{{BS-header|Steinsfurt–Eppingen}}
{{BS-daten|DE-KBS=665.5 (previously 714)>
STRECKENNR=4115 |
LÄNGE=12.9 |
NEIGUNG= |
RADIUS= |
V-MAX= |
BILDPFAD_KARTE=Karte Bahnstrecke Steinsfurt-Eppingen.png |
PIXEL_KARTE=300px
}}
{{BS-table}}
{{BS-header|Steinsfurt–Eppingen}}
{{BS-daten|DE-KBS=665.5 (previously 714)>
| STRECKENNR=4115 |
LÄNGE=12.9 |
NEIGUNG= |
RADIUS= |
V-MAX= |
BILDPFAD_KARTE=Karte Bahnstrecke Steinsfurt-Eppingen.png |
PIXEL_KARTE=300px
}}
{{BS-table}}
{{BS|STR |
}
{{BS|ABZlf|||Elsenz Valley Railway to
Bad Friedrichshall-JagstfeldBad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld station is a regionally important railway junction and a former border station in the city of Bad Friedrichshall in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The modern Elsenz Valley Railway and Neckar Valley Railway branch from the Franconia Railway here...
|}}
{{BS|HST|2.5|Reihen|}}
{{BS|HST|6.2|
IttlingenIttlingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
|}}
{{BS|HST|8.4|Richen (b Eppingen)|}}
{{BS|eHST|9.5|Stebbach|}}
{{BS|ABZrg|||
from HeilbronnThe Kraichgau Railway is a 64.8 km long railway line in the region of Kraichgau in northwestern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Karlsruhe via Bretten and Eppingen to Heilbronn and was built in 1880...
{{S-Bahn-Karlsruhe|4}}}}
{{BS|BST|10.3|Stebbach|(part of Eppingen station)}}
{{BS|BHF|12.9|
EppingenEppingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district....
|terminus of {{S-Bahn-RheinNeckar|5}}}}
{{BS|STR|||Kraichgau Railway to Karlsruhe| {{S-Bahn-Karlsruhe|4}}}}
|}
|}
The
Steinsfurt–Eppingen railway, which opened in 1900, is a 12.9 km long, single-track and electrified branch line along the Elsenz river in the
KraichgauThe Kraichgau is a hilly region in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Odenwald and the Neckar to the North, the Black Forest to the South, and the Upper Rhine Plain to the West. To the east, its boundary is considered to be the Stromberg, the Hardt, and the...
region of the German state of
Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, between the
SinsheimSinsheim is a town in southwestern Germany, in the Rhine Neckar Area of the state Baden-Württemberg about 22 kilometers southeast of Heidelberg and about 28 kilometers northwest of Heilbronn in the district Rhein-Neckar. It consists of a city center and 11 suburbs with a total population of 35,605...
district of
SteinsfurtSteinsfurt is a town in southwestern Germany, in the Rhine Neckar Area of the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg between Heidelberg and Heilbronn in the district Rhein-Neckar. It is one of the 11 suburbs of Sinsheim with whom it shares a Mayor...
and
EppingenEppingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district....
, connecting the
Elsenz Valley RailwayThe Elsenz Valley Railway is a partly double-tracked main line from Heidelberg via Sinsheim to Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld, that, for part of its course, follows the Elsenz river that gives it its name. The crossing stations on the single-tracked sections are still controlled by mechanical signal...
and the
Kraichgau RailwayThe Kraichgau Railway is a 64.8 km long railway line in the region of Kraichgau in northwestern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Karlsruhe via Bretten and Eppingen to Heilbronn and was built in 1880...
. Since 2006, the Baden-Württemberg Regional Transport Company ({{lang-de|Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg}}) has marketed the line as the Kraichgau–Stromberg Railway (
Kraichgau-Stromberg-Bahn, after two nearby regions). The line is part of line S5 of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn, opened between
Heidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and Eppingen on 12 December 2009.
