Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway

Brunswick–Bad Harzburg
Route number:	ex 206
Line number:	1901
Track gauge:	1435
Legend from Uelzen, from Wolfsburg and from Magdeburg 0.0 Brunswick Hauptbahnhof Oker to Hannover and to Hildesheim to Old Brunswick station 4.2 Rüningen Brunswick–Kreiensen railway 6.0 LeiferdeKeilbahnhof 11.8 Wolfenbüttel Groß Gleidingen–Wolfenbüttel railway 12.6 Wolfenbüttelold station Wolfenbüttel–Helmstedt railway Oker Jerxheim–Börßum railway 23.7 Börßum Börßum–Salzgitter-Bad railway (museum railway) Osterwieck-Wasserleben railway to Osterwieck 28.1 Schladen (Harz) Alignment until 1924 Oker Ecker Ecker Ecker from Halberstadt former marshalling yard Radau Vienenburg–Langelsheim railway 1875 to ca. 1956 39.5 Vienenburg Vienenburg–Goslar railway Radau Oker–Bad Harzburg railway Halberstadt–Vienenburg railway Radau 47.2 Bad Harzburg

The Brunswick-Bad Harzburg Railway is a 47 km long German main line railway in the northern foothills of the Harz. It is one of the oldest lines in Germany and the first government-owned railway in Germany.

History

File:Wolfenbuettel-Bahnhof-Maerz-2008.jpg Wolfenbuettel station

File:Bahnsteig Vienenburg.JPG Vienenburg station

File:Bad harzburg station window.jpg Bad Harzburg station entrance hall window

On 1 December 1838 the first section of the first state railway line in Germany opened between Brunswick (German: Braunschweig) and Wolfenbüttel. It connected the two most important cities in the former Duchy of Brunswick. In 1841 it was extended through Schladen and Vienenburg to Bad Harzburg (then called Neustadt: New Town). The steep section between Vienenburg and Bad Harzburg was operated with horse-haulage until 1843.

In 1843 the Wolfenbüttel–Jerxheim–Oschersleben line was opened, which together with the Magdeburg–Halberstadt line formed a connection with Berlin. From 1844, the Brunswick–Hanover line was put into service and east-west traffic ran between Berlin and Hanover via Wolfenbüttel and from 1847 with the opening of the Hanover-Minden line as far as the Ruhr. In 1856 the Brunswick Southern Railway was opened between Börßum and Kreiensen, creating a connection towards Kassel and Frankfurt. 1866 the Vienenburg–Goslar branch was opened, creating the first rail link to the then Hanoverian town of Goslar.

The line lost its significance for long-distance traffic with the completion of the Berlin–Lehrte line in 1871 and the direct Brunswick–Magdeburg line in 1872.

In 1924 the route was deviated to connect to the former Vienenburg marshalling yard.

Operations

Today the line is served mainly by regional passenger services, but has some freight traffic. Regionalbahn trains connect Brunswick and Bad Harzburg and Brunswick and Goslar every two hours, so that north of Vienenburg service run approximately hourly. These are supplemented on some sections by services between Brunswick and Schöppenstedt and there are additional services between Halle, Vienenburg, Bad-Harzburg and Hanover.

The railway is not electrified and north of Vienenburg it is double track.