The Nuremberg–Würzburg Railway is a German trunk line railway in northern Bavaria, connecting the city of Nuremberg with Würzburg, the two largest cities in Franconia, and passing through Fürth, Neustadt an der Aisch and Kitzingen. In addition to hourly Regional-Express trains and numerous freight trains, it is served by Intercity-Express trains during the day at half-hourly intervals with some gaps.
Route description
On its total length of just over , the railway line has a total of 18 stations. The two endpoints of the line, Nuremberg Hbf and Würzburg Hbf, are served by fast long-distance services.
The line runs through more than 80 curves in a landscape of low ranges.
History The stretch from Fürth to Rottendorf near Würzburg was built in as a shortcut between the Ludwig South-North Railway in Nuremberg and Ludwig's Western Railway line in Wurzburg. This shortened the -long indirect route via Bamberg and Schweinfurt. The state railway initially had little interest in the connection, so initially private Committees considered plans for such a route. At first, in 1857, a proposal via Siegelsdorf, Windsheim, Marktbreit and Ochsenfurt had been favoured, which led to an alternative route being put forward from the Neustadt and Kitzingen area, which ultimately prevailed.
Initially, short sections were built as sections of other rail lines: 1 July 1854: Rottendorf–Würzburg, 8.0 km long, as part of the Ludwig Western Railway 1 October 1862: Nürnberg–Fürth, long, with the partial relocation of the Ludwig South-North Railway on this section 1 July 1864: the entrance to the new Würzburg station with the closing of the old Ludwig station.
Construction began in 1861 and was completed in 1864. Only the viaduct in Emskirchen was not finished due to the difficult ground conditions. The Nuremberg–Würzburg railway was finally completed with opening of the 86.6 kilometre-long Fürth–Rottendorf section on 19 June 1865. At the same time the eight km-long section between Rottendorf and Würzburg was duplicated. In the summer of 1985 a third track was added to this section.
On 1 July 1886, a heavy head-on collision of two trains took place between Würzburg and Rottendorf, causing the death of 16 people.
On 8 December 1889, the Bavarian State Parliament approved the doubling of the single-track line between Fürth and Rottendorf, which was completed by 1891.
On 10 June 1928 at 02:30, the locomotive of the night train D 47, a class S3/6, derailed while crossing the Zenngrund bridge shortly before the entry to Siegelsdorf station. The locomotive crashed down the embankment and the carriages followed it. This killed 24 people.
The Aurach viaduct in Emskirchen was renovated 1939, with the previous “fish-bellied” bridge (having lens-shaped iron trusses, similar to the Royal Albert Bridge) replaced by a steel box construction.
In the Nazi period, the first preliminary work began to connect the line from Mainbernheim via a wye with the Würzburg–Treuchtlingen railway (near Marktbreit). Because of the Second World War, this project, which had already been considered in 1868 by the Royal Bavarian War Ministry, remained unfinished.
Despite being bombed in February 1945, the bridge over the Main in Kitzingen was passable, but Wehrmacht soldiers blew it up along with the neighbouring bridge on the Kitzingen–Schweinfurt railway. Some wagons of a coal train that had broken loose fell into the Main. The northern abutment of the Aurach Bridge in Emskirchen was also blown up. The line was probably back in traffic from 15 October 1945.
The electrification of the line began on 8 August 1952 with the installation of the first catenary mast in Neustadt (Aisch) station and it was formally opened on 2 October 1954 with a special train.
A pilot installation of train radio, which had been approved in 1959, was introduced in 1962; this culminated in the nationwide introduction of the ZBF 70 system in 1974.
In the 1960s, a number of level crossings were abolished or replaced by bridges and underpasses. Between 1965 and 1968, the previous push-button interlockings were replaced by automatic block signaling. As a result, the hand-operated block and junction signal boxes at Kohlenhof, Rothenburger Straße and Neusünderbühl on the Nuremberg–Fürth section were replaced. Subsequently, the branches were remotely controlled from Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof. The investment of DM 900,000 produced a return of 40 percent with the saving three old signal boxes and 15 signalmen.
The stations of Sickershausen, Mainbernheim, Markt Einersheim and Hellmitzheim were closed for passenger operations in 1982 and Langenfeld station was closed in 1992.
As one of the oldest railway lines in Germany, the line was declared overloaded in 2008.
A new station was opened between Emskirchen and Neustadt (Aisch) as Neustadt (Aisch) Mitte ("central") station on 10 December 2012. It complements Neustadt (Aisch) station, which is poorly on the town's western outskirts.
Development The line is double track throughout. The section between Nürnberg and Fürth was electrified on 15 May 1939 and Fürth to Wurzburg was electrified on 3 October 1954. The 19th century line had a minimum railway curve radius of 2,000 Bavarian feet (about 600 m) causing numerous speed limits of . Thus, today (as of 2015) the stations of Neustadt (Aisch) Rottendorf (Einfahrkurve) and Kitzingen can only be passed at .
The first Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (Bundesverkehrswegeplan, 1973) identified the line from Würzburg to Nuremberg and continuing to Augsburg as one of eight railway development projects. The same route was included in its update, "the coordinated investment program for federal transport" in 1977 as one of six development projects. The upgrade package consisted of 115 individual measures. The aim of the project was, above all, in the capacity expansion.
