After the completion of the first major railway lines in the middle of the 19th century the Bavarian government became very interested in opening up other parts of Bavaria and also in establishing shorter links within the existing railway network. As a result, aspirations arose for a connexion between the Bamberg-Würzburg railway at Schweinfurt and the Werrabahn at Meiningen, not least in order to improve the accessibility of the Saxon-Meiningen provincial capital.
So the governments of Bavaria and Saxe-Meiningen signed a state treaty on 21 March 1868 for the establishment of a railway line from Schweinfurt via Neustadt an der Saale to Meiningen. The Bavarian state railway took on the construction and management of the entire route; each government bore the cost of the section of the line on its own territory.
Ritschenhausen station
In 1871, after railway operations had begun on the line from Schweinfurt to Bad Kissingen via Ebenhausen, work started on the section from Ebenhausen to Meiningen on 14 June 1872. In Meiningen the Bavarian station (Bayerische Bahnhof) was built on the southern side of the existing Werrabahn station. Its construction entailed major topographical alterations and changes to the way traffic operations were conducted in the area of the town. The 64 kilometre long route was opened on 15 December 1874 by the Royal Bavarian State Railways, the operator of the line. Following the completion of the railway from Ritschenhausen to Neudietendorf in 1884, express trains ran over the line from Berlin via Meiningen to Stuttgart. This required locomotives to be exchanged as the train crossed over from the jurisdiction of the Prussian to the Bavarian state railways at either Meiningen or Ritschenhausen.
After the reunification of Germany in 1990 the DB and DR soon closed the gaps in the line again and it was ceremonially reopened in 1991. For a short while long-distance traffic came to life again in the shape of the Interregio train, the Rennsteig, but in 2001 it was replaced by a Regionalexpress.
Operationedit
The Lower Franconia Shuttle at Meiningen station
Since 2004 rail services on the line between Schweinfurt and Meiningen have been operated by the Erfurter Bahn (EB) whose Lower Franconia Shuttle (Unterfranken-Shuttle), line EB 4, runs every two hours between Schweinfurt and Mellrichstadt from Monday to Friday and, on Saturday am and Sunday pm, almost hourly. In addition DB Regionalexpress trains run every two hours from Erfurt to Schweinfurt (RE 7) (on this section from Ritschenhausen). Since 2008 the DB has used tilting trains which attain speeds of up to 160 km/h. The Erfurter Bahn also operates the EB 5 Regionalbahn route (the Franconian Saale Valley railway or Fränkische Saaletalbahn) using the Unterfranken-Shuttle on the Schweinfurth–Eberhausen line and running it through to Bad Kissingen and Gemünden am Main. The „Unterfranken-Shuttle“ also calls at Schweinfurt-Mitte and Schweinfurt-Stadt via Schweinfurt Hauptbahnhof. The DB uses Class 612DMUs exclusively whilst the Erfurter Bahn operates Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 multiples.
Passenger servicesedit
The following services work the Schweinfurt–Meiningen railway:
Timetable for EB 4 Meiningen–Schweinfurt-Stadt / KBS 815
Photos of the tunnel entrances
December 14, 2023
schweinfurt, meiningen, railway, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, j. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Schweinfurt Meiningen railway news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Schweinfurt Meiningen railway route number 5240 is a single tracked main line in the states of Bavaria and Saxony in southern Germany It is also called the Main Rhon Bahn Main Rhon railway and is listed in the Deutsche Bahn 1 timetable as route Kursbuchstrecke 815 The railway has been part of the Erfurt Schweinfurt route since 1993 Passenger services on the line are provided by DB Regio and the Erfurter Bahn EB Schweinfurt Meiningen railwayOverviewNative nameBahnstrecke Schweinfurt MeiningenOwnerDeutsche BahnLocaleBavaria Thuringia in GermanyTerminiSchweinfurt HbfMeiningenStations14ServiceOperator s DB Bahn Erfurter BahnHistoryCommenced9 October 1871 1871 10 09 Schweinfurt Hbf Bad Kissingen Completed14 June 1872 1872 06 14 TechnicalLine length77 9 km 48 4 mi Number of tracksSingle trackTrack gauge1 435 mm 4 ft 8 1 2 in standard gaugeMinimum radius500 mMaximum incline1 1 Route mapLegendfrom Bamberg0 0 Schweinfurt Hbf 216 0 m above NN1 5 from and to Wurzburg6 5 Oberwerrn 250 6 m above NN10 1 Poppenhausen former station 267 8 m above NN13 2 Ebenhausen Unterfr 298 6 m above NNto Bad Kissingen18 4 Rottershausen19 3 Rottershausen 324 6 m above NN20 0 Rottershausen tunnel 400 m 21 5 to Stadtlauringen 1900 1960 to MUNA goods station 1940 ca 1960 21 7 MUNA Rottershausen branch28 9 Munnerstadt 247 6 m above NN31 6 Burglauer 232 9 m above NN34 3 Niederlauer 233 1 m above NN38 8 Bad Neustadt Saale 232 4 m above NNto Bischofsheim 1885 1989 to Konigshofen 1893 1995 42 6 Heustreu 237 3 m above NN46 0 Unsleben 247 9 m above NN49 1 Oberstreu 256 2 m above NN52 1 Mellrichstadt 270 8 m above NNto Fladungen57 1 Muhlfeld 314 90 m above NN57 68 Bavarian Thuringian borderfrom Romhild 1893 1972 63 2 