The Central Railway ( or Centralbahn) was the first phase of the Württemberg railways. It was built between 1844 and 1846 by the Royal Württemberg State Railways (Königlich Württembergischen Staats-Eisenbahnen) and consisted of two branches, running from Stuttgart to Ludwigsburg in the north and from Stuttgart to Esslingen in the east.
The term Zentralbahn did not last long, as the two branches were soon extended to Heilbronn and Ulm, and were then known as the Nordbahn (Northern Railway) and the Ostbahn (Eastern Railway) or Filsbahn (Fils Valley Railway). The Ludwigsburg–Stuttgart–Esslingen section as a whole was still of great importance, since it continued to be the core of the network and was the busiest section of the Württemberg railways and it also served the largest metropolitan area in the country. For these reasons, it has undergone many changes and enhancements over time.
Route
The two branches began at Zentralbahnhof (central station), which was a terminal station and was located south of the current Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (main station) on Schlossstraße.
Both lines ran initially to the northeast. The northern branch, once it had gained altitude, curved to the left past the former cavalry barracks (now in the station track field) and then took another curve towards the suburb of Prag. This line left the Stuttgart basin by the first Prag Tunnel, which was originally 828-metre long. It passed through Feuerbach and Zuffenhausen, where it left the valley of the Feuerbach, then through Kornwestheim and originally ended in Ludwigsburg.
The eastern line ran along on the northwest side of the palace garden (Schlossgarten) to the Neckar valley. The line ran under Rosenstein Park through the Rosenstein Tunnel, which is located directly under the Rosenstein Castle. Then the line crossed the Neckar over the Rosenstein Bridge, reaching Cannstatt. Running on the right (northern) bank of the Neckar it ran to Esslingen via Untertürkheim, Obertürkheim and Mettingen.
This route no longer matches in all details the current route. The most significant changes over the years affect, apart from the vast expansion of the facilities, the location of the main Stuttgart station, the route of the Northern Railway between Stuttgart Central Station and Stuttgart North station, the position of the Rosenstein tunnels and the Neckar Viaduct.
Construction history
The Central Railway was never intended as an isolated railway line, but as the first phase of the Württemberg main line network that crossed the entire country and would connect Heilbronn and Bruchsal on the one hand with Ulm and Constance on the other. However, the section in the Württemberg heartland, had considerable intrinsic importance, especially for transport to and from Stuttgart, which suggested that construction should begin there. The route was difficult because of the geography and had to take into account both to the needs of the entire network as well as on those of Stuttgart, but a successful route was found after lengthy consideration of a variety of plans.
Geographical conditions
Stuttgart city centre is located in the valley of the Nesenbach at an altitude of about 250 metres. The valley is surrounded on three sides by hills, which rise to 200 metres above Stuttgart and fall only slightly to the northwest, where there is a low pass called the Pragsattel ("Prag saddle", 306 m). In the northeast, the valley opens up to the Neckar, which lies about 3.5 km from the Stuttgart centre. The geographical location of Stuttgart is often called a Talkessel (basin).
The population of Stuttgart had doubled to 40,000 between 1800 and 1840 and it was the largest city and the economic centre of Württemberg. The city, however, had spread primarily to the southwest (i.e. inside the basin) where the valley was relatively wide, in the north, there was discontinuous development only as far as Schillerstraße (which is now the location of Stuttgart Central Station) and along the Neckar road (Neckarstraße, part of which is now called Konrad Adenauer-Strasse). The palace gardens also prevented the growth of the city to the north; these ran from today's old town in a 200-metre-wide strip to the Neckar, where the output of the valley is again narrowed by the hills of Rosenstein (which is topped by Rosenstein Castle) and Berg. Further upstream and downstream the Neckar runs through a narrow, deep valley. Opposite the confluence of the Nesenbach with the Neckar is Cannstatt (called Bad Cannstatt since 1933). With 5,500 inhabitants, Cannstatt was much smaller than Stuttgart in 1840, but it had always been an important transport hub, as it was on an ancient trade route from the Rhine valley to the Danube (near Ulm) and the Neckar River was navigable downstream from here.
Before the invention of modern transport, Stuttgart was rarely described as having a poor location for transport purposes, which was not a principle of urban settlement normally taken into account at the time. Once the railway had been invented, its location meant that Stuttgart could not be on the direct through railway between the eastern and western borders, indeed access into the basin, except from the northeast was a problem, so that for a time Stuttgart could only be connected by a branch line, despite its economic importance and potential for generating traffic. The fact that the city barely extended towards the Neckar meant, at least, that a direct link to the city centre could be built.
