Taunus-Eisenbahn

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KBS 645.1: Stations and structures
Route Number: 645.1
Line number: 3603/3610
Line length: 41,2 km
Gauge: 1435 mm

Line from Hbf to Höchst:
left Taunus-Eisenbahn (RB), right Main-Lahn-Bahn (S)

tSTR exKBFa
Taunusbahnhof (1839-1888)
tSBHF xSKBF1a
0,0 Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof (since 1888)
tKRZ ABZrf
1,0 to Main-Weser-Bahn / Homburger Bahn
TUNNELe STR
City Tunnel ramp
ABZrg STRrf
KRZu HSTR
Main-Weser-Bahn goods line – Main-Neckar-Bahn
ABZlf ABZlr
Hbf-sidings
ABZrg KRZu
2,1 Gutleuthof branch from Riedbahn and Frankfurt Airport
STR ABZrg
3,1 from Riedbahn, Mainbahn, Airport
STR STR
north of the line: Frankfurt Feldbahn museum
ABZrf STR
3,9 Rödelheimer Kurve
eABZlg STR
6,1 formerly from Frankfurt goodsyard
eABZlg STR
6,? formerly from Bäderkurve (Block Niederwald)
STR SBHF
Frankfurt-Griesheim
STR SHST
Frankfurt-Nied
WBRÜCKE WBRÜCKE
7,6 left: Nied railway bridge (Nidda)
BS2lg BS2rg
ABZlg
9,0 to Sodener Bahn
SBHF1
9,3 Frankfurt-Höchst
ABZrf
9,4 to Königsteiner Bahn not electrified
SBHF
10,2 Höchst dyeworks
ABZrf
10,5 to Main-Lahn-Bahn (since 1877)
SHST
12,2 Frankfurt-Sindlingen
SBRÜCKE
B 40
SBHF
14,9 Hattersheim
SHST
18,9 Hattersheim-Eddersheim
KRZu
Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line
SBRÜCKE
A 3
BUE
Weilbacher Straße B 519
SBHF
21,9 Flörsheim am Main
BRÜCKE
Hochheimer Straße B 519
SBRÜCKE
B 519
ABZlf
25,0 Flörsheim Taubertsmühle branch (Shell)
SBHF
28,4 Hochheim am Main
SBRÜCKE
A 671
KRZu
Mainbahn from Mainz-Bischofsheim
ABZrd
30,9 to Mainz-Bischofsheim
ABZrg
30,9 to Mainbahn
SBRÜCKE
Kostheimer Landstraße B 43
SBHF1
33,4 Mainz-Kastel
SBRÜCKE
Kreisel Theodor Heuss Bridge B 40
KRZu
Mainz - Kaiser Bridge – Wiesbaden Ost
KRZu
Bischofsheim Mainz branch to Wiesbaden
ABZlg
to Mainz via Kaiser Bridge
SBHF
37,8 Wiesbaden Ost
ABZld
to Nassauische Rheintalbahn (KBS 466),
STR
to Niederlahnstein and Right Rhine line
SBRÜCKE
BAB 66
KRZu
Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line (since 2002)
STR
Ländchesbahn to Niedernhausen (since 1879)
eABZrg
Wiesbaden-Wäschbach, from the Aartalbahn
xSKBF1e
41,2 Wiesbaden Hbf (since 1906)
exKBFe
Taunusbahnhof (1840-1906)

The Taunus-Eisenbahn (Taunus Railway) is a double-track electrified railway line, which connects Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, Germany. It is 41.2 km long and follows the course of the Main, mostly close to its north side. Its first stage was opened in September 1839 and is thus the oldest railroad line in the German state of Hesse. Today it is used by RegionalExpress trains between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden and the trains of Line 1 of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn between Frankfurt-Höchst and Wiesbaden. Between Frankfurt Hbf (Frankfurt central station) and Frankfurt-Höchst, they run on the former Hessische Ludwigsbahn line.