Rentwertshausen 366 28 m above NN65 0 Bibra67 7 Wolfershausen70 5 Ritschenhausen 314 61 m above NNto Grimmenthal Erfurt from Grimmenthal Werrabahn 77 9 Meiningen 287 10 m above NNto Eisenach Werrabahn The Bavarian station in MeiningenContents 1 History 2 Operation 3 Passenger services 4 References 5 Sources 6 External linksHistory editAfter the completion of the first major railway lines in the middle of the 19th century the Bavarian government became very interested in opening up other parts of Bavaria and also in establishing shorter links within the existing railway network As a result aspirations arose for a connexion between the Bamberg Wurzburg railway at Schweinfurt and the Werrabahn at Meiningen not least in order to improve the accessibility of the Saxon Meiningen provincial capital So the governments of Bavaria and Saxe Meiningen signed a state treaty on 21 March 1868 for the establishment of a railway line from Schweinfurt via Neustadt an der Saale to Meiningen The Bavarian state railway took on the construction and management of the entire route each government bore the cost of the section of the line on its own territory nbsp Ritschenhausen stationIn 1871 after railway operations had begun on the line from Schweinfurt to Bad Kissingen via Ebenhausen work started on the section from Ebenhausen to Meiningen on 14 June 1872 In Meiningen the Bavarian station Bayerische Bahnhof was built on the southern side of the existing Werrabahn station Its construction entailed major topographical alterations and changes to the way traffic operations were conducted in the area of the town The 64 kilometre long route was opened on 15 December 1874 by the Royal Bavarian State Railways the operator of the line Following the completion of the railway from Ritschenhausen to Neudietendorf in 1884 express trains ran over the line from Berlin via Meiningen to Stuttgart This required locomotives to be exchanged as the train crossed over from the jurisdiction of the Prussian to the Bavarian state railways at either Meiningen or Ritschenhausen nbsp Schweinfurt HauptbahnhofAfter the takeover of the state railways Landerbahnen by the Deutsche Reichsbahn the latter ran the route and kept the express services running After the Second World War the line was cut between Rentwertshausen and Muhlfeld due to the partition of Germany From then on the Deutsche Reichsbahn DR in East Germany only operated the Meiningen Rentwertshausen Romhild section Railway services on branch from Rentwertshausen to Romhild opened in 1893 were withdrawn in 1972 again The Deutsche Bundesbahn DB initially continued to work the line to Muhlfeld but from 1971 only as far as Mellrichstadt Express trains from Munich called here until the early 1980s After the reunification of Germany in 1990 the DB and DR soon closed the gaps in the line again and it was ceremonially reopened in 1991 For a short while long distance traffic came to life again in the shape of the Interregio train the Rennsteig but in 2001 it was replaced by a Regionalexpress Operation edit nbsp The Lower Franconia Shuttle at Meiningen stationSince 2004 rail services on the line between Schweinfurt and Meiningen have been operated by the Erfurter Bahn EB whose Lower Franconia Shuttle Unterfranken Shuttle line EB 4 runs every two hours between Schweinfurt and Mellrichstadt from Monday to Friday and on Saturday am and Sunday pm almost hourly In addition DB Regionalexpress trains run every two hours from Erfurt to Schweinfurt RE 7 on this section from Ritschenhausen Since 2008 the DB has used tilting trains which attain speeds of up to 160 km h The Erfurter Bahn also operates the EB 5 Regionalbahn route the Franconian Saale Valley railway or Frankische Saaletalbahn using the Unterfranken Shuttle on the Schweinfurth Eberhausen line and running it through to Bad Kissingen and Gemunden am Main The Unterfranken Shuttle also calls at Schweinfurt Mitte and Schweinfurt Stadt via Schweinfurt Hauptbahnhof The DB uses Class 612 DMUs exclusively whilst the Erfurter Bahn operates Stadler Regio Shuttle RS1 multiples Passenger services editThe following services work the Schweinfurt Meiningen railway RE Wurzburg Schweinfurt Hbf Mellrichstadt Erfurt DB RE 7 Mainfranken Thuringen Express RE Wurzburg Schweinfurt Hbf Ebenhausen Bad Kissingen DB RB Meiningen Schweinfurt Hbf Schweinfurt Stadt Line EB 4 Unterfranken Shuttle RB Meiningen Ebenhausen Bad Kissingen Linie EB 4 Unterfranken Shuttle RB Schweinfurt Stadt Schweinfurt Hbf Mellrichstadt Line EB 4 Unterfranken Shuttle RB Schweinfurt Stadt Schweinfurt Hbf Bad Kissingen Gemunden Line EB 5 Unterfranken Shuttle References edit Schweinfurt to Meiningen by Train from 17 Cheap Tickets amp Times Trainline Retrieved 2023 05 26 Sources editTino Avemark Der Meininger Bahnhof im Wandel of the Zeit Bielsteinverlag Meiningen 2008 ISBN 978 3 9809504 3 5External links edit nbsp Media related to Schweinfurt Meiningen railway line at Wikimedia Commons www klauserbeck de Schweinfurt Meiningen railway Timetable for EB 4 Meiningen Schweinfurt Stadt KBS 815 Photos of the tunnel entrances Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Schweinfurt Meiningen railway amp oldid 1174326508, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