Already the construction of the first railway in Württemberg was beset with difficulties that other comparable countries were spared at the time. The required levelling work, tunnels and bridges also made the construction comparatively expensive. Around 1835 the planning of railway networks was still in its infancy and it continued to develop during its planning, so that considerable uncertainty existed regarding the applicable construction parameters, such as acceptable curve radii and gradients. The ability of the economically weak Württemberg railway network to continue to extend its operations ultimately proved to be decisive for the country.
The first steps towards construction (1830–36)
The first concrete suggestion of a railway line in the Stuttgart area was made by a commission that had been formed in 1830 on the orders of King William I. This had been commissioned to investigate the building of a connection between the Rhine and Danube using canals or railways. In its interim report of 1833, it came to the conclusion that the building of railways would be appropriate and that a link between Stuttgart and Cannstatt would be useful.
The following activities are related to the continuing efforts to create a nationwide network. In 1835/36 private railway companies were formed in Stuttgart and Ulm to build a connection between the two cities. In this context, Valentin Schübler advanced a proposal for lines from Stuttgart to Heilbronn and Ulm in the Wochenblatt newspaper, which was published by the Cotta publishing house of Stuttgart. Under this proposal, the northern railway would run from a station at Seewiesen (the current location of the University of Stuttgart) to Prag, which it would pass under through a tunnel, and via Korntal to the Glems valley. The eastern railway would run from a railway station on the Neckarstraße to the east of the palace gardens by Berg and be connected to the northern railway by a one kilometre-long tunnel under the city. This proposal was not followed up, but it already contained the idea of a tunnel under Prag, which was picked up again years later.
The private railway companies were quickly dissolved when the original cost estimates proved to have been too optimistic, but stimulated further government planning. In 1836, the Interior Ministry instructed Baron Carl von Seeger (Technical Council of the Interior) and the Ulm District architect, Georg von Buhler to plan routes for the main lines. This was to clarify, among other things, whether the Eastern Railway, that is the connection to Ulm, should be built along the Rems, the Kocher and the Brenz or directly along the Fils and then crossing the Geislinger Steige, which was relevant to the route to be used in the Stuttgart area.
Buhler and Seeger’s plans (1836–43)
Buhler and Seeger completed their plan by 1839. This envisaged the building of the Stuttgart station on the Neckar road, with the line running to the east of the castle gardens to Berg. Under the Fils option, the eastern railway would have branched here from the northern railway. The eastern railway, as initially proposed by Buhler, would have continued on the left (southwest) bank of the Neckar towards Plochingen. Seeger planned the northern railway to cross the Neckar between Berg and Cannstatt. After Cannstatt it would then have switched back to the left (west) bank of the Neckar and turned left before Hoheneck to reach Ludwigsburg at the lower gate (Unteren Tor), that is north of the town centre. Under the Rems option, it would have had a junction with the Eastern Railway near Neckargröningen in Remseck. These plans were based on a maximum gradient of 1:200 and a maximum curve radius of 570 metres. Stuttgart, Cannstatt and Berg were possible locations for the central station on this route.
Upon submission of the plans the matter at first rested, partly because Seeger had retired from the service. Until 1842, there was little activity in the matter. The Austrian expert Negrelli, who was commissioned by the government, positively assessed the current plans, but realised at the same time that because of the progress of railway technology it was now possible to operate on steeper gradients and less costly infrastructure was needed. During 1842/43 the government as well as a parliamentary commission then laid down the following key elements for the works: Construction of the central station in Stuttgart, because most services would begin or end there; Favouring a line along the Fils rather than the Rems because it was direct and the through route in the case of the Rems route would run too far to the north of Stuttgart; Construction of the first section between Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart and Esslingen, since considerable local traffic was expected.
This last point laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Central Railway. The discussions led to the adoption of the Railway Act of 18 April 1843, which ordered the construction of the main lines. In addition, a railway commission was set up to ensure the implementation of the law and which would complete the planning of the construction of the tracks and carry out the construction. An engineer, Carl Etzel, who had already shown his abilities in railway construction, was called in to apply the experience that had gained with the construction of railways in France. Furthermore, the English engineering professor Charles Vignoles was appointed as a consultant to make a further review of the current plans as comments made by Negrelli on possible improvements raised doubts about their accuracy.
Work of the Railway Commission from 1843