Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed railway

The Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed railway is a 99 km (62 mi) long railway line in Germany, connecting the cities of Mannheim and Stuttgart. The line was officially opened on 9 May 1991, and Intercity-Express service began on 2 June. The Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway also opened at the same time. The line cost about DM 4.5 billion to build and has 15 tunnels and more than 90 bridges.

Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed railway
Overview
Native name	Schnellfahrstrecke Mannheim–Stuttgart
Line number	4080
Locale	Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Service
Route number	770
History
Opened	9 May 1991
Technical
Line length	99 km (62 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius	5,100 m (16,700 ft)
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead catenary
Operating speed	Service / Maximum (underground): 250 km/h (155 mph) Service / Maximum (aboveground): 280 km/h (175 mph)
Maximum incline	1.25%
Route map Legend Western approach to the Riedbahn from Frankfurt Palatine Ludwig Railway from Ludwigshafen 0.0 Mannheim Hbf Rhine Railway to Schwetzingen (see below) Mannheim Hbf Ost (junction) 2.0 Container yard bridge (1100 m) Rhine Valley Railway to Heidelberg and the marshalling yard Connecting curve to Rhine Railway and the marshalling yard 5.1 Mannheim-Pfingstberg (crossover) 5.6 Pfingstberg Tunnel (5380 m) A 6 Rhine Railway Mannheim–Schwetzingen 11.5 Schwetzingen Brühler Weg (crossover) 16.9 Schwetzingen crossing structure (126 m), A 6 Speyer–Schwetzingen line, now siding A 61 Rhine Railway from Schwetzingen (see above) 20.9 Hockenheim Neulußheim Rhine Railway to Karlsruhe (see below) 27.7 Oberhausen (crossover) 31.7 Waghäusel Saalbach (junction) connecting line to Graben-Neudorf Rhine Railway to Karlsruhe 34.7 Waghäusel Lußhardt (crossover) 35.0 B 36 tunnel (65 m) 40.5 Forst (crossover) 40.7 Forst Tunnel (1726 m) A 5 Rhine Valley Railway Karlsruhe–Heidelberg Katzbach Railway to Odenheim   Kraich Valley Railway to Menzingen 45.3 Bruchsal Rollenberg (junction) 45.2 Rollenberg Tunnel (3303 m) 47.4 Bruchsal Eisenhut crossover 49.1 Oberbruch Viaduct (220 m) 50.1 Altenberg Tunnel (220 m) 50.9 Neuenberg Tunnel (762 m) 52.2 Frauenwald Viaduct (704 m) 53.0 Simonsweingarten Tunnel (420 m) 55.5 Maintenance base Kraichtal 56.4 Bauerbach Viaduct (748 m), Kraichgau Railway 59.2 Zigeunergraben Viaduct (660 m) 60.4 Wilfenberg Tunnel (1006 m) 62.1 Freudenstein Tunnel (6800 m) 62.5 Freudenstein crossover 69.5 Sternenfels Mettertal crossover 71.7 Burgberg Tunnel (1115 m) 73.2 Saubuckel Tunnel (403 m) Western Railway from Mühlacker (former route) former Vaihingen Stadtbahn 78.5 Vaihingen (Enz) 79.1 Markstein Tunnel (2782 m) Western Railway to Bietigheim-Bissingen 82.0 Enz Valley Railway (1044 m) 83.5 Vaihingen Enztal (crossover until 2010) 84.2 Pulverdingen Tunnel (1878 m) 87.8 Glemstal Viaduct (348 m) 89.0 Markgröningen Glems crossover 94.1 Langes Feld Tunnel (4632 m) A 81 95.9 Kornwestheim marshalling yard (junction, not built) 96.0 Stuttgart Langes Feld (Üst) 97.9 Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen Em (junction) Langes Feld II Tunnel (677 m) 98.1 End of Langes Feld Tunnel Schuster Railway to Stuttgart-Untertürkheim Franconia Railway from Bietigheim-Bissingen End of Langes Feld II Tunnel Black Forest Railway from Calw 98.8 Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen Feuerbach Industrial railway Franconia Railway to Stuttgart Hbf Source: German railway atlas[1]

^[2]

Planning

Planning for a new line between Mannheim and Stuttgart (the two largest cities of Baden-Württemberg) began in 1970. The railway lines that it replaced followed the terrain and followed rivers and valleys, resulting in steep gradients and sharp curves and thus not suitable for high-speed trains. The 1973 federal transport plan incorporated the following minimum requirements for mixed traffic to accommodate heavy, slow goods trains and light fast passenger trains:

• maximum grade of 1.25% (occasionally 2.0%)
• curves with small superelevation and minimum radii of 4,800 to 7,000 metres (15,700 to 23,000 ft)
• maximum line speed of 250 to 300 km/h (160 to 190 mph)
• average construction costs of 30 to 50 million DM per kilometre
• point-to-point connections between two railway junctions.

Region

To fulfill these requirements, it was necessary to build a large number of structures such as bridges and tunnels.

