorf electronic interlocking controls all signals and turnouts on the section from Erfurt-Bischleben to the approach to Wandersleben and the Eisenach electronic interlocking controls the Wandersleben–Gerstungen section. The section from Gerstungen is supervised by the track plan signal box in Bebra. In exceptional cases, the unstaffed signal box in Hönebach is staffed. The freight yard in Eisenach is also controlled by a track plan signal box.
The project was carried out by Deutsche Bahn AG. A total of €913 million was invested within the scope of the German Unity Transport Project no. 7, allowing the travel time for long-distance traffic between Bebra and Erfurt to be reduced from 135 minutes (in 1990) to 59 minutes.
The Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway has been operating parallel to the eastern section between Halle and Erfurt since 2015. The line, which runs north of the Thuringian Railway through sparsely populated areas, has taken a large part of the long-distance traffic from the Thuringian railway, thus relieving the congestion on the old line and also shortening travel times.
The first stage of the reconstruction, beginning in October 2005, ran from the southern approach to Halle to the exit from the high-speed line to the city. A new external platform was built at Halle-Ammendorf station south of the existing location. A new electronic interlocking took over the functions of four former signal boxes and a total of 6300 m of noise barriers was built. The permitted operating speed in this section was raised after completion of the construction work from 120 km/h to 160 km/h. A total of €92.5 million was invested, €64.4 million of it from the European Regional Development Fund. The upgrade of the 5.6 km-long section was completed at the end of May 2008. The connection to the high-speed line, including a flying junction, was built in a second stage from 2010 to 2011.
Extensive construction work took place between Erfurt and Weimar from 2010 to 2012. The line between Erfurt and the junction with the high-speed line to Halle/Leipzig was renovated, the stations in Weimar and Vieselbach were renovated and overhead wire, which had been erected in 1967 and was over 40 years old, was replaced. Preparations were also made for the integration of the high-speed line.
The railway node of Merseburg has been extensively modernised since March 2011. New track and overhead wire as well as an electronic interlocking were installed. At the station, the platform and the passenger subway were thoroughly renovated. The extensive works were completed in 2013.
According to the planning as envisaged in 1997, some sections of the old Erfurt–Halle/Leipzig railway would have also been upgraded for speeds of up to 200 km/h. (brochure, 50 A4 pages) An upgrade of the section between Neudietendorf and Eisenach for a maximum speed of 200 km/h is provided as an option.
Outlook The Erfurt–Eisenach section is to be upgraded by December 2019 for speeds of 200 km/h over a length of about 54 km as part of German Unity Transport Project no. 7. The top speed will be raised from 140 to 160 km/h from Erfurt to Wandersleben and to 200 km/h continuing to Eisenach. An exception to this is the passage through Gotha, which is to be ungraded for 180 km/h. This includes, among other things, the renewal of the superstructure on a 28 km-long section and the renewal of 30 sets of points. In addition, the subgrade is to be improved over a length of four kilometres along the Leina Canal and two bridges are to be rebuilt in Fröttstädt and Seebergen. ETCS Level 2 is to be installed as the train protection system. These measures are designed to shorten the travel time by up to 3 minutes and to achieve a travel time of hours between Dresden and Frankfurt am Main. According to earlier information, the upgrade was to be completed in 2017. The journey time between Erfurt and Frankfurt Airport would be less than two hours.
The Free State of Thuringia submitted, in preparation for the Federal Transport Plan (Bundesverkehrswegeplan) of 2015, the upgrade of the Erfurt line and the Neudietendorf–Eisenach line for 200 km/h to optimise connections to/from Frankfurt through the new Erfurt ICE junction. For this purpose, the elimination of level crossings is due to be completed to the end of 2017. The state also announced the upgrade of the line from Erfurt towards Halle/Leipzig, with the maximum speed raised for all conventional trains to 160 km/h, which is currently only the case for tilting trains.
The line, as part of the Fulda–Erfurt axis, is to be prepared by the end of 2017 for the use of eddy current brake (ICE 3). A 19 km-long section between Eisenach and Gerstungen would be largely upgraded for 160 km/h operations by 2017. This will allow Erfurt to operate as a node for clock-face scheduling. Since 2014, planning has been under way for the replacement or the upgrading of the line to the east of the Hönebach Tunnel, also for 160 km/h. After completion of these measures, the line between the Berlin curve and Erfurt would thus be largely operable at 160 km/h at least.
Modernisation, including the upgrade of the stations Schkopau and Bad Kösen for barrier-free access, is planned in the coming years with federal and state funds.
Operations The Thuringian trunk line is served by both long-distance and regional passenger services. The railway is more susceptible to delays than any line in Thuringia, except the Weimar–Gera railway, due to the high traffic volume on this route and the mixed operation of express and regional passenger traffic with long routes, along with goods traffic.
Passenger services Regional passenger services run over only parts of the Bebra–Halle railway. The Hessian section between Bebra and Eisenach has been operated by Cantus as NVV line R6 with Stadler Flirt electric multiple units (EMUs) since December 2006. Previously this section was served by Deutsche Bahn using both Halberstädter Mitteleinstiegswagen (Halberstädt central-entry carriages) and double-deck carriages. During the peak hour, some trains ran from Erfurt to Bebra or from Eisenach to Bad Hersfeld. Line RB20 runs between Eisenach and Halle (Saale) and is managed by Nahverkehrssservicegesellschaft Thüringen (Thuringian local transport authority). Until December 2015, this line was operated with DB Regio trains, which also used Halberstädt central-entry carriages or double-deck carriages. In the peak hour, services on line 22A ran on the Eisenach–Gotha–Erfurt/Erfurt–Weimar–Apolda route until 2014, using class 612 or Siemens Desiro Classic (class 642) EMUs. These additional services have been operated as part of line RB20 since December 2014. They are also partly operated between Erfurt and Apolda by Erfurter Bahn multiple units. The services of the Thuringian Railway were tendered in 2012 as part of the Elektronetzes Saale-Thüringen-Südharz (Saale-Thuringia-South Harz Electric Network). The contract was awarded to Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland, which took over the regional operations for 15 years in December 2015. Three and five-part Talent-2 electric multiple units are used.
On the eastern section, four new, two-hour routes have been operated since then, in addition to the existing Regionalbahn RB20 service, as Regional-Express or Stadt-Express services: Erfurt–Halle, Erfurt–Großkorbetha(–Leipzig), (Saalfeld–Jena–)Bad Kösen–Halle and (Saalfeld–Jena–)Bad Kösen–Großkorbetha(–Leipzig), to compensate for the loss of long-distance services as a result of the commissioning of the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway. Due to the reconstruction of the Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof railway node, the express services on the Naumburg–Halle section are operated by DB Regio for the time being, which run via Halle to Köthen and Magdeburg.