Deutz–Gießen railway

The Deutz–Gießen railway is a line between Deutz and Gießen that was built from the late 1850s to connect the Ruhr and the Rhine-Main area, now parts of the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. The line still exists, but little traffic still runs over the whole of the historical route. It now forms the northern part of the Sieg Railway between Cologne Deutz station and Betzdorf, the Heller Valley Railway between Betzdorf and Haiger and the southern part of the Dill Railway between Haiger and Gießen.

Prussia was interested in building a railway to connect the coal mines in the Ruhr, the steel mills in the Rhineland and the iron ore deposits in the Sieg, Heller, Dill and Lahn valleys. Furthermore, Prussia wanted a better link between the town of Wetzlar and its environs, which was a Prussian exclave, and the Prussian Rhine Province. Problems arose because the proposed line would run through the then independent Duchy of Nassau in the area that is now Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The Duchy made it a condition for a concession to build the line on its territory that Prussia build a link with the Nassau State Railway’s Rhine Railway from Niederlahnstein to connect to the West Rhine Railway (German: Linke Rheinstrecke), which had been completed from Cologne to Koblenz in 1859. Prussia eventually agreed to the link between Niederlahnstein and Koblenz, including the Pfaffendorf Bridge over the Rhine. In 1860 Nassau awarded a concession for the construction of the Sieg Railway through its territory. In Gießen, the Deutz-Gießen Railway would connect with the Main-Weser Railway.

...
Wikipedia