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Hanover-Würzburg High-speed Rail Line

General Information

Other name(s): Neubaustrecke Hannover-Würzburg
Official designation: Streckennummer (DB) 1733
Beginning of works: 1973
Completion: 1991
Status: in use

Project Type

Function / usage: High-speed rail line

Location

km Name
12.190
15.710
16.630
192
19.690
29.500
34.900
36.800
45
48.500
56.150
58
61.120
63.500
64.340
66.700
69.400
74.500
93.500
108.400
110.700
112.700
114.400
120.480
121
131.800
134.200
147.700
148.190
149.760
150
152.500
154.100
157.200
162.900
163.700
165.300
167.600
169.700
174
175.500
180.800
183.900
190
191.700
193
194.500
197.300
198.500
199
204
205.100
208.300
213.900
215.700
216.800
220
220.300
223
225.290
227.640
228.660
234.130
241.200
245.500
246.500
248
249.900
250.670
255.180
256.840
258.220
272.300
295.060
296.600
304.550
308.700
322.600
Strecke 5216
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Technical Information

Dimensions

length 327 km

Excerpt from Wikipedia

The Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway was the first of several high-speed railway lines for InterCityExpress traffic that were built in Germany. While technically starting in the village of Rethen and ending several kilometres north of Würzburg Hauptbahnhof, it is a de facto link between Hanover and Würzburg, with stops at Göttingen, Kassel, and Fulda. Early construction started in 1973, the line opening fully in 1991.

At 327 km (203 mi) in length, it is the longest newly built rail line in Germany, and ist construction costs are estimated to be about DM 40 million (€ 20.45 million) per kilometre.

History

The Deutsche Bundesbahn began construction of the line in 1973. Since it was designed for fast passenger trains as well as for express freight trains, ist maximum incline is a mere 1.25%. Combined with the hilly terrain, this made the construction of 61 tunnels and 10 large bridges necessary. Of the 327 km of total length, 120 km are in tunnels, the two longest being the Landrücken Tunnel (10,779 m) south of Fulda, the second longest being the Mündener Tunnel (10,525 m) south of Hann. Münden. The highest bridge is the Rombach Valley Bridge near Schlitz at 95 metres.

Notwithstanding 10,700 complaints and 360 lawsuits, the line was opened fully in 1991, though the Würzburg–Fulda part was used by InterCity trains as early as 1988. The standard speed on the line is 250 km/h (155 mph); 280 km/h may be reached by trains running late.

On 1 May 1988 the InterCityExperimental set a new land speed record for railed vehicles at 406.9 km/h (252.8 mph) between Fulda and Würzburg.

On 26 April 2008, trainset 11, travelling as ICE 885, collided with a flock of sheep near Fulda. Both power cars and ten of the 12 non-powered cars derailed. The train came to a stop 1300 meters into the Landrücken Tunnel. 19 of the 130 passengers suffered mostly minor injuries; four of them had to be treated in hospitals.

Safety

Deutsche Bahn AG keeps special trains for accident assistance ready, when passenger trains are on the line; from midnight to early morning these trains are out of service when the line is used for cargo transport. The trains are hauled by two specially rebuilt Class 714 locomotives and are designed to get firefighters and rescue workers to accident scenes in tunnels and on difficult-to-access sections of track. Both engines are equipped with infrared cameras and remote controls, so that the driver can steer the train into a tunnel from the first (air-tight) car of the train without endangering themselves. The trains are stationed at Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof, Kassel Hauptbahnhof, Fulda and Würzburg Hauptbahnhof. They initially were painted in a bright reddish-orange livery akin to fire engines, but since the late 1990s they have been painted standard DB livery red, apparently to make them less obvious to concerned passengers.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway" and modified on 22 July 2019 under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

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  • About this
    data sheet
  • Structure-ID
    10000008
  • Published on:
    18/05/1999
  • Last updated on:
    22/05/2022
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