| Southern Railway (Südbahn) Ulm Hbf–Friedrichshafen Hafen |
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Diesel loco in Friedrichshafen
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| Route number: | 751 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line number: | 4500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length: | 104 km (65 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge: | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum incline: | ? % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum speed: | 140 km/h (87 mph) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend
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The Southern Railway (German: Südbahn) is a non-electrified main line in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. It was built from 1846 to 1850 and doubled from 1905 to 1913. During that time many of the station buildings were rebuilt. Its kilometre numbering begins as the Fils Valley Railway in Stuttgart Hbf.
The Südbahn begins in Ulm and runs via Biberach an der Riß, Aulendorf and Ravensburg to Friedrichshafen. Several trains continue on the single-tracked line of the Bodenseegürtel Railway to Lindau.
The Südbahn was one of the first routes in Württemberg and was built by the newly founded Royal Württemberg State Railways. It was part of the first through railway in the Kingdom and linked the navigable Neckar River at Heilbronn via Stuttgart and Ulm to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.
With the opening of the Southern Railway, the Royal Württemberg State Railways won the race to Lake Constance. It was the first state railway of the German Empire to connect to the cities and towns on the lake, three years before the Royal Bavarian State Railways and thirteen years before the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway. Its first section opened in 1847 and is one of the oldest lines in Germany.
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The first isolated section of the line opened on 8 November 1847 between Friedrichshafen and Ravensburg. On 26 May 1849 this was followed by the section to Biberach an der Riss and on 1 June 1850 by the remaining section to Ulm. With the closing the gap of the Ulm–Geislingen section of the Fils Valley Railway from Stuttgart on 29 June 1850, it was possible for trains to operate continuous from Friedrichshafen to Heilbronn.
Between 1905 and 1913 the Ulm–Friedrichshafen line was duplicated for military reasons.
After the Second World War, several stations that were located far away from the villages were closed down over the years. Similarly, with the exception of the Aulendorf–Herbertingen and Aulendorf–Kißlegg lines, all the branches with passenger services off the Southern Railway were closed.
Beginning in the 1990s, InterRegio trains operated between Saarbrücken and Lindau on the line. Since 1 July 1993, class NE81 diesel railbuses have been operated on the "goat track" between Friedrichshafen and Ravensburg by the Lake Constance–Upper Swabia Railway (Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn GmbH, BOB), founded in 15 October 1991, with services extended on 1 July 1997 to Aulendorf. As early as 1994, high demand led BOB to procure additional vehicles, including wagons borrowed from Hohenzollerischen Landesbahn (Hohenzollern State Railway, HzL). Some of the disused railway stations on the "goat track" have now been reactivated. Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel railcars have operated on the Southern Railway since autumn 1998 to cater for the increased traffic.
DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee (DB RAB) has taken over the operation of local passenger services on the northern section of the Southern Railway. In 1999, the Laupheim West–Laupheim Stadt branch line, the last remaining section of the Laupheim West–Schwendi line, was reactivated, with services connecting to Langenau.
In 2001, InterRegio services were abandoned except for a pair of trains cut back to operate between Karlsruhe and Ulm. With the abolition of this type of train in late 2002, the remaining InterRegio train pair was replaced by an InterCity service on the Münster/Dortmund–Lindau–Innsbruck route.
Two different Interregio-Express services run over the line. Firstly, class 611 diesel motor units, run at 120 minutes intervals to Basel. Secondly, push-pull train, composed of double-deck carriages hauled by class 218 locomotives, run at 60 minute intervals from Stuttgart to Lindau. Regional services are operated with class 650 (Regio Shuttle) diesel railcars belonging to DB RAB, BOB and HzL. The only InterCity pair of trains is also drawn by class 218 locomotives.
The BOB trains run to the terminal platforms at Friedrichshafen Stadt station and reverse on to an 800 metre-long branch line to Friedrichshafen Hafen (port) station.
From Ulm to Aulendorf the line is within the Donau–Iller Local Transport Network (Donau-Iller-Nahverkehrsverbund, DING ). From Aulendorf to Friedrichshafen it is within the Lake Constance–Upper Swabia Transport Association (Bodensee-Oberschwaben Verkehrsverbund, BODO).
Today, the Southern Railway is one of the few non-electrified double-track main lines in Baden-Wurttemberg. It has been agreed to electrify the line, including its continuation to Lindau. This will open up the potential for freight and possibly lead to the return of more long-distance passenger trains to the line, which currently has only one InterCity train pair. Construction costs are estimated to be well over €100 million. The start of electrification is not expected before 2011.
In July 2008, Biberach district and Deutsche Bahn decided to build a 2.5 km long connecting curve from the Southern Railway to Laupheim Stadt (town) station. This will allow direct services run from Biberach via Laupheim Stadt to Ulm. Construction work on this started in June 2009 and should finish in 2011.
