Merseburg–Halle-Nietleben railway

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Merseburg–Halle-Nietleben railway
Schafstädterbahn002.jpg
Freight train at Elisabethhöhe station
Overview
Line number
  • 6356 (Merseburg–H.-Nietleben)
  • 6357 (Merseburg–M.-Elisabethhöhe)
  • 6389 (Bad Lauchstädt–Angersdorf)
LocaleSaxony-Anhalt, Germany
Service
Route number588
Technical
Line length19.2 km (11.9 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification15 kV/16.7 Hz AC catenary
Operating speed100 km/h (62.1 mph) (maximum)
Maximum incline2.0%
Route map

Legend
from Erfurt and Eisenach
Merseburg
0.019
from Halle (Saale)
3.452
 Merseburg-Elisabethhöhe
3.853
(formerly Merseburg-Friedenshöhe)
 Knapendorf
Laucha
 Buna Werke station platform
5.640
 Buna Werke
Milzau
8.0
Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle HSL
 Bad Lauchstädt
(former Bf)
Delitz am Berge
Benkendorf
Holleben-Beuchlitz
13.100
 Holleben
to Sangerhausen
 Angersdorf
15.0
from Halle Hbf
S-Bahn from Halle Hbf
16.893
 Halle Zscherbener Straße
17.620
south portal
17.972
 Halle-Neustadt
18.070
north portal
19.212
 Halle-Nietleben
Halle Heidebahnhof
Halle-Dölau
Source: German railway atlas[1]

The Merseburg–Halle-Nietleben railway is an about 19 kilometre-long electrified branch line in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. A second track exists between Merseburg and Merseburg-Elisabethhöhe and between Halle-Zscherbener Straße and Halle-Nietleben. Part of the current route was built in 1967 with a significant realignment of the Zwiebelbahn on the (Merseburg–) Bad Lauchstädt–Angersdorf route.

History[]

2007 – Merseburg station
1967 – New Halle-Neustadt station (now: Halle Zscherbener Straße)

The Bad Lauchstädt–Benkendorf–Angersdorf line, which branched from the and was opened in 1896, was mostly used for local freight transport. In 1944/45, it was used as a diversion route when railways and bridges over the Saale in the Merseburg area were damaged in the war, but it subsequently lost its already limited passenger traffic.

During the implementation of the 1958 chemical program of the GDR, on the one hand chemical sites at the Buna Works and Leuna Works were massively expanded and, on the other hand, the planned dormitory suburb of Chemiearbeiterstadt Halle-West (later Halle-Neustadt) was completely redeveloped from 1964. Construction of a new rail link between the new residential and workplaces began on 2 January 1966. The continuous Bad Lauchstädt–Angersdorf railway was replaced by the new link, which was opened on 24 April 1967. The new Buna-Werke station had already been served two days earlier by some trains on the Merseburg–Schafstädt railway.

Passenger services ran on the new line from Weißenfels via Großkorbetha, Leuna-Werke, Merseburg, Buna-Werke and Halle-Neustadt to Halle-Nietleben. Commuter trains for chemical workers (known as Pelzerzügen, literally "fur worker trains") were operated each day in the 1980s to carry about 9,600 workers between Halle-Neustadt and the Buna works. Each train carried up to 1,200 passengers. The trains were each made up of three articulated sets of four double-deck carriages. The length of the platforms was adapted to the length of the train.

Similar trains were also operated on the Halle–Merseburg–Leuna-Werke–Weißenfels route on the Thuringian Railway. The two services were both listed in table 601 of the timetable until 1992.

Operations at the Buna Works changed after the Wende in 1989/90. With the takeover by Dow Chemical, modern production facilities were built, old ones were shut down and demolished. Due to the associated substantial reduction in employment, passenger numbers on the line also fell significantly. Services on the Merseburg–Schafstädt railway were numbered 588 in the timetable issued in 1992.

In the end, trains only consisted of a class 143 electric locomotive and a double-deck driving trailer. They were used only for commuter traffic from Monday to Friday in the morning and the afternoon. The journey time for the six train pairs a day between Merseburg and Halle-Nietleben was 22 minutes. Passenger services were abandoned at the timetable change on 9 December 2007, but the last trains had run two days earlier.

The section from Holleben (near the junction with the Halle–Hann. Münden railway) until shortly before the S-Bahn halt of Halle Zscherbener Straße, on which only a few freight trains operated in 2010 (carrying bulk material for track maintenance to Nietleben station, where it was stored), was closed in 2011.[2] The Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt) approved DB Netz’s application to close the line with effect from 31 August 2011.[3]

Current operations[]

The stations of Halle-Nietleben, Halle-Neustadt and Halle Zscherbener Straße are served by line S7 of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland.

In freight transport, the line remains important for connecting the Buna Works.

References[]

  1. ^ Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. p. 130. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  2. ^ "Holleben- Halle Zscherbener Straße : Streckenausschreibung zwecks Stilllegung" (in German). Drehscheibe Online. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  3. ^ "Row 45". Federal Railway Authority. Archived from the original (xls) on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
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