Dachau–Altomünster railway

Dachau–Altomünster
S-Bahn line A with class 628 train to Altomünster
Route number:	999.30
Line number:	5502
Line length:	29.9
Track gauge:	1435
Operating points and lines[1]
Legend from Munich 0.0 Dachau station Amper to Ingolstadt to paper mill 1.4 Dachau Stadt 4.1 Breitenau 6.4 Bachern 8.3 from Oberbachern substation 9.1 Schwabhausen (b Dachau) 496 m 12.2 Niederroth 16.3 Markt Indersdorf 470 m 19.1 Arnbach 22.5 Erdweg 475 m 25.7 Kleinberghofen 28.6 Stumpfenbach 29.9 Altomünster 494 m

The Dachau–Altomünster railway, also called the Bummerl, Bockerl or Ludwig Thoma Railway, is a railway in the German state of Bavaria. It is part of the Munich S-Bahn network and is integrated within the Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund (Munich Transport and Tariff Association, MVV) as line A. The branch line connects the town of Dachau on the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway with Altomünster. Markt Indersdorf is an important stop.

History

Dachau station building

At the beginning of the year 1900 it was decided to build a railway line from the Munich–Ingolstadt line (now part of the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed line) for the development of the hinterland of Dachau. There were two option for the route: connecting Altomünster via Schwabhausen and Erdweg from Dachau station or connecting Markt Indersdorf from Hebertshausen.

The respective municipalities could not agree on one or other the routes and so came to a compromise. This compromise is reflected in the present route. First it runs west to Schwabhausen, then continues north to Indersdorf and turns back to the southwest to run up the Glonn valley to Erdweg. From there, the line heads back to the northwest to Altomünster. This means that the line takes 29.9 kilometres between Dachau and Altomünster, which are about 20 kilometres apart in a direct line.

The first section from Dachau to Indersdorf was opened on 8 July 1912 and the whole line to Altomünster was commissioned as the "Dachauer Lokalbahn" on 18 December 1913.

At the time of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, the local railway was an important economic factor for the revolutionary government. The money printed in the paper mill in Dachau could be transported directly to Munich without substantial detours.

Since the establishment of the MVV, the whole line has been integrated in the MVV’s system of fares. It was still served by local trains, operated with push–pull trains trains made up of yl and Silberling carriage, hauled by locomotives of class 211 and later 212. In 1995, the still non-electrified railway was included as line A of the Munich S-Bahn.

Operations

Altomünster station with a train on line A

Line A runs hourly from Dachau to Altomünster. In the peak hour a service runs through to Munich Central Station (Hauptbahnhof). The line operated with class 628 diesel multiple units. Services between Dachau and Altomünster currently take 41 minutes, which represents an average speed of about 44 km/h.

Future

The S-Bahn is to be electrified and is duplicated between Bachern and Schwabhausen and near Erdweg. The former crossing loop at Markt Indersdorf is to be replaced by a single track. This will make services at 30-minute intervals possible.^[2] The upgrade has been postponed repeatedly.^[3] The estimated cost in 2005 was € 32 million.^[4] The planning agreement for electrification was signed at the end of June 2006.^[5] The project is due to be completed at the timetable change in December 2014.^[6]

Notes

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