Leipzig-Wahren–Leipzig Hbf railway

Overview

Locale

Saxony, Germany

Line number

6382

Technical

Number of tracks

2: Leipzig-Wahren–Leipzig Olbrichtstraße and MTh flying junction–Leipzig Hbf (underground)

Track gauge

1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge

Minimum radius

220 m (720 ft)

Electrification

15 kV/16.7 Hz AC catenary

Operating speed

120 km/h (75 mph) (maximum)

Maximum incline

0.806%

Route number

505.10

Route map

from Magdeburg

0.015

Leipzig Wahren junction Wi

0.650

Leipzig-Lützschena

2.800

Leipzig-Wahren

to Wiederitzsch

to Leipzig freight ring

3.000

Leipzig freight ring

4.690

Leipzig Slevogtstraße

5.380

Leipzig Olbrichtstraße

5.900

Großkorbetha–Leipzig

6.850

Leipzig-Gohlis

from Großkorbetha

former Magdeburg-Thuringian

freight yard

from (Erfurt–) Gröbers,

from Dessau and from Eilenburg

to Leipzig Bayer Bf (City-Tunnel)

9.334

Leipzig Hbf

Source: German railway atlas

The Leipzig-Wahren–Leipzig Hbf railway is an electrified main line in the German state of Saxony. It runs from Leipzig-Wahren to Leipzig Hauptbahnhof and is part of the original route of the Magdeburg–Leipzig railway. Today it is used exclusively by services of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland.

The current Leipzig-Wahren–Leipzig Hbf line was opened on 18 August 1840 as part of the Magdeburg–Leipzig railway built by the Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway Company (Magdeburg-Leipziger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft). The terminus of the line in Leipzig was the Magdeburger Bahnhof.

The Magdeburg–Leipzig line was rebuilt, starting in 1906, as part of the comprehensive reconstruction of the Leipzig railway network, on a new route parallel to the Leipzig freight ring (Leipziger Güterring) and the old line between Wahren and Leipzig was subsequently used only for freight traffic.

With the construction and commissioning of the new Leipzig Hauptbahnhof on 1 October 1912, the Magdeburger Bahnhof was closed and later demolished.

In 1 April 1920, the Prussian state railways were absorbed by Deutsche Reichsbahn. From then on, the line was administered by the Reichsbahndirektion Halle (railway division of Halle). Although the main line from Halle to Leipzig via Wiederitzsch was operated electrically from 1922, the direct line was not electrified until the middle of the 1930s. The first train was hauled by an electric locomotive on 2 July 1934.

The electrical installations and the second track were dismantled for reparations to the Soviet Union in 1946. The re-electrification of the line was not commissioned until 15 May 1959. The route remained single-track, but the overhead masts were designed for double-track operations. Each sets of masts also carried two 15kV supply lines from the Wahren substation to the switching station at Leipzig Hbf.

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Wikipedia