Rochlitz–Penig railway

Rochlitz–Penig railway
Langenleuba-Oberhain station building
Overview
Locale	Saxony, Germany
Line number	6632 / 6432; RP
Technical
Line length	20.999 km (13.048 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius	300 m (980 ft)
Maximum incline	2.0%
Route number	509 (1981)
Route map from Waldheim from Wurzen 0.00 Rochlitz (Sachs) 162 m to Glauchau (Sachs) 3.43 Köttwitzsch 195 m 4.06 level crossing Hauptstraße (18 m) 7.22 Breitenborn 265 m from Neukieritzsch 9.55 Narsdorf 269 m Abzw Narsdorf Bogendreieck (junction) 270 m to Chemnitz Hbf 11.83 Obergräfenhain 267 m 12.3 Obergräfenhain viaduct (82 m) 14.13 Langenleuba-Oberhain 271 m to Altenburg 19.72 Dittmannsdorf bridge (64 m) 20.51 Penig bridge (57 m) from Wurzen 21.00 Penig 219 m to Glauchau (Sachs) Source: German railway atlas

The Rochlitz–Penig railway was a 21 km long branchline in Saxony from Rochlitz via Narsdorf to Penig which opened in 1872 and connected the railway lines Neukieritzsch–Chemnitz and Glauchau–Wurzen. Its Narsdorf–Penig section was decommissioned in 1998 and has been lifted, the remainder was decommissioned in 2000.

The line was opened on 8 April 1872 together with the Neukieritzsch–Chemnitz railway. Its purpose was to connect the settlements and the industries in the valley of Zwickauer Mulde, which at that time had no railway yet, to the mainline on the plateau above the river. The Muldentalbahn was only opened four years later on 29 May 1876.

From 19 August 1947 on trains only ran between Narsdorf and Penig, the section between Rochlitz and Narsdorf had been lifted for war reparations. The latter was relaid until 1965 and was initially only used for freight trains and for light engine movements, until passenger traffic was resumed in summer 1969, initially with only two trains each way on weekends which continued to and from Altenburg and Waldheim. According to the winter timetable 1980/81 there were four daily trains each way between Rochlitz und Narsdorf, without any intermediate stops. Köttwitzsch halt was re-opened in 1990. Breitenborn station was never re-opened.

The line lost its importance in both passenger and freight traffic rapidly after the political changes in 1989. Passenger traffic between Narsdorf and Penig ceased already on 26 May 1989 due to a staff shortage and the subsequent demotion of Langenleuba-Oberhain station to an unstaffed halt. The remainder of the line was used in the 1990s by Regionalbahn trains on the Chemnitz–Narsdorf–Rochlitz route, scheduled to run every two hours. Only on 28 May 2000 these were cancelled in favour of new bus routes offered by Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen. At the same date, freight traffic between Langenleuba-Oberhain and Penig ceased.