History
The Steinsfurt–Eppingen railway owes its existence particularly to the construction of the Kraichgau Railway through
BadenBaden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
. During its planning, it was at first doubtful whether an agreement to extend the Karlsruhe–Eppingen line to connect with the
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
railway network in
HeilbronnHeilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
could be reached. In 1872 the
BadenBaden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
government justified the project, when its usefulness was in doubt, by arguing that it could be extended through Baden territory from Eppingen to the north with a connection to the West Fork line (Elsenz Valley Railway) at Sinsheim and possibly continuing to connect with the Odenwald Railway. For the latter extension it would have been necessary to build a tunnel at
NeckarbischofsheimNeckarbischofsheim is a town in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 8 km northeast of Sinsheim, and 24 km southeast of Heidelberg....
.
In 1873 and in 1878/1879 the Baden government sought the input of the surrounding communities in relation to the proposed construction of an Eppingen–Steinsfurt–Neckarbischofsheim line, continuing to
HelmstadtHelmstadt is a municipality in the district of Würzburg in Bavaria in Germany....
or
WaibstadtWaibstadt is a town in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.It belongs to the municipal administration union "Waibstadt", which consists of Epfenbach, Helmstadt-Bargen, Neckarbischofsheim, Neidenstein, Reichartshausen and Waibstadt itself...
. These considerations did not take into account local transport needs, only the long-range connection to the Baden Odenwald Railway to create a Karlsruhe–Mosbach line within Baden, continuing towards
WürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
. It was hoped that this would simultaneously solve two problems. On the one hand, it was feared that the proposed extension of the Kraichgau Railway to Heilbronn would lead to traffic between Karlsruhe and Würzburg diverting to it, threatening the Odenwald Railway between Neckargemünd and Mosbach, which had been particularly expensive to build. In addition the forthcoming construction of the Neckar Valley Railway would further reduce the significance of the Neckargemünd–Mosbach line. Both effects would be mitigated by a new, purely Baden Eppingen–Mosbach line, using the Odenwald Railway between Waibstadt and Mosbach.
The Baden Government accepted a 1879 finding that an Eppingen–Steinsfurt line would improve connections from Kraichgau to Heidelberg and Mannheim, but the proposed Steinsfurt–Helmstadt section would be uneconomical. However, a bad financial crisis then prevented the further expansion of the Baden railway network. Once the financial situation had eased again in 1897 the government was able to formally agree to build the Eppingen–Steinsfurt line as a single-track main line. This was adopted into law on 25 February 1898.
Construction started on 15 June 1898 and, after work progressed on schedule, the route was inaugurated on 15 November 1900. Contrary to its authorising act it was built as a branch lines, not as a main line. The construction costs amounted to around 1.6 million
marksThe Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
, which also included an extension of Sinsheim station, which became the starting point for trains to Eppingen, instead of Steinsfurt.
The line was built during a time of economic prosperity and was rather lavish. A Baden parliamentary committee in 1909/10 noted that passengers could use the line to see castles and elaborate station buildings.
Passenger
Between 1955 and 1957 steam hauled passenger trains were replaced by
Uerdingen railbusThe Uerdingen railbus is the common term for the multiple units which were developed by the German firm of Waggonfabrik Uerdingen for the Deutsche Bundesbahn and private railways after the Second World War. These vehicles were diesel-powered, twin-axle railbuses of light construction...
es, which operated on the line until 1990. They were replaced by class 628.2 diesel multiple units and some
push-pull trainPush–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...
s hauled by
class 218 locomotivesThe DB Class 218 are a class of 4 axle, diesel hydraulic locomotives acquired by the Deutsche Bundesbahn for use on main and secondary lines for both passenger and freight trains....
. These were in turn replaced by
class 425The Classes 425 and 426 EMUs are a class of electric multiple units built by a consortium of Siemens, Bombardier and DWA and operated by DB Regio in Germany...
electric multiple units. The route is now served only by trains on line S 5 of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn at hourly intervals.
Freight
The line uses to be important during the
sugar beetSugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...
harvest, but on 6 June 2002 the last siding on the line at
IttlingenIttlingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
was removed so freight operations are no longer possible.
External links
{{Commons category|Bahnstrecke Steinsfurt–Eppingen|Steinsfurt–Eppingen railway}}