Ammergau Railway

Ammergau Railway
ET 426 in Oberammergau
Overview
Native name	Ammergaubahn
Type	Heavy rail, Passenger rail Regional rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Bavaria
Termini	Murnau Oberammergau
Stations	11
Line number	5451
Operation
Opened	5 April 1900
Owner	Deutsche Bahn
Operator(s)	DB Regio
Technical
Line length	23.671 km (14.708 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	5 kV/16⅔ Hz (Until 1954) 15 kV/16⅔ Hz AC overhead line
Route number	963
Route map from Munich 0,000 Murnau Murnau Lokalbahnhof closed on 3 May 1960 0,411 Murnau Ort 0,500 to Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1,600 Ramsachleite 3,261 Seeleiten-Berggeistrequest stop 5,568 Grafenaschauhalt, former station 9,392 Jägerhausrequest stop 11,680 Bad Kohlgrub 13,130 Bad Kohlgrub Kurhausrequest stop 14,263 Saulgrub 16,623 Altenau (Bay) 19,000 Scherenau 20,412 Unterammergauhalt, former station Ammer 23,671 Oberammergauhalt, former station

The Ammergau Railway or Ammergaubahn (sometimes called the Ammertalbahn or "Ammer Valley Railway", originally the Lokalbahn Murnau–Oberammergau) is a single-tracked, electrified railway line in Bavaria in southern Germany. It runs from Murnau to Oberammergau, its latter stages following the valley of the river Ammer from which it derives its name. This stub line to Oberammergau branches off at Murnau from the Munich–Garmisch-Partenkirchen main line.

This 23.671 km long route was completed on 1 May 1900 under a Bavarian concession granted on 24 January 1897 to the Lokalbahn AG (LAG). On 1 January 1905 it was electrified, becoming the first railway in Germany to run on single-phase AC power. Originally the line was electrified with 5.5 kV, 16 Hz AC. With effect from 1 August 1938 the LAG was transferred to the Deutsche Reichsbahn. But it was not until 1954/55 that the power system was converted to the usual 15 kV, 16²/₃ Hz by the Deutsche Bundesbahn, and four of the five DRG Class E 69 electric locomotives modified accordingly.

As cars increased in popularity, the Ammergau Railway was affected just as badly as other branch lines in the railway network. Goods traffic dwindled to virtually nothing and the number of passengers fell steadily to between 500 and 1,000 per day. As a result, a vast amount of infrastructure has been removed.

In 1999 there were negotiations with the passenger union Pro Bahn and DB Regio Bayern AG. Pro Bahn demanded inter alia a new crossing place at Altenau (Bay) and the retention of the second track at Oberammergau. That would have enabled journey times to be reduced by about 10 minutes. But the cost of about 4 million marks was too high and the project was put on ice.