In addition, a new technology had to be pursued: the Forst Tunnel is under the water table for its entire length and required a new water-diverting technology. The Freudenstein Tunnel is through the porous rock strata, which flows as a result of heavy rains on the hillsides above it. That geological feature required expensive safeguards, which were used for the first time.

A first planning statement for the Mannheim-Stuttgart route was published in 1974. The Federal Ministry of Transport issued the building permit in 1975, and construction commenced in 1976. More than 6,000 objections led to some route changes during the construction. The construction of some sections was at times completely halted. In seven places the protests of the nearby residents led to the building of cut and cover tunnels. The longest tunnel of this kind was the Pfingstberg tunnel, which leads through a forest, a declared water protection zone, near Mannheim-Rheinau.

The route has a (comparatively low) maximum gradient of 12.5 per thousand with curves having a normal radius of 7,000 m (22,966 ft) and a minimum radius of 5,100 m (16,732 ft). Rises are limited to a maximum of 80 mm (3.1 in). The design speed for ICE trains is 300 km/h (190 mph) and in places limited to 250 km/h (155 mph). Cross-overs were provided for the planned operations mixing passenger and goods trains and for maintenance operations every five to seven kilometres. Planning for the entire route was not resolved until 1985.

Construction

The first section was completed on 31 May 1987 between the junction with the Rhine Railway in Mannheim and Graben-Neudorf.^[3] The last section to be completed was the second tube of the Freudenstein Tunnel, which was completed a few months before the opening of the entire line.^[4] The commercial service commenced in 1991.

Before the commencement of passenger operations two thousand training runs were undertaken to familiarise drivers with the technical characteristics of driving on high-speed lines, such as in-cab signalling and preventing the application of the emergency brakes.^[5]

Operations

The Mannheim-Stuttgart line was opened for commercial operations on 9 May 1991, and the first ICE operation on this route started on 2 June. The maximum speed was initially 250 km/h (155 mph) with 280 km/h (175 mph) permitted to overcome delays.^[5] The maximum speed is currently 250 km/h (155 mph) regardless of delays or not. The opening of the line reduced the travel time from Mannheim to Stuttgart from 90 to 44 minutes in 1991. By 2007, the travel time was reduced further to 35–38 minutes.

Since its opening, the various ICE lines have been operating on this route:

• Line 11: Berlin Ostbf, Berlin Hbf, Berlin-Spandau, Braunschweig, Kassel Wilhelmshöhe, Fulda, Frankfurt/Main, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and München (departing every two hours each way)
• Line 22: Hamburg, Hanover, Göttingen, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Fulda, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Stuttgart, (departing every two hours, each way)
• Line 42: Amsterdam/Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Köln Hbf, Frankfurt Airport – Mannheim Hbf, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and München (departing every two hours, each way)

The trains travelling between Heidelberg and Karlsruhe (including TGVs) also use the northern section of this route, which connects at Rollenberg Junction.

While the cross-overs were installed every 5 to 7 km (3.1 to 4.3 mi) to allow the goods trains operating on the same line and at the same time as the passenger train, they were relegated to operating at night while the passenger trains were not operating.

Notes

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
2. "Tunnelbegegnungsverbot", Wikipedia (in German), 2024-08-24, retrieved 2024-09-10
3. Eisenbahn-Journal Extra 1/2007, Die DB in den 80ern, S. 28; ISBN 978-3-89610-172-3 (in German)
4. Meldung Rohbauarbeiten am Freudensteintunnel beendet. In: Die Bundesbahn, Ausgabe 8 1990, S. 823 (in German)
5. Konrad-H. Naue, Bringfried Belter: Endspurt für die Neubaustrecken Hannover–Würzburg und Mannheim-Stuttgart. In: Die Bundesbahn, Jahrgang 1990, Heft 10, S. 937–940 (in German)

References

• Joachim Seyferth: Die Neubaustrecken der Deutschen Bundesbahn. Wiesbaden 1983 (in German)
• Ernst Rudolph: Eisenbahn auf neuen Wegen: Hannover–Würzburg, Mannheim–Stuttgart. Darmstadt 1989, ISBN 3-7771-0216-4 (in German)
• Berndt von Mitzlaff, Ralf Roman Rossberg: Jahrbuch des Eisenbahnwesens 42: Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehr. Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-7771-0234-2 (in German)
• Bundesbahndirektion Karlsruhe: Streckenkarte Neubaustrecke Mannheim–Stuttgart 1:100.000. Karlsruhe 1990 (in German)
• Neue Bahnhöfe an der Neubaustrecke Stuttgart-Mannheim in db. 11/1988. Stuttgart 1988 (in German)

• 
  ICE coming from the Containerbahnhofbrücke (container yard bridge)
• 
  Rollenberg Junction
• 
  InterCity at Vaihingen (Enz) station
• 
  ICE between Enztalbrücke and Pulverdinger Tunnel

See also

• High-speed rail in Germany