Rhine Railway (Baden)

Rhine Railway
Northern part
Overview
Native name	Rheinbahn
Line number	4020 (Mannheim–Rastatt) 4242 (Rastatt–border)
Locale	Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Alsace, France
Termini	Mannheim Haguenau
Service
Route number	700 (Mannheim–Karlsruhe) 702 (Karlsruhe–Rastatt) 710.4/41 (Karlsruhe Stadtbahn)
Technical
Line length	formerly ca. 122 km (76 mi) now: 92.2 km (57.3 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary (Mannheim–Rastatt:)
Operating speed	200 km/h (124.3 mph) (maximum)
Route map Legend Western approach to the Riedbahn from Ludwigshafen S1S2S3S4 0.0 Mannheim Hbf Riedbahn to Frankfurt to Heidelberg S1S2S3S4 High-speed line to Hockenheim 2.0 Mannheim factory station Freight railway from the Rhine Valley Railway 3.4 Mannheim-Neckarau 4.7 Altrip 6.4 Mannheim-Rheinau port 8.0 Mannheim-Rheinau former line to Ketsch (until 1966) A 6 Hockenheim-Mannheim HSL Main-Neckar Railway from Mannheim-Friedrichsfeld former line from Heidelberg (until 1967) 13.6 Schwetzingen 14.7 Oftersheim former line to Speyer (now siding) A 61 HSL from Mannheim 21.7 Hockenheim HSL to Stuttgart 24.5 Neulußheim 29.4 Kirrlach 29.9 Waghäusel 32.5 Wiesental HSL from Hockenheim HSL to Stuttgart Connecting line from Waghäusel Saalbach 34.6 Philippsburg Molzau (junction) Bruhrain Railway to Bruchsal S33 Graben-Neudorf Nord 39.6 Graben-Neudorf Bruhrain Railway to Bruchsal S33 Hardt Railway to Karlsruhe (until 1967) 45.5 Friedrichstal (Baden) 50.4 Blankenloch 55.1 Karlsruhe-Hagsfeld Freight bypass to Karlsruhe marshalling yard (former route of the Rhine Railway until 1913) line from Bruchsal, line from Pforzheim former connection to aw Karlsruhe (until 199x) Karlsruhe freight yard (old) (until 199x) Karlsruhe Hbf (old) (until 1913) former route of the Hardt Railway, Maxau Railway 60.7 Karlsruhe Hbf S3 Alb Valley Railway (former route of the Rhine Railway until 1913) from Karlsruhe Albtalbf (with system change) S 4S 41 Palatine Maximilian Railway to Wörth Karlsruhe West–Karlsruhe Rbf freight line Rhine Valley Railway to Rastatt S 31S 32 Palatine Maximilian Railway to Wörth S 51S 52 freight line from Karlsruhe marshalling yard 63.2 Karlsruhe-Dammerstock 63.3 64.8 (chainage change from route shortening in 1913) former line from Palatine Maximilian Railway 67.8 Forchheim (b Karlsruhe) 71.2 Block post Basheide To HSL to Basel and Rastatt Tunnel 73.1 Durmersheim Nord 74.1 Durmersheim 76.5 Bietigheim (Baden) 79.3 Ötigheim Rhine Valley Railway from Karlsruhe S 31S 32 82.9 Rastatt Rhine Valley Railway to Basel S 32S 4 Murg Valley Railway to Freudenstadt S 31S 41 86.6 Rastatt Industrie-Stammgl (siding) 86.6 DB Netz / AVG Network boundary 87.3 Depot 57 (munitions store) (siding) 90.2 Wintersdorf (Baden) (siding) 91.9 AVG / DB Netz Network boundary 92.0 DB Netz / SNCF Network boundary 92.3 28.8 Wintersdorf Rhine Bridge (528 m), Rhine,   Germany / France national border (siding) line from Lauterbourg 24.7 Roppenheim 21.8 Rœschwoog line to Strasbourg 16.4 Soufflenheim 11.4 Schirrhein 3.7 Oberhoffen former connecting line to Bischwiller line from Bischwiller and Vendenheim 0.0 Haguenau line to Wissembourg line to Sarreguemines Source: German railway atlas[1]

The Rhine Railway (German: Rheinbahn) is a railway line in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, running from Mannheim via Karlsruhe to Rastatt, partly built as a strategic railway and formerly continuing to Haguenau in Alsace, now in France.

It was opened in 1870 as an alternative to the Baden Mainline and runs mostly broadly parallel with the Rhine Valley Railway, which runs from Mannheim to Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Rastatt, Offenburg and Basel. The Rhine Railway originally ran from Graben-Neudorf to Karlsruhe via a more westerly route than the current route, which is now named the Hardt Railway and is partly used by lines S 1 and S 11 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn. In 1895 the current route was opened to Karlsruhe and extended to Rastatt and Haguenau. The section over the border along the Rhine in France was closed in 1966.