Hildesheim–Brunswick railway

Hildesheim–Brunswick
Route number:	313 regional 349 long distance
Line number:	1770 Nordstemmen-Hildesheim 1772 Hildesheim-Groß Gleidingen 1730 Groß Gleidungen-Brunswick
Track gauge:	1435
Voltage:	15 kV, 16.7 Hz AC
Maximum speed:	140
Legend from Göttingen and from Hamelin 52.2 Nordstemmen 49.7 Rössing junctionfrom Hanover Hbf Hanover–Würzburg high-speed line 46.8 Emmerke 45.5 Himmelsthür junctionHanover–Würzburg high-speed line Innerste Hildesheim port railway Hildesheim port railway 41.4 Hildesheim freight yardAutozugterminal 40.6 Hildesheim Hbf to Lehrte and to Goslar line change from 1770 to 1772 Bundesstraße 6 A 7 46.9 Bettmar 52.9 Garbolzum 58.1 Hoheneggelsen 63.7 Woltwiesche 66.7 Lengede-Broistedt VPS Salzgitter-Peine VPS Salzgitter-Peine 31 Alvesse Salzgitter branch canal Line from Hanover line change from 1772 to 1730 52.8 Groß Gleidingen Salzgitter-Beddingen/VW and line 1910 to marshalling yard 54.4 Groß Gleidingen OstkopfSalzgitter-Beddingen/VW Broitzemdismantled Brunswick-Weststadtplanned A 391 to old Brunswick station Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway 59.6 Okerbrücke junctionto Brunswick marshalling yard Oker 61.0 Brunswick Hauptbahnhof to Uelzen and to Magdeburg

The Hildesheim–Brunswick line is a 43 km long electrified main line railway in the German state of Lower Saxony. It forms part of the Intercity-Express route from Frankfurt to Berlin. It is also used as a diversion route from the Hanover–Brunswick line. It is a single track line from Hildesheim to Groß Gleidingen. A proposal to duplicate the line was included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1992.

History

Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof. All stations on this line have practical and economical architecture

Brunswick Hauptbahnhof, built in the 1960s

The first railways were opened to Hildesheim and Brunswick in the 1840s. A direct connection across the former border between the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick was, however, not desired, at least in Hanover. East-west traffic ran through Lehrte and Kreiensen. Hildesheim was only connected via Lehrte in the north and with a branch line to Nordstemmen station on the Hanoverian Southern Railway.

After the annexation of Hanover by Prussia after the War of 1866, this situation slowly changed. The Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company (German: Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) built the Elze–Löhne line in 1875 and connected it with the Hildesheim–Goslar line to the southeast. This meant that Hildesheim was connected to the rail network for east-west traffic. It only needed a direct connection to Brunswick to cope with increasing levels of traffic from the iron ore mines in the northern Harz district. In 1888 the approximately 35 km long link between Hildesheim to the Hanover–Brunswick line at Gross Gleidingen was put into operation.

The railway was only a secondary line. It does not lead to the major nearby city of Hanover and, until 1960, the old Brunswick station, which was built as a terminus, inhibited through traffic. From 1945, the Inner German border blocked most traffic to the east of Brunswick. With the construction of the Hanover–Würzburg high-speed line and the Hildesheim loop built to connect it to Hildesheim and Brunswick from the south, InterCity trains began to run from Frankfurt via Göttingen, Hildesheim, Brunswick and Magdeburg to Berlin in 1991. These were replaced by Intercity-Express trains in 1993 and since 1998 they have taken the route east of Brunswick via the Weddel loop and Hanover–Berlin high-speed line.

Proposed duplication

The single-track operation proved to be prone to delays. The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1992 and in its successor of 2005 provide for an upgraded line connecting Löhne, Hamelin, Hildesheim and Brunswick, including duplication. In late 2007 financing for the project was agreed, with the federal government agreeing to provide € 80 million and the state contributing € 40 million. The project would increase top speeds to 160 km/h from 140,^[1] saving two minutes for long distance trains and 10 minutes for regional trains. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2009 and be finished in 2012. The total estimated cost of the project is € 138 million.^[2] Work on the project began on 18 January 2010.^[3][4]

References