Brunswick Southern Railway

Brunswick Southern Railway

Bürßem–Kreiensen

Route number:358
Line length:67.4
Track gauge:1435
State: Lower Saxony
Legend
 Line from Brunswick
Former Line from Jerxheim
45,3 Börßum
Former Line to Wasserleben
Line to Bad Harzburg
 Oker
 47,9 Werlaburgdorf
 A 395
 51,3 Gielde
 55,8 Klein Mahner
 (museum railway to this point)
 Line from Brunswick
 60,5 Salzgitter-Bad
 Line from Goslar
 64,7 Salzgitter-Ringelheim
 Line to Hildesheim
 Innerste
 72,1 Lutter am Barenberge
 Line from Goslar
 79,2 Neuekrug-Hahausen
 Former Line from Derneburg
 86,2 Seesen
 Line to Herzberg
 92,2 Ildehausen
 A 7
 94,3 Harriehausen
 Former Lamme Valley Railway from Bodenburg
 100,0 Bad Gandersheim
 Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway
 103,7 Orxhausen
 Hanoverian Southern Railway from Hanover
 105,8 Kreiensen
 Line to Holzminden
 Hanoverian Southern Railway to Göttingen

The Brunswick Southern Railway (German: Braunschweigische Südbahn) was built by the Duchy of Brunswick State Railway as a link from its Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway to the Hanoverian Southern Railway. It ran through the northwestern Harz Foreland from Börßum via Salzgitter, Ringelheim and Seesen to Kreiensen. It opened on 5 August 1856 and was one of the oldest railways in Germany.

In 1956 a shorter link to Brunswick was built in the shape of the Brunswick–Salzgitter Bad railway and with this line was connected through to the Brunswick–Kreiensen railway.

Traffic

Kreiensen station with a Regionalbahn train to Goslar

Today it mainly serves regional trains and, after that, a few goods trains. In the 2009 timetable it will be worked hourly by Regionalbahn trains from Brunswick via Seeseon to Herzberg am Harz, and every two hours by the Regionalbahn from Bad Harzburg via Seesen to Kreiensen (with extra services at peak times). Normally Lint multiples (DB Class 648) are used that are stabled by Alstom at Salzgitter. From a fares perspective, the line from Brunswick to Seesen forms part of the Brunswick Region Fare Zone and, from Seesen to Kreiensen, the Lower Saxony Transport Network.

History

The Brunswick–Hanover Treaty of 1837 that regulated the construction of the Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway had already established a basic agreement allowing both countries to work together towards a southern link. Only 15 years later a further treaty was contracted. This allowed Brunswick to build a line from Brunswick to the Hanoverian Southern Railway at Kreiensen. This in turn allowed Hanover to build a railway line from Börßum (in Brunswick) via Ringelheim (Hanover) to Seesen (Brunswick). From there it was agreed to build the line via Harriehausen (again in Hanover) to Kreiensen, where both lines were connected. The line was opened on 5 August 1856. Three months earlier the Hanoverian Southern Railway was opened from Hanover to Kassel.

The line was successful and in 1865, the Altenbeken–Kreiensen railway was opened, creating a western connection with the Ruhr area. In 1868 this was followed by the link from Börßum to Jerxheim on the former Brunswick–Wolfenbüttel–Jerxheim–Oschersleben–Magdeburg railway. This connection became an important east-west route, with traffic to and from Göttingen and Frankfurt stronger than that to and from the Ruhr. The Herzberg–Seesen railway, opened in 1871, however, did not fulfil expectations.

After the division of Germany traffic flows changed. All railways between Helmstedt (Brunswick–Magdeburg railway) and Walkenried (South Harz Railway) were disrupted at the Inner-German border, including the Jerxheim crossing on the line from Magdeburg via Eilsleben and Oschersleben. Better access was sought in the Salzgitter area. In 1956, a direct connection from Salzgitter-Bad to Brunswick was opened by closing a gap from Salzgitter to Drütte, partly using a section of the Brunswick–Derneburg railway that was closed in the 1940s.

The railway is not electrified and today Salzgitter-Drütte to Neuekrug-Hahausen is single track. It is part of Deutsche Bahn’s Harz-Weser network. It is planned to be controlled remotely from the electronic interlocking in Göttingen.

Source

External links

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