The Kraich Valley Railway () is a branch line in southwestern Germany running from Bruchsal to Menzingen. It is now integrated as line 32 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn.
Route
The Kraich Valley Railway runs from Bruchsal in the Kraichgau. Its name is derived from the Kraichbach stream, whose course it follows from Ubstadt to Gochsheim, as well as the town of Kraichtal, to which all the settlements on the line belong apart from Bruchsal and Ubstadt. It lies entirely within the district of Karlsruhe.
Because the railway line largely follows the aforementioned river valley there are no large structures like tunnels or noteworthy bridges.
History
Planning and opening of the line
During the time up to 1874 when the city of Bruchsal became a railway hub, the municipalities along the Kraichbach were interested in obtaining a connection to the railway. Therefore, Bruchsal sought a railway in the Kraichbach valley through the towns of Ubstadt, Unteröwisheim, Oberöwisheim, Münzesheim and Gochsheim to Eppingen. However, the opening of the Kraichgau Railway on the Karlsruhe–Bretten–Eppingen route in 1879 delayed the construction of such a line.
In 1888, Bruchsal took the initiative in 1888 to build, along with the municipalities in the Kraichbach and the Katzbach valleys, a narrow gauge branch line with two branches, separating in Ubstadt. The northern line would run through Odenheim to Elsenz and the southern branch up the Kraichbach valley to Gochsheim.
Originally planned to run only as far as Gochsheim, it was finally decided to extend the line out of the Kraichbach valley to Menzingen. At the same time, it was also decided that the line would be built at standard gauge.
On 5 March 1896, the Kraich Valley Railway was opened together with the Katzbach Railway. The line was initially operated by the Westdeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (West German Railway Company, WeEG).
The years under the BLEAG (1898–1931) In October 1898, the WeEG operations on the Katzbach and the Kraich Valley Railways were transferred to its subsidiary, the Badische Lokal-Eisenbahnen Aktiengesellschaft (Baden Local Railway Company, BLEAG). In the first years of operations, there was a high level of passenger traffic and some growth in freight traffic. The Kraich Valley and the Katzbach Railways were the two most profitable lines operated by BLEAG in the early years of the twentieth century.
After the First World War, both lines were caught in a crisis because BLEAG had run out of funds for the maintenance of its lines. After the district of Karlsruhe agreed to contribute to the funding of various BLEAG routes, the lines were temporarily saved. In subsequent years, normal operations were restored. In 1931, BLEAG had to file for bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
The years under the DEBG (1931–1963)
In the wake of the bankruptcy, both of the BLEAG lines in the Kraich Valley and the Katzbach were taken over by the German Railway Operating Company (Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebs-Gesellschaft, DEBG) on 1 January 1932. DEBG managed to restore operations on the two lines.
It also procured a diesel railcar, which was mainly used on the Kraich Valley Railway, since the most distant part of the Katzbach Railway between Odenheim and Hilsbach were too steep for this vehicle.
The outbreak of the Second World War meant that the passenger numbers increased significantly since private transport was restricted due to the war. Because of the fighting, however, operations had to be closed on 2 April 1945. Unlike the experience of many other rail lines, war damage on the two lines was limited. This allowed operations on the Kraich Valley Railway to be resumed on 7 June 1945.
The steam locomotives and passenger carriages on the line, which were up to fifty years old, were gradually replaced by diesel haulage from the mid-1950s. Thus, in 1955, DEBG operated a diesel locomotive and, in 1956, six diesel railcar formerly owned by Deutsche Bundesbahn and built in 1936 and 1937. However, the DEBG applied on 7 July 1958 to close all of its tracks in southern Germany. This was resisted by the state of Baden-Württemberg, in particular.