The Ulm–Friedrichshafen railway, also known as the Württembergische Südbahn (Württemberg Southern Railway), is an electrified main line in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. It was built from 1846 to 1850 and doubled from 1905 to 1913. During that time many of the station buildings were rebuilt. Its kilometre numbering (chainage) begins as the Fils Valley Railway in Stuttgart Hbf. The line was upgraded and electrified from the spring of 2018. Electric operations commenced in December 2021.
The line begins in Ulm and runs via Biberach an der Riß, Aulendorf and Ravensburg to Friedrichshafen. Some trains continue on the single-tracked line of the Friedrichshafen–Lindau railway to Lindau.
History
Under the technical direction of the civil engineer Ludwig Friedrich Gaab, commissioners Ludwig August von Autenrieth and Georg von Buhler examined a transport link between Ulm and Friedrichshafen from 1836. As an alternative, a canal link was considered using the Riss and Schussen rivers, which compared to a two-track railway connection was expected to have slightly higher construction costs but much lower operational costs. With the act entitled Über den Bau von Eisenbahnen (on the construction of railways) of 18 April 1843, the Kingdom of Württemberg finally decided to build several railway lines that could be considered as the Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern Railway and would cover the most urgent transport needs of the kingdom.
The Southern Railway was part of a continuous railway line from the navigable Neckar in Heilbronn via Stuttgart and Ulm to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. The examination of different route alternatives selected a direct connection from Ulm to Friedrichshafen.
The first isolated section of the line opened on 8 November 1847 between Friedrichshafen and Ravensburg. On 26 May 1849 this was followed by the section to Biberach an der Riss and on 1 June 1850 by the remaining section to Ulm. Initially, with a locomotive transported by horse-drawn wagons and nine wagons, a freight train carrying passengers ran as an island operation. As a result, Friedrichshafen had its own workshop from the beginning, since there was no connection to the railway’s Eßlinger workshop.
With the closing the gap of the Ulm–Geislingen section of the Fils Valley Railway from Stuttgart on 29 June 1850, the Royal Württemberg State Railways (Königlich Württembergischen Staats-Eisenbahnen or K.W.St.E.) won the race to Lake Constance, three years before the Royal Bavarian State Railways and thirteen years before the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway.
Between 1905 and 1913, the Ulm–Friedrichshafen line was duplicated for military reasons.
1945–2011
Several stations that were located far away from the villages were closed down in the years after the Second World War. Similarly, all the branches with passenger services off the line were closed, with the exception of the Aulendorf–Herbertingen and Aulendorf–Kißlegg lines.
Beginning in the 1990s, InterRegio trains operated between Saarbrücken and Lindau on the line. From 1 July 1993, class NE81 diesel railbuses were operated between Friedrichshafen and Ravensburg by the Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn (Lake Constance–Upper Swabia Railway, BOB), founded on 15 October 1991 and using equipment and personnel supplied by other railway companies under contract. Services were extended on 1 July 1997 to Aulendorf. This had become popularly known as the Geißbockbahn (billy goat railway); this description comes from a folk song, Auf de Schwäb'sche Eisenbahne, first published in the late 19th century. As early as 1994, high demand led BOB to procure additional vehicles, including wagons leased from Hohenzollerischen Landesbahn ("Hohenzollern State Railway", HzL). Some of the disused stations have been reactivated. Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel railcars were operated on the line from autumn 1998 to cater for the increased traffic, but these were replaced by electric sets in December 2021.
DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee (DB RAB) took over the operation of local passenger services on the northern section of the line and now operates all regional services on the line except for the BOB service, which it operates under contract. In 1999, the Laupheim West–Laupheim Stadt branch line, the last remaining section of the Laupheim West–Schwendi line, was reactivated, with services connecting to Langenau.