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| Route number: | 357 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length: | 69 km (42.9 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge: | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The South Harz Railway (German: Südharzstrecke or Südharzbahn) is a railway route through the states of Lower Saxony and Thuringia in Germany. It runs from Northeim to Nordhausen, via Herzberg am Harz, Bad Lauterberg-Barbis, Bad Sachsa, Walkenried and Ellrich. The line is 69 kilometres (43 mi) long. The distance markers begin in Northeim at 88.6 km (55.1 mi) (measured from Hannover Hbf) and end in Nordhausen at 157.5 km (97.9 mi).
The South Harz railway has a Regionalbahn passenger service provided by Deutsche Bahn. Since 10 December 2006, there has been hourly trains Göttingen–Nordhausen and back, with interchange at Herzberg for Osterode am Harz and Braunschweig.
The South Harz line opened in 1868 from Northeim to Herzberg and 1869 to Nordhausen. Up to 1945, together with the Sollingbahn and the Halle-Kassel railway the line provided an important freight route between the Ruhr industrial area and Halle/Leipzig.
At Ellrich the line crossed the former Iron Curtain between West and East Germany, and freight traffic continued to cross here between the two German states. From 12 November 1989, passenger services resumed. However the line was in grave need of repair – with a speed limit of 30 km/h (19 mph) in sections – and for some time under threat of closure. After the redevelopment of the line and stations it is now possible to operate the greater part of the route at 100 km/h (62 mph).
The branch to Bad Lauterberg, the former Oder Valley Railway, closed to passengers on 12 December 2004. Later the Scharzfeld station closed, replaced by a new halt Bad Lauterberg im Harz–Barbis on 11 December 2005. This halt is distinguished by its solar and geothermal heating, appreciated in winter.
From Herzberg to Niedersachswerfen the South Harz Line crosses the Südharzer Gipskarst gypsum karst. At Tettenborn, at Sachsenstein near Walkenried and at Woffleben there are problems with sinkage: the load-carrying capacity of the soil must be regularly controlled. During the building of the Walkenrieder Tunnel the miners discovered an unstable cave, which made construction difficult. Three workers died during the tunnel construction, when several meters collapsed.
In Walkenried from 1899 to 1963 there was interchange with the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge Südharz-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft route to Braunlage. In Ellrich there was interchange with the Kleinbahn-AG Ellrich-Zorge narrow gauge route to Zorge.
In Zorge, near Walkenried, the Staatliche Maschinenfabrik in Zorge built wagons and locomotives from 1836 to 1879.