Alb Valley Railway

Alb Valley Railway (Albtalbahn)
Route number:	710.1
Line length:	41.5 km (25.8 mi)
Track gauge:	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Old track gauge:	1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Voltage:	750 V DC
Maximum incline:	4  ‰
Minimum radius:	25 m (82 ft)
Maximum speed:	80 km/h (49.7 mph)
Legend Karlsruher Lokalbahn 1890–1939 Karlsruhe Hbf until 1913 Branch to storage sidings 1897–1910 1st Albtal station on 1st line to 1910 2nd Albtal station on 2nd line 1910–'14, 1897–1910 storage sidings Karlsruhe Nebeniusstraße until 1910 3rd Albtal station 1914–1915 Junction to tram network since 1958 VBK (BOStrab) and AVG (EBO) 0,0 4th Karlsruhe Albtal station since 1915 114 m to the DB line to Rastatt since 1996 DB tracks at Karlsruhe Hbf since 1913 DB tracks at Karlsruhe Gbf and K9657 1,3 Karlsruhe Dammerstock formerly Beiertheim 1,7 Karlsruhe Schloss Rüppurr formerly Klein-Rüppurr 2,3 Rüppurr Ostendorfplatz formerly Gartenstadt, seit 1924 2,9 Rüppurr Tulpenstraße formerly Rüppurr Bf 115 m 3,5 Rüppurr Battstraße since 1958 3,5 Battstraße terminal loop since 1958 A 5 Ettlingen transformer station until 1988 5,0 Ettlingen Neuwiesenreben since 1972 5,9 Ettlingen Wasen formerly Exerzierplatz 0,0 Ettlingen West Link to Rhine Valley Railway 1,3 6,3 6,5 Ettlingen Erbprinz 7,0 Ettlingen Stadt formerly Ettl. Holzhof 136 m 7,5 Ettlingen Albgaubad since 1959 7,5 Albgaubad terminal loop since 1959 Ettlingen Waldkolonie 1914–1960 Ettlingen Wattsteig 1960–1989 9,5 Ettlingen Spinnerei 10,5 Busenbach 171 m to Ittersbach (bis 2007) to Ittersbach (seit 2007) 11,0 former terminal loop 1960–1985 12,4 Etzenrot 202 m 15,3 Fischweier formerly Spielberg-Schöllbronn 214 m Spielberg 18,2 Marxzell 251 m Kreise Karlsruhe/Calw, old Baden/Württemberg border 23,6 Steinhäusle request stop – access only since 1981 21,4 Frauenalb Schielberg 308 m 24,7 Bad Herrenalb Kullenmühle since 1927 25,8 Bad Herrenalb station 351 m 25,8 Bad Herrenalb terminal loop since 1961 0,0 Busenbach 171 m to Bad Herrenalb, see above 2,0 Reichenbach Kurpark since 1972 2,6 Reichenbach station 258 m Langensteinbach Schießhüttenäcker planned 4,9 Langensteinbach 253 m 5,7 Langensteinbach St. Barbara since 1975 5,8 St. Barbara terminal loop since 1975 Langensteinbach Erholungsheim 1932–1964 Langensteinbach Süd 1966–1975 terminal loop 1966–1975 8,2 Spielberg since 1975/bis 1964 348 m 11,5 Ittersbach Industry since 1975/1944–1964 Ittersbach Waldecke until 1964 13,8 Ittersbach station 308m to Pforzheim until 1968 14,4 Ittersbach Rathaus since 1975 14,4 Ittersbach terminal loop since 1975

The Alb Valley Railway (German: Albtalbahn) is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG).

History

The Albtalbahn was originally built as a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) (metre gauge) electric railway. The first sections opened in 1898, and the final section, from Ittersbach to Pforzheim, opened in 1900. In 1931, the section between Ittersbach and Pforzheim was acquired by the town of Pforzheim and became the Pforzheimer Kleinbahn.

