Magdeburg–Thale railway
Encyclopedia
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The Magdeburg–Thale railway is a predominantly single-track, non-electrified main line railway that connects Thale
Thale
Thale is a town in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany.-Geography:It is situated on the river Bode, approximately 8 km west of Quedlinburg. It is the terminus of the Magdeburg–Thale railway.- History :...
, in the northern Harz
Harz
The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...
, with Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
. Its eastern section between Magdeburg and Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
was opened in 1843 and it is one of the oldest railways in Germany.
History
The Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway CompanyMagdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company
The Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company was a railway in Prussia. It was nationalized in 1879.-History :The Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company received a concession on 14 January 1842 from the Prussian government to build the 58 km long railway line from Magdeburg–Oschersleben–Halberstadt...
opened the Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
–Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
line on 15 July 1843. The secondary line from Halberstadt to Thale
Thale
Thale is a town in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany.-Geography:It is situated on the river Bode, approximately 8 km west of Quedlinburg. It is the terminus of the Magdeburg–Thale railway.- History :...
was opened 19 years later, in 1862.
In 1967, the Langenweddingen
Sülzetal
Sülzetal is a municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Sülze creek, a tributary of the Elbe, about southwest of Magdeburg. Sülzetal was established on April 1, 2001 by the merger of the villages Altenweddingen, Bahrendorf, Dodendorf, Langenweddingen,...
train disaster occurred on the line, the worst in the history of East Germany. The accident involved a bi-level train hitting a tanker truck at a level crossing, resulting in an explosion that killed 94 people, many of them children on their way to a summer camp in the Harz mountains.
In the 1970s, four pairs of trains per day ran on the Magdeburg-Halberstadt section to or from Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, with some coaches to or from Thale. On 29 October1988, the last scheduled steam-hauled train operated by East Germany railways ran between Thale and Halberstadt.
In 1992, trains operated every two hours between Halberstadt, Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
with trains stopping at all stations between Magdeburg and Thale; some additional services operated in busy periods. In 1995 long-distance services between Magdeburg and Halberstadt were stopped completely and were replaced by Regional-Express services, operating hourly.
A collision
2011 Saxony-Anhalt train accident
The 2011 Saxony-Anhalt train collision occurred on January 29, 2011, when a freight train and a passenger train collided near Hordorf in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on the Magdeburg–Thale line. The passenger train derailed in the collision. Ten people were killed and 43 people were injured, some of them...
between the Harz-Elbe Express and a freight train on the line on 29 January 2011 killed 10 people and injured 23.
Route
The track is not electrified, except for the short section between Magdeburg HauptbahnhofMagdeburg Hauptbahnhof
is the main railway station in the city of Magdeburg in the northern part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.-Importance :The station is the main station of Magdeburg and along with Halle Hauptbahnhof the centre of long-distance rail transport in Saxony-Anhalt...
and Magdeburg-Buckau. It has duplicated sections from Hadmersleben
Hadmersleben
Hadmersleben is a town and a former municipality in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 September 2010, it is part of the town Oschersleben....
to shortly before Oschersleben
Oschersleben
Oschersleben is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2005 about 18,000.-Geography:...
and between Krottorf and Groß Quenstedt
Groß Quenstedt
Groß Quenstedt is a municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany....
. The section between Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
and Wegeleben
Wegeleben
Wegeleben is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Bode, east of Halberstadt. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Vorharz. The town was the birthplace of Martin Bormann in 1900. It has a station on the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
is also duplicated, as part of the upgrading of the Halle–Halberstadt railway
Halle–Halberstadt railway
The Halle–Halberstadt railway is a non-electrified main line in Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany. It is an important link between the conurbation of Halle and the northern Harz Foreland...
for tilting train
Tilting train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest due to...
operations. The rest of the line is single track.
Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof
Magdeburg's main railway station was opened in 1873.Oschersleben
OscherslebenOschersleben
Oschersleben is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2005 about 18,000.-Geography:...
station is the most important station on the line to Halberstadt. It was built together with the construction of the line to Brunswick. The southern side of the V-shaped station serves trains to Halberstadt and the northern side formerly served trains to Jerxheim
Jerxheim
Jerxheim is a municipality in the district of Helmstedt, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
and Brunswick and the trains of the Oschersleben-Schöningen Railway Company. The station building is located between the tracks and originally contained the customs and passport control facilities for travelling between the Duchy of Brunswick
Duchy of Brunswick
Brunswick was a historical state in Germany. Originally the territory of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in the Holy Roman Empire, it was established as an independent duchy by the Congress of Vienna in 1815...
and the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
. After the division of Germany after 1945, the route to Jerxheim was closed and in consequence the northern side of the station lost most of its purpose. Until 1991, a few daily passenger trains shuttled from there to the border town of Gunsleben. In recent years a few trains from Magdeburg terminated on the north side of the station. Meanwhile, the tracks and the large reception hall on the north side are virtually unused.
Halberstadt
HalberstadtHalberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
station is a major transfer point to the northern Harz rail network. There are interchanges to Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
, Magdeburg, Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Thale, Hildesheim
Hildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...
, Goslar
Goslar
Goslar is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines of Rammelsberg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.-Geography:Goslar is situated at the...
and Blankenburg
Blankenburg
Blankenburg may refer to:* Blankenburg am Harz, a German town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt* Blankenburg Castle , the castle in Blankenburg am Harz * Bad Blankenburg, a German town in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia...
. Halberstadt station is also connected to the local tram and bus networks. The railway tracks in Halberstadt station were modernized in recent years.
Wegeleben
WegelebenWegeleben
Wegeleben is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Bode, east of Halberstadt. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Vorharz. The town was the birthplace of Martin Bormann in 1900. It has a station on the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
station used to have a lobby and a restaurant. After the change
Die Wende
marks the complete process of the change from socialism and planned economy to market economy and capitalism in East Germany around the years 1989 and 1990. It encompasses several processes and events which later have become synonymous with the overall process...
passenger numbers decreased and these facilities were closed. Further modifications were made, and in 2007 the station was modernized. It now has two platforms, a bypass track and new signalling systems.
Quedlinburg
QuedlinburgQuedlinburg
Quedlinburg is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval court and the old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list....
station was built in 1863 as a through station. In 2004 the Frose–Quedlinburg line closed. In 2006 the extension of the metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
Selke Valley Railway was opened from Gernrode
Gernrode
Gernrode is a town and a former municipality in Germany, in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt. The town was first mentioned in 961 and became a city in 1539. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Quedlinburg...
by adapting the abandoned standard gauge line. Thus, it is possible to change to narrow gauge trains to Gernrode and Eisfelder Talmühle. Platform 1 west from 1908 to 1969 served the line to Thale Bodetal and Blankenburg
Blankenburg am Harz
Blankenburg is a town and health resort in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, at the north foot of the Harz Mountains, southwest of Halberstadt....
.
Neinstedt
NeinstedtNeinstedt
Neinstedt is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, in the Harz area. Since 1 January 2009, it is part of the town Thale. It has a station on the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
station formerly had two platform tracks and freight tracks, but now has only one track. The former station building, which included a restaurant, was demolished in spring 2009.