Mannheim-Stuttgart high-speed rail line

The Mannheim-Stuttgart high-speed rail line is a 99 km long railway line in Germany, connecting the cities of Mannheim and Stuttgart. It was officially handed over for operations on 9 May 1991 and the first InterCityExpress ran on it on 2 June. The Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line opened at the same time. It includes 15 tunnels and more than 90 bridges and cost about DM 4.5 billion to build.

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 m to 7,000 m
*maximum line speed of 250 to 300 km/h
*average construction costs of 30 to 50 millions DM per kilometer
*point-to-point connections between two railway junctions. These requirements made necessary a large number of structure such as bridges and tunnels.

In addition new technology had to be applied: the Forst Tunnel is for its entire length under the water table and required a new dewatering technology. The Freudenstein Tunnel drives through gypskeuper, which flows as a result of heavy rains on the hillsides above it and required expensive safeguards, which were used for the first time.

In 1974 the first planning statement for the Mannheim-Stuttgart route was published. In 1975 the Federal Minister for Transport issued the building permit and construction began in 1976. More than 6,000 objections led to changes in the route when the line was already under construction. The building of some sections was occasionally completely stopped. In seven places the protests of the nearby resident led to the building of cut and cover tunnels. The longest tunnel of this kind was the Pfingstberg tunnel, which leads through a forest near Mannheim-Rheinau, which is a declared water protection zone.

The route has a (comparatively low) maximum gradient of 12.5 per thousand with curves having a normal radius of 7,000 m and a minimum radius of 5,100 m. Superelevation are limited to a maximum of 80 mm. The design speed for ICEs is 300 km/h and in places limited to 250 km/h. Crossovers 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 Rheinbahn in Mannheim and Graben-Neudorf.Eisenbahn-Journal Extra 1/2007, "Die DB in den 80ern", S. 28; ISBN 978-3-89610-172-3 de icon ] The last section to be completed was the second tube of the Freudenstein Tunnel, which was finished a few months before the opening of the whole line.Meldung "Rohbauarbeiten am Freudensteintunnel beendet". In: "Die Bundesbahn", Ausgabe 8 1990, S. 823 de icon] In 1991 the whole route was handed over to traffic.

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, succh as in-cab signaling and preventing the application of the emergency brakes. Konrad-H. Naue, Bringfried Belter: "Endspurt für die Neubaustrecken Hannover–Würzburg und Mannheim-Stuttgart". In: "Die Bundesbahn", Jahrgang 1990, Heft 10, S. 937–940 de icon]

Operations

The Mannheim-Stuttgart line was handed over for commercial operations between on 9 May 1991 and the first ICE ran on it on 2 June. Initially the maximum speed was 250 km/h, with 280 km/h permitted to overcome delays. Currently the maximum speed is about 250 km/h, whether or not there is a delay. The opening of the line reduced the travel time from Mannheim to Stuttgart from 90 to 44 minutes in 1991. In 2007 the ICE takes only 35 to 38 minutes to cover the Stuttgart-Mannheim section.

Since its opening it has conveyed trains operating on various ICE lines:
*line 11: Berlin Ostbf, Berlin Hbf, Berlin-Spandau, Braunschweig, Kassel Wilhelmshöhe, Fulda, Frankfurt/Main, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and München (generally every two hours, each way)
*line 22: Hamburg, Hanover, Göttingen, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Fulda, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Stuttgart, (generally every two hours, each way)
*line 42: Amsterdam/Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Köln Hbf, Frankfurt Airport – Mannheim Hbf, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and München (generally every two hours, each way)It also conveys trains to and from Heidelberg and Karlsruhe (including TGVs), which connect at Rollenberg Junction.

Despite the provision of crossovers every five to seven kilometres, to allow goods trains to operate on the line at the same time as passenger trains, in practice goods trains have only been allowed to operate at night when there are no passenger trains.

Notes

References

*Joachim Seyferth: Die Neubaustrecken der Deutschen Bundesbahn. Wiesbaden 1983 de icon
*Ernst Rudolph: Eisenbahn auf neuen W
de icon
*Berndt von Mitzlaff, Ralf Roman Rossberg: Jahrbuch des Eisenbahnwesens 42: Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehr. Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-7771-0234-2 de icon
*Bundesbahndirektion Karlsruhe: Streckenkarte Neubaustrecke Mannheim–Stuttgart 1:100.000. Karlsruhe 1990 de icon
*Neue Bahnhöfe an der Neubaustrecke Stuttgart-Mannheim in db. 11/1988. Stuttgart 1988 de icon