After World War II, the line became rather run down and, in 1958, the city of Karlsruhe acquired the remainder of the Albtalbahn. The line was converted in stages to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) (standard gauge), in order to facilitate through running of both city trams and freight traffic to and from the mainline. This conversion was completed as far as Bad Herrenalb by 1961, and to Langensteinbach on the Karlsruhe to Ittersbach line by 1964. The section between Langensteinbach and Ittersbach was replaced by a bus. None of this affected the Pforzheimer Kleinbahn, which continued to operate on the metre gauge until it closed in 1968. The Langensteinbach to Ittersbach section was finally reopened, on a substantially different alignment, in 1975.

Whilst the connection to the city tram network physically permitted trams to run on the line, the Albtalbahn remained legally a railway, and needed to conform to mainline railway design and safety standards. The experience Karlsruhe accumulated in operating across the divide between tramway and railway eventually led to further developments in which specially designed vehicles were able to run on both mainline railways and the city's tram system.

In doing so, the Albtalbahn became the first element in the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, which has subsequently become a model for using tram-train techniques for linking regional railway routes to municipal tram systems in other European cities.

Route

The northern terminus of the Albtalbahn proper is at the Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof, situated some 200 m (660 ft) to the west of Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof, the principal railway station of the city of Karlsruhe. However tram-trains running on the Albtalbahn continue north of the Albtalbahnhof to join the city tram tracks of the Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe.

South of the Albtalbahnhof the Albtalbahn passes under the mainline approach to the Hauptbahnhof, and over the adjacent freight railway. For the first 10 km (6.2 mi), as far as Busenbach, the line is double track and serves 11 intermediate stops, several of which serve the town of Ettlingen. Just before Ettlingen Stadt station, a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) long freight-only spur connects the Altalbahn to the mainline railway. To the east of Ettlingen Stadt are the main workshops of the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft, and a turning loop for services terminating in Ettlingen.

At Busenbach, the line splits into two branches, each consisting of single track with passing loops. The branch to Ittersbach initially diverges to the west, before crossing the branch to Bad Herrenalb on a flyover. The Bad Herrenalb is 15.8 km (9.8 mi) long and passes through five intermediate stops before reaching its terminus. The Ittersbach branch is 14.7 km (9.1 mi) long, and passes through eight intermediate stops before reaching its terminus. Both termini have turning loops.

Operation

The passenger services of the Albtalbahn are provided by routes S1 and S11 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, which are operated by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG). A typical off-peak service consists of six trains an hour, of which two terminate at Ettlingen, and two each continue to the two branches. More trains may operate during peak periods, and fewer on a Sunday or in the evenings.

The S1 and S11 continue north of the Albtalbahnhof, across city tram tracks operated by the Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe, and then to the north of Karlsruhe on the AVG owned Hardtbahn to Hochstetten.

Bibliography

• Manfred Koch (Herausgeber): Unter Strom: Geschichte des öffentlichen Nahverkehrs in Karlsruhe. Badenia Verlag, Karlsruhe 2000, ISBN 3-7617-0324-4
• Klaus Bindewald: Die Albtalbahn: Geschichte mit Zukunft: von der Schmalspurbahn zur modernen Stadtbahn. verlag regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 1998, ISBN 3-929366-79-7
• Gerd Wolff, Hans-Dieter Menges: Deutsche Klein- und Privatbahnen. Band 2: Baden. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1992, ISBN 3-88255-653-6
• Günter Koch: Der elektrische Betrieb der Albtalbahn in Schmalspur. In: Die Museums-Eisenbahn: Zeitschrift für Kleinbahn-Geschichte. Nr. 3/1992, S. 21–47 [1]
• Helmut Iffländer: Die Albtalbahn: von der Bimmelbahn zum modernen Nahverkehrsbetrieb. Andreas-Braun-Verlag, München 1987, ISBN 3-925120-03-3
• Dieter Höltge: Albtalbahn und Kleinbahn Pforzheim-Ittersbach. Verlag Wolfgang Zeunert, Gifhorn 1976, ISBN 3-921237-27-0