Stuttgart Rohr–Filderstadt railway

History

The Rohr–Echterdingen section was built as an unemployment relief project in 1920 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) to connect with the Stuttgart-Möhringen–Neuhausen auf den Fildern railway, that had been built by the private Filder Railway Company (Filderbahn-Gesellschaft) to create a better link with the DR network. The line was opened on 1 October 1920, with services running through to Neuhausen. This allowed passenger trains to run through without changing in Degerloch. Services from Echterdingen to Filderstadt were operated by Stuttgart Tramways (Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen, SSB) from 1920 and the Tramways took over the ownership of the line in 1934. In 1928 a branch line was opened from Leinfelden to Waldenbuch called the Siebenmühlen Valley Railway (Siebenmühlentalbahn) .

A track was laid in 1934 between Echterdingen and Bernhausen for the construction of the A8 and Stuttgart Airport. It was extended towards Denkendorf to take construction material along the autobahn as it was built and it also supplied construction materials and goods for the construction of the airport, which was completed in 1939. The route of the line was diverted to the east of Echterdingen station to Bernhausen in 1937 to run south of the airport area. The current S-Bahn route, however, largely follows the former construction siding.

In 1955, passenger services on the Stuttgart-Rohr–Echterdingen (–Neuhausen) line and on the Siebenmühlen Valley line were replaced by bus services; the line was now only used for freight traffic. The supplying of fuel and other goods to the airport by rail was abandoned by the end of the 1960s. At the same time the proposed Echterdingen link road was abandoned during the planning of the new Federal Highway 27 and the proposed use of the southern part of the military airport by the U.S. Army did not materialise due to community opposition. On 28 May 1983, freight traffic on the Leinfelden–Neuhausen section was closed and the tracks on the SSB-owned route from Echterdingen to Neuhausen were soon removed. The tracks on the Deutsche Bahn section from Leinfelden to Echterdingen were closed for rebuilding in preparation for the S-Bahn a few years later. The last train to run on the original line before the reopening for the S-Bahn was an Uerdingen railbus from Echterdingenran in September 1985 during a special trip for the inauguration of the S-Bahn to Stuttgart-Vaihingen. The remaining Rohr–Leinfelden section was still used occasionally for shunting freight until the early 1990s. It was used mainly to serve Leinfelden-based companies, but also for the transport of construction materials for the S-Bahn. The line was reconstructed for the S-Bahn from the mid-1980s, with the installation of double track, electrification and the partial undergrounding of the track. Curves were also straightened. A new line was created between Echterdingen and the airport.

Current operations

The Stuttgart S-Bahn were extended to Oberaichen on 27 May 1989; on 18 April 1993 it was extended to the airport and since 29 September 2001, it has run on a single-track line to Filderstadt-Bernhausen. No freight runs any more except on the original route between Rohr and Leinfelden.

Stuttgart 21

The Stuttgart 21 project will mean that, in addition to the 148 S-Bahn trains per day that run on the Stuttgart-Rohr–Filderstadt line today, 62 mainline and regional trains will be added to the line (in both cases the sum of both directions). The line will be used for the section between Stuttgart-Rohr and Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof instead of the Gäu Railway.

Under the Stuttgart 21 project the planned Rohr curve is planned to connect the line in Stuttgart-Rohr to the Gäu Railway running south. The exemption necessary for long-distance and regional services to run through the airport tunnel is controversial.