The Halle–Bebra railway, known in German as the Thüringer Bahn ("Thuringian Railway"), is a 210 kilometre-long railway line from Halle (Saale) via Erfurt and Gerstungen to Bebra, mainly in Thuringia. As far as Gerstungen the line originally belonged to the Thuringian Railway Company. From Gerstungen to Bebra, it was owned by the Frederick William Northern Railway (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn), named after the Prussian king, Frederick William IV. It is now a two-track, electrified, standard gauge mainline operated by DB Netze. It was opened between 1846 and 1849 and was the first railway line in Thuringia (apart from a small piece of the Leipzig–Hof line of the Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company —Sächsisch-Bayerische Eisenbahn-Compagnie— near Altenburg). All types of trains from Regionalbahn to ICE currently run on the line except Interregio-Express. Four of the six largest cities in Thuringia are located on the line.
History
The Thuringian Railway is part of the southern east–west line between Halle and Kassel. It follows an old trade route, the Via Regia between Leipzig and Frankfurt. Its construction was agreed to under a treaty signed on 20 December 1841 between the Kingdom of Prussia, the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The first section from Halle to Weissenfels was opened by the Thuringian Railway Company (Thüringische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) on 20 June 1846. Six months later, on 19 December, it was opened to Weimar and on 1 April 1847, it was opened to Erfurt. The Erfurt–Eisenach section opened on 24 June 1847 and the rest on 25 September 1849.
Modernisation since 1990
In February 1990, rail workers and executives of both national railways came together in Eisenach to initiate the closing of the gap between Bebra and Eisenach. In May 1991, the first train ran on the reconstructed section. The Eisenach–Gerstungen section was reopened for the 1991 timetable change and the second track was opened on 26 September 1992. At the same time, the Förtha–Gerstungen railway was abandoned as a bypass of the West German territory and was dismantled in 1993.
The electrotechnical services of Deutsche Reichsbahn and Deutsche Bundesbahn took part in discussions on the electrification of the 88 km-long section between Bebra and Neudietendorf. This resulted in an upgrade program which, among other things, increased the speed of the line to 160 km/h (and potentially 200 km/h), the elimination of level crossings and the reconstruction of the Berlin Curve (Berliner Kurve) that bypasses Bebra towards Fulda. A framework design was adopted for the Neudietendorf–Eisenach section by the beginning of 1993. The planning for the free route between Eisenach and Gerstungen had been completed and the preliminary design for Gerstungen station had been confirmed. The state's plan was sufficiently developed for the initiation of the planning approval process of the 110-kV line in Thuringia and fine-tuning was in progress in the spring of 1993.
The further modernisation of the Erfurt–Bebra section was carried out as Verkehrsprojekt Deutsche Einheit Nr. 7 (German Unity Transport Project no. 7). The estimated cost of the section between Neudietendorf and the state border was 1.6 billion DM. The electrification of the section was started in 1993 and completed in the summer of 1995 in time for a timetable change. Since May 1995, the line has been electrified and the maximum speed is 160 km/h in substantial parts, with the exception, for example, of Erfurt and Bebra stations and the Hönebach Tunnel (983 m long, 90 km/h). Electronic interlockings were installed in Eisenach and Neudietendorf and another was later installed at Erfurt Hauptbahnhof. The Neudietendorf electronic interlocking controls all signals and turnouts on the section from Erfurt-Bischleben to the approach to Wandersleben and the Eisenach electronic interlocking controls the Wandersleben–Gerstungen section. The section from Gerstungen is supervised by the track plan signal box in Bebra. In exceptional cases, the unstaffed signal box in Hönebach is staffed. The freight yard in Eisenach is also controlled by a track plan signal box.
The project was carried out by Deutsche Bahn AG. A total of €913 million was invested within the scope of the German Unity Transport Project no. 7, allowing the travel time for long-distance traffic between Bebra and Erfurt to be reduced from 135 minutes (in 1990) to 59 minutes.