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Weiden–Oberkotzau railway
Weiden–Oberkotzau railway
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Deutsche Bahn
Line number	5050
Locale	Bavaria
Termini	Regensburg; Weiden;
Service
Type	Heavy rail, Passenger rail; Regional rail
Route number	855
History
Opened	1864, 1877, 1878, 1882
Technical
Line length	87.020 km (54.072 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	160 km/h (99 mph)
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	Pechbrunn (formerly
	Groschlattengrün)
	Wunsiedel-Holenbrunn
	(formerly Holenbrunn)
	Source: German railway atlas
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

The Weiden–Oberkotzau railway is a two-track main line railway in Bavaria, Germany. It connects with the Regensburg–Weiden railway in Weiden in der Oberpfalz and runs via Marktredwitz to Oberkotzau, where it joins the Bamberg–Hof railway. The line forms part of a long-distance route from Munich to Hof, continuing to Leipzig and Dresden.

History

The line was opened in several sections. The section from Weiden to Wiesau was built by the Bavarian Eastern Railway Company (Bayerischen Ostbahnen) as part of a connection from Regensburg to Cheb (German: Eger) and operated by it until it was nationalised in 1876.

The section from Weiden via Wiesau and continuing to Mitterteich was opened to traffic on 15 August 1864. After the opening of the link from Mitterteich to Cheb on 15 October 1865 and the opening of the link from Hof to Cheb on 1 November 1865, it was possible to travel by train from Regensburg to Hof—but only with the detour via Cheb, which is located in Bohemia and at that time belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now in the Czech Republic.

A connection was opened to Markt Redwitz on 15 August 1877. The Markt Redwitz—Nuremberg section of the Nuremberg–Cheb railway was opened on 15 August 1878. This line was extended to Cheb in 1883. The gap between Wiesau and Marktredwitz on Bavarian territory was closed on 1 June 1882, completing the current Weiden–Hof route.

Opening dates

Weiden–Wiesau (–Cheb): 15 August 1864
Holenbrunn–Oberkotzau: 15 August 1877
Marktredwitz–Holenbrunn: 15 May 1878
Wiesau–Marktredwitz: 1 June 1882

Vogtlandbahn Desiro in Marktredwitz station (2001)

The line was single-track until 1900. The duplication of the line caused problems in Groschlattengrün station, which was located in the village of Pechbrunn next to the local basalt works and could not be moved. On 30 and 31 October 1900, the entrance building was therefore removed from its foundations, raised by four centimetres and moved by ten metres. During this work, operations continued, even in the station building, without any significant interruptions.^[2]

There was a serious railway accident at the southern entrance to Marktredwitz station on 9 July 1939.^[3] A D 25 express from Munich to Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof continued over the Drei-Bögen-Brücke (three-arch bridge) into stationary freight wagons, which had detached from a preceding freight train. The train’s two locomotives, Prussian P 8 38 2145 and 38 2401, and the first carriages of the train were derailed and fell from the bridge.^[4]

Until the end of the Second World War, the line was part of the most important long-distance route in southern Germany, connecting Munich, Dresden and Wrocław (German: Breslau). In the 1939 summer timetable, a total of eleven express trains ran on the line. In addition to express trains from Munich to Dresden, Wroclaw and continuing to the Upper Silesian city of Bytom (German: Beuthen), long-distance trains ran on the Vienna–Leipzig–Hamburg, Berchtesgaden–Berlin/Dresden and Rome–Munich–Leipzig–Berlin routes.^[5]

The Regionalbahn services on the whole line were formerly operated by Oberpfalzbahn of the Die Länderbahn (formerly Vogtlandbahn) with Siemens Desiro diesel railcars. The Regionalbahn services on the Marktredwitz–Hof section were reassigned as part of the Dieselnetz Oberfranken (Upper Franconia diesel network) tendered by Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft on 8 February 2008.

agilis took over operations of the Regionalbahn services In December 2012. This allowed an increase in services, including a continuous Hof–Marktredwitz Regionalbahn service.^[6]

Route description

The line runs from Weiden along the Waldnaab and Fichtelnaab rivers via Neustadt an der Waldnaab, Windischeschenbach, Reuth bei Erbendorf to Wiesau, passes by the Steinwald range on its east side and connects with the line from Nuremberg, running from the west, in Marktredwitz station. Between Weiden and Marktredwitz, four lines once branched off from the line: in Neustadt, the line to Eslarn, in Reuth, the line to Erbendorf and in Wiesau the line from Bärnau and the line to Cheb via Waldsassen. A 600 mm gauge field railway (Feldbahn), the Reuth–Friedenfels railway, also began in Reuth, which ran to the town of Friedenfels about six kilometres away.^[7]

A line branches off from Marktredwitz to Schirnding and Cheb. This line continues north through the towns of Holenbrunn, Röslau and Marktleuthen and crosses the eastern foothills of the Fichtelgebirge on its way to Hof. From Fattigau, the line runs parallel to the Saale and the line from Bamberg, which it joins at Oberkotzau station.

References

Footnotes

^ Railway Atlas 2017, pp. 81, 90.
^ Ernstberger 2005, pp. 96 ff.
^ "History 1923–1945" (in German). Marktredwitz fire brigade. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^ "? zu 38 2401 Unfall in Marktredwitz 1939" (in German). Newsgroup: Drehscheibe-online.de. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^ "Summer 1939 timetable: table 425 Regensburg–Hof" (in German). 1939. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^ "Freistaat Bayern schreibt Diesel-Zugleistungen auf dem Schienennetz in Nordostbayern aus" (Press release) (in German). Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. 11 February 2008. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^ Ernstberger 2005, p. 9.

Sources

Bräunlein, Manfred (2000). Die Ostbahnen (in German). Nuremberg: Lorenz Spindler. ISBN 3-88929-078-7.
Ernstberger, Michael (2005). Nordbayerische Feld- und Grubenbahnen und die Geschichte ihrer Betriebe (in German) (1 ed.).
Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland [German railway atlas]. Schweers + Wall. 2017. ISBN 978-3-89494-146-8.