Feucht–Altdorf railway

Feucht – Altdorf
Map of the Feucht–Altdorf line.
Overview
Locale	Bavaria, Germany
Line number	5933
Technical
Line length	11.6 km (7.2 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead catenary
Route number	890.2
Route map  Operating points and lines  Line 5970 from Nuremberg Hbf S 2 S 3 Line 5850 from Nuremberg Hbf KBS 420f from Wendelstein 0.0 Feucht (368 m) Line 5850 to Regensburg Hbf S 3 4.3 Feucht-Moosbach(since 1992) (384 m) 4.9 Hahnhof(until 1988) 7.6 Winkelhaid (429 m) A 3 9.3 Ludersheim Umspannwerk Ludersheim junction 10.6 Altdorf (b Nürnberg) West(since 1992) 11.6 Altdorf (b Nürnberg)Endstation S 2 (440 m)

The Feucht–Altdorf railway is a single-track main-line railway running through Middle Franconia in the German state of Bavaria. It is the extension of the Nuremberg–Feucht railway, which ends at Feucht station, and runs from there to the east through the Lorenzer Reichswald (“St. Lorenz Imperial Forest”) to Altdorf.

At its opening the line already connected with the line from Nuremberg to Regensburg. There were plans as early as 1836 to extend the Ludwig Railway via Feucht to Altdorf and then continuing along the Lauterach, Vils and the Naab rivers to Regensburg. The plans, however, were not realised because King Ludwig I favoured the Ludwig Canal between the Danube and the Main and the railway was seen as a competitor to the canal. Only the enactment of a law for the construction of Vizinalbahnen (branch lines) on 29 April 1869 made it possible to connect Altdorf to the Nuremberg–Regensburg line in Feucht. The line was finally opened on 15 October 1878 by the Royal Bavarian State Railways.

During the electrification of the main line between Nuremberg and Regensburg, which began in May 1950, there were calls for the electrification of the section of the branch line to the town of Altdorf. The efforts were successful, so that the first electric railcars ran on the line on 2 September 1952.

When it was decided to build an S-Bahn network in Nuremberg, it was determined that the first stage of construction should include, in addition to the lines to Lauf and to Roth, the line from Feucht to Altdorf. Preparatory work began in 1984 and work on adapting the line for S-Bahn operations began on 15 June 1988, with work completed for the opening of S-Bahn services on the line on 22 November 1992. The cost of building the works for the whole of the line S 2 service amounted to 587 million Deutsche Marks (€300.13 million).