Passau–Neumarkt-Sankt Veit railway

Passau–Neumarkt-Sankt Veit railway Rott Valley Railway (Rottalbahn)
The 3 km (1.86 mi) long straight from Pfarrkirchen to Anzenkirchen
Route number:	946
Line number:	5832
Line length:	97.24 km (60.42 mi)
Track gauge:	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Maximum speed:	80 km/h (49.7 mph)
to Wels 79,6 German-Austrian border 80,0 Passau-Voglau from Hauzenberg(Passau–Hauzenberg) bridge over the Inn(110 m) 80,6 Passau Tunnel(169 m) 0,0 Passau Hbf to Freyung(Passau-Freyung) to Regensburg(Passau-Regensburg) 4,78 Neustift b. Passau A 3 9,67 Pfenningbach 12,22 Neuburg am Inn 16,37 Fürstenzell 18,94 Bad Höhenstadt 22,73 Engertsham 26,10 Sulzbach (Inn) 30,36 Ruhstorf 34,05 Pocking to Simbach am Inn(Pocking-Simbach (Inn)) 39,04 Kühnham 43,57 Karpfham 47,59 Bayerbach 49,72 Luderbach 52,67 Bad Birnbach 56,61 Anzenkirchen 63,11 Pfarrkirchen 65,82 Postmünster 67,78 Kaismühle 72,28 Hebertsfelden 75,5 Gern-Altenburg 76,5 Eggenfelden-Mitte 79 Eggenfelden 83,58 Dietfurt 88,45 Massing 92,82 Hörbering from Pilsting(Pilsting-Mühldorf am Inn) from Landshut(Landshut-Mühldorf) 97,24 Neumarkt-Sankt Veit to Mühldorf am Inn(Pilsting-Mühldorf am Inn)

The Passau–Neumarkt-Sankt Veit railway or Rott Valley Railway (Rottalbahn) is a single-tracked, unelectrified branch line in southeastern Bavaria in Germany. At 98 kilometres it is the longest branch line in Bavaria.

The line was built in two stages. After construction started in 1878 the 63 km long Neumarkt-Sankt Veit–Pocking section was opened on 1 September 1879 as a Sekundärbahn (secondary line). On 4 October 1883 it was given a junction at Landshut. Following the approval of its extension eastwards in 1884, the second, 35 km long, section from Pocking to Passau was completed in the years 1887 and 1888. From 6 October 1888 the route was fully operational from end to end. At 9.15 am on that day a trial train departed from Passau with seven coaches hauled by a D VII. At 2.30 pm it set off from Pocking on the return journey.

The second section was built as a Lokalbahn; it was markedly slower and the trackbed was clearly of lighter and cheaper construction. On 15 October 1888 the Lokalbahn section was opened in both directions with two mixed trains. Once the route from Pocking to Kößlarn was opened on 1 December 1914 it offered a direct linkt to Simbach am Inn.

On 8 January 1916 at 19.30 passenger train no. 81 crashed down an embankment between Pfenningbach and Neustift due to a landslide. The engine driver died, the fireman was seriously injured, four officials and eight passengers were lightly injured. In the spring of 1933, the only 3 examples of the Class VT 133 railbus from Passau Hauptbahnhof were taken out of service. The 1934 timetable shows that, at that time, of the four passenger trains running daily, three of them were railbuses. The latter took 159 minutes to complete the journey, by contrast the steam train needed 240 minutes, of which 12 to and 15 minutes were required for water stops in Pocking and Pfarrkirchen.

As early as 1977 there were moves to close the line. But tourist traffic to the Lower Bavarian "spa triangle" (Niederbayerisches Bäderdreieck increased its importance again despite the unfavourable routing of the line. There were even through coaches from northern and western Germany to Pocking. On 1 September 1979 the line's centenary was remembered in Pfarrkirchen with special celebrations, not least as a protest against possible plans for closure. Uerdingen railbuses were usually used for scheduled passenger services in the second half of the 20th century.

...
Wikipedia