Further development was foreseen as part of the ABS/NBS Würzburg–Nürnberg–München, which was included as one of 13 new projects that were identified as urgent needs in the 1985 Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan. The Nuremberg–Würzburg line was designated as project ABS 8/2. Planning for line improvements was underway by 1990. Different parts of the line were upgraded from 1992. The line was upgraded for operations with active tilting technology in 2007. The ICE T, which has operated on the line since December 2007, was thus able to operate on sections faster than trains without tilting technology, before problems with their axles put an end to high-speed operations in 2008.
1976–1987 upgrade 115 individual measures were planned in the first stage of the upgrade, as part of the ABS 8 project. In addition to the upgrade of the Würzburg–Rottendorf section to three-tracks, eleven new platform accesses that avoided crossing railway tracks, continuous bi-directional signalling, shorter signalling blocks and adjustments and upgrades to the traction power supply were provided. Step-free platform access was created at the stations of Dettelbach, Kitzingen, Iphofen, Markt Bibart and Emskirchen.
The third track between Würzburg and Rottendorf went into operation in July 1985. It is considered a continuation of the new line between Hannover and Würzburg. The section between Würzburg and Rottendorf was congested in the early 1980s. Although the line between Würzburg and Rottendorf had a nominal capacity of 240 trains per day (both ways), 290 passenger and freight trains operated on it on weekdays. During peak hours many freight trains had to be diverted or kept in sidings. In order for the line to deal with the expected increase in traffic as a result of the planned Hanover–Würzburg high-speed line, plans were developed in 1976 for a third track on the 8 km-long section. On 13 July 1979, the Federal Minister of Transport granted a permit to upgrade the track in accordance with the Federal Railway Act. The planning approval process that had been initiated at the beginning of 1979 was completed on 15 May 1980 with approval for the plan. After a lawsuit was settled out of court, the plan approval became legally binding on 11 May 1981.
Construction began in 1980. The planned investment in 1984 was around DM 145 million (about €74 million, as of 1984). (14-sided Leporello list) The third track is operated as a single track line. The idea of building it in a balanced middle position between the two existing tracks had been rejected.
Around DM 184 million was invested in the entire package of measures. The project was completed at the end of the 1980s with the exception of some finishing details. The cost of the third track was estimated at DM 71 million in 1989; DM 66 million of this was funded by the federal government.
1987–1999 upgrade A number of measures were envisaged within the scope of the further upgrades envisaged in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1985: in addition to the provision of alignment improvements and the shortening of blocks, short overtaking loops, level crossings and slow points (especially in Würzburg Hauptbahnhof) were to be eliminated. New and extended substations were planned as well as reinforced power supply. The Linienzugbeeinflussung cab signalling and train protection system would be installed and a freight detour route (Würzburg–Ansbach–Nuremberg) would be developed. The cost of the project was estimated to be DM 272 million at 1985 prices.
The ABS 8/2 upgrade project was divided into three sections: On the 40.9 km-long section between Nuremberg and Neustadt (Aisch), worthwhile investments would raise the permissible speed by up to 30 km/h to 160 km/h. Exit speeds in Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof would be raised from 30–40 to 80 km/h by the installation of more gradual turnouts. The core of the project was the upgrading of the 28.8 km-long section between Neustadt (Aisch) and Iphofen. With 14 line improvements, a continuous top speed of 200 km/h would be achieved. Movements of 20 to 65 m were required at six curves and movements of at most 4 m were required at the remaining curves. In Neustadt (Aisch) station, the passing track would be extended to an effective length of 750 m. Four level crossings would be eliminated. On the 32.5 km-long and especially curvy section between Iphofen and Würzburg greater speed increases were not possible. On five sections, speed increases of 10 km/h to 140 km/h were intended. In Kitzingen station, the effective length of the passing track would be extended to around 750 m. In Würzburg Hauptbahnhof, exit speeds for long-distance trains to Nuremberg would be increased from 40 to 60 km/h and parallel entry options from Nuremberg and Bamberg would be created.
The preliminary plans for the project was submitted to the Bundesbahn headquarters on 31 May 1987 and planning approval was granted on 18 November 1988. Completion was scheduled for 1996. Work on the line began with a formal groundbreaking ceremony on 3 April 1992 and was scheduled to be completed by 1997. Upgrade works in Würzburg Hauptbahnhof had begun as early as 1989.
As a result of line improvements, the speed in the section between Neustadt (Aisch) and Iphofen was raised by 40 to 60 km/h to 200 km/h by May 1999; this also required the installation of the Linienzugbeeinflussung system. At the same time measures were taken to increase the entry and exit speeds at Würzburg Hauptbahnhof. The improvements allowed a travel time reduction for long-distance traffic of about seven minutes.
Away from the high-speed section, smaller increases in speed were realised, for example, by raising the cant up to 160 mm, minor changes to transition curves and shifts of tracks of up to 60 cm. In the area of Elgersdorf (line-kilometres 19.6 to 20.5) the line was moved by up to 25 m. The maximum speed on the section was raised to 140 km/h.