Hanover–Altenbeken railway
Overview
Line number	1760
Locale	Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Service
Route number	363.4.5 (formerly 212, then 360) 361.2 (Hanover–Weetzen)
Technical
Line length	110.9 km (68.9 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Route map Line from Hamburg/Heath Railway Line from Minden/line from Bremen Hanover S-Bahn S 1S 2S 4S 5 0.0 Hannover Hbf terminus of S 3S 6S 7 Line to Lehrte S 3S 6S 7 formerly to Hannover Hbf Pferdeturm (Bbf) 0.0 Hannover Lokalbf Hannover Südbf (freight yard, 1880~1995) 3.1 Hannover Bismarckstraße (since 1911) 3.8 1.5 Hanoverian Southern Railway to Göttingen S 4 2.3 Bft Hannover-Waldhausen Hildesheimer Straße Leine Ihme Original route 6.0 Hannover-Linden/Fischerhof Freight bypass 6.5 Hanover-Linden Gbf (station until 2006) to Linden-Küchengarten (1873–1930) to Freight bypass (since 1909) Freight bypass 9.1 Hannover-Bornum (since 1973) 9.35 Empelde (until 1973) 9.8 From the freight bypass(since 1973) 10.4 Empelde from Kaliwerk Hansa 12.6 Ronnenberg (Han) B 217 15.7 Weetzen Deister Railway to Haste S 1S 2 former Kalk Railway to Bredenbeck (1890-1924) 19.2 Holtensen/Linderte (since 1906) 23.8 Bennigsen 29.3 Völksen/Eldagsen B 217 Kaiserrampe (1887-1912) 34.1 Springe former Süntel Railway from Bad Nenndorf (until 1988) 41.9 Bad Münder (Deister) B 217 48.0 Hasperde (until 1988) Hilligsfeld (1941–1948) 49.9 Hameln-Rohrsen (1904–1959) Line from Elze 53.1 Hamelin terminus of half S 5 services Line to Löhne former Bega Valley Railway to Lemgo (until 1980) 57.1 Hameln-Tündern (1913–1964) Weser 59.7 Emmerthal Vorwohle-Emmerthal Railway 66.2 Welsede (until 1988) 71.7 Bad Pyrmont Lower Saxony/NRW state border 74.0 Lügde (since 1892) 82.8 Schieder 85.0 former line to Blomberg 87.8 Wöbbel (1913–1977) Steinheim Müller siding 90.9 Steinheim (Westf) 95.9 Bergheim (Westf) (until 1990) 101.1 Sandebeck (1872–1895) Line from Herford 101.6 Himmighausen (1895–1989 Pbf) 107.6 Langeland (1958–1975 Pbf) Line from Kreiensen Rehberg Tunnel (1632 m) Line from Warburg 110.9 Altenbeken Line to Paderborn S 5 Source: German railway atlas[1]

The Hanover–Altenbeken railway is a two-track electrified main line in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is now a part of the Hanover S-Bahn network.

History

Hamelin station

The railway line was built by the Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company (German: Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, HAE). The first section opened to Hamelin on 13 April 1872 and the whole Hanover–Altenbeken line was completed on 19 December 1872. After the financial decline of the HAE, it was nationalised in 1880 and operated as part of the Prussian state railways. The originally single-track line was duplicated between Hamelin and Altenbeken in 1908 and between Hannover and Hamelin in 1913. As a result of the division of Germany after 1945 it lost freight traffic, which had been important for decades, because traffic shifted to the north-south direction. Electrical operations commenced on the line in the summer of 1971.

The original starting point was Hannover Localbahnhof (local station), later called Südbahnhof (south station), north of Bismarckstraße that had a connection to the railway yards at Pferdeturm, now used for sidings, which gave a further connection to the line to Lehrte and Brunswick. From 1880 trains operated from the newly built Hannover Hauptbahnhof. In southern Hanover the line ran along the street today called Altenbekener Damm to Linden/Fischerhof station. The current route, which continues further south, was opened on 26 June 1909 as part of the Hanover freight train bypass. The former railway bridges over the Leine and the Ihme are still preserved as pedestrian bridges.

The branch line was opened in 1873 from Linden to Linden-Küchengarten, which was used mainly for coal from the Deister. The line was closed in 1930.

The original Holtensen b. Weetzen station was renamed at the beginning of the 21st century as Holtensen/Linderte.

Former Kaiserrampe station near Springe

It was originally proposed that the line between Springe and Bennigsen would run further south to directly serve Eldagsen, which was larger at that time than Springe. Since this route was not selected, Eldagsen station was built just outside Völksen, largely financed by Eldagsen. The station and Eldagsen were connected by buses, initially horse-hauled. In 1935 the station was renamed Eldagsen-Völksen. In about 2000, the station was renamed as Völksen-Eldagsen.

Kaiserrampe (Emperor platform) station was opened between Völksen/Eldagsen and Springe (west of the present bridge over the B 217) in 1887. From there, the Emperor rode over the 2.5 km long and chestnut-lined Kaiserallee (Emperor's Alley) to a hunting lodge in Saupark Springe, a game reserve. The station was last used by the German Emperor in 1912. The Kaiserallee and the old station buildings still exist today.

It is planned to build stations in Hanover on the line at Waldhausen and Braunschweiger Platz to improve interchange with the Hanover Stadtbahn, but no definite dates have been set.

Operations

Class 425 electric multiple unit

Since 2000 the line has been part of the Hanover S-Bahn and since December 2004 it has been served by S-Bahn line S 5 on the Hanover Airport–Hannover Hbf–Hamelin–Altenbeken–Paderborn route. The trains run every hour, but on Sundays only every two hours between Bad Pyrmont and Paderborn. The frequency of services is improved by additional services at the Hanover end of the line: S 1 and S 2 operate on the line to Weetzen and additional S5 services operate between Hanover and Hamelin. They are operated by DB Regio Niedersachsen, using electric multiple units of DB classes 424 and 425 at speeds of up to 140 km/h. The average speed is 69 km/h.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hannover–Altenbeken railway line.

• "Photographs of tunnel portals" (in German). Lothar Brill. Retrieved 30 July 2011.