Contents

[edit] History

Situation of the Taunusbahnhof on the western outskirts of the town of Frankfurt on an 1845 map
Situation of the Taunusbahnhof on the western outskirts of the town of Frankfurt on an 1845 map
The Taunusbahnhof in Frankfurt and its neighbouring stations around 1860
The Taunusbahnhof in Frankfurt and its neighbouring stations around 1860

The building of the line was preceded by many years of negotiations between three sovereigns states, through which the planned line ran: the Free City of Frankfurt, the Duchy of Nassau (of which Wiesbaden was capital), and for the section in Mainz-Kastel, a right Rhine suburb of Mainz, in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. In particular the Grand Duchy opposed its building, because it feared a loss of traffic from itself as a result of the connection of the other two states, and demanded instead rail connections between Frankfurt and its own cities of Darmstadt, Mainz and Offenbach. In the end they agreed on the current route.

In 1835, a committee established for the construction of the line sold shares, which were immediately oversubscribed 40 times. Work began in 1837, although the final concession was not approved until 1838: on 8 May by the City of Frankfurt, on 11 May by the Grand Duchy of Hessen and on 13 June by Nassau. The Taunus railway company was established on 12 August 1838 in Frankfurt/Main. Paul Camille von Denis, a Bavarian born in Mainz and had worked on the first German railway between Nuremberg and Fürth (opened in 1835), designed the route.

[edit] Operations

The first stage was opened on 26 September 1839 from the Taunusbahnhof in Gallusanlage (now Willy-Brandt-Platz), Frankfurt by the Mainz masterbuilder, Ignaz Opfermann, in the then small Nassau town of Höchst am Main. The railway reached Hattersheim am Main on 24 November 1839 and Mainz-Kastel on 13 April 1840. The extension to the Wiesbadener Taunusbahnhof on the Rheinstraße was opened 19 May 1840. It was the ninth railway line opened in Germany.

The director of the company from 1840 to 1852 was Johann Adam Beil, a Hessian privy councillor and former Frankfurt senator.

The line was originally 43.4 kilometers long. A 6.6 kilometers branch from Höchst to Bad Soden (the Sodener Bahn) opened in 1863.

Originally the railway operated six locomotives from the factory of George and Robert Stephenson, 87 carriages and 44 wagons. The first engine drivers were British.

[edit] Ownership change

Höchst station (demolished 1880)
Höchst station (demolished 1880)

The Taunus-Eisenbahn suffered from competition from the Frankfurt - Mainz line (opened on the left bank of the Main in 1863) and it decided to sell its company to the Hessische Ludwigsbahn in 1871. The Ludwigsbahn took over the enterprise with effect from 1 January 1872, but it sold it on to the Prussian state railway, which took it over on 3 May 1872.

In 1888, the line in Frankfurt was shortened by about a kilometer when it was diverted from its old railway terminal to the new Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. The same happened 1906 at the Wiesbaden end, ehrn the current Wiesbadener Hbf replaced the old Taunusbahnhof.

In 1920 the line was taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. It attained great importance for long distance, regional and suburban traffic. Including its extension, the Right Rhine line, it is today part of Regionalexpress line RE 10 of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, which runs from Frankfurt to Koblenz. Not much long-distance passenger traffic uses it any more, but it is well connected to Frankfurt Hbf and Frankfurt Airport long distance station (via Frankfurt Airport long regional station), which both have excellent long distance connections.

[edit] Sources

  • Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland –2005/2006 edition, Schweers + Wall, 2005, ISBN 3-89494-134-0 (German)
  • Eisenbahn in Hessen. Kulturdenkmäler in Hessen. Denkmaltopographie Bundesrepublik Deutschland, hrsg. vom Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen, Theiss Verlag Stuttgart, 2005, 3 volumes, 1.448 S., ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 (German)
  • Arbeitsmaterial für den SU, Naacher, 3rd edition, 1991 (German)
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