Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway
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Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Native name | Schnellfahrstrecke Hannover–Berlin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line number |
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Locale | Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, and Berlin, Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Route number |
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History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 15 September 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 258 km (160 mi) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
standard gauge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrification | 15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operating speed |
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The Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway is a 258-kilometre (160 mi) high-speed rail line linking the German cities of Hanover and Berlin.
The Wolfsburg-Berlin section was built as a new line and runs largely parallel to the Lehrter Bahn (the old Berlin-Hanover railway) opened in 1871. The whole line was opened officially on 15 September 1998 and has been in commercial service since 20 September 1998.
The overall Hanover-Berlin project (including the reorganization and upgrading of the Lehrter Bahn) was carried out as
Project
The line consists of five sections: upgraded line between Hanover and Lehrte (for operations up to 160 km/h or 100 mph) and between Lehrte and Wolfsburg (200 km/h or 125 mph), the new and upgraded line between Wolfsburg and Oebisfelde (68 km or 42 mi altogether); the 148-kilometre-long (92 mi) new line between Oebisfelde and Staaken (250 km/h or 160 mph) and the connection between Staaken and the Berlin Stadtbahn and Berlin station (60 to 160 km/h or 40 to 100 mph).
Due to its flat profile the line has few structures, apart from a cut-and-cover tunnel under the
Stations
Planning
In the 1980s planning began on an improved line for
Options available were:
- Northern route via Wolfsburg and Stendal to the old Lehrte railway
- Southern route via Magdeburg and Potsdam to the Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg railway
In 1990 the northern route was chosen; it was the shortest and fastest connection between Berlin and Hanover and was used by the long-distance high-speed trains before World War II. The option that was favored had the transit tracks parallel with, but separately from, the existing tracks of the Lehrterbahn, which would remain available for internal East German traffic. The existing line would be used from Wolfsburg to Hanover as an upgraded line. The new and upgraded line was intended for passenger traffic and the original line for goods traffic. At several points the new and original lines were to be interconnected, including Rathenow and Stendal.
On 28 June 1990 the transport ministers of the two still separate Germans States, Horst Gibtner and Friedrich Zimmermann signed an agreement to build a high-speed line along the existing Lehrtebahn, following two years of negotiations.[3]
It was originally planned that the high-speed line would be used by an hourly IC/ICE line between Hanover and/or Braunschweig and Berlin. As a result of the expected increase of traffic due to German reunification four lines had been adopted by 1991:
- Berlin–Hannover–Ruhr Area
- Berlin–Hannover–Bremen
- Berlin–Wolfsburg–Braunschweig–Kassel–Frankfurt
- Berlin–Stendal–Salzwedel–Uelzen–Hamburg
Taking into regional, suburban and freight trains, planning was based on 200 trains each day (in both directions) between Berlin and Stendal for the high-speed and original routes. In consequence, it was decided that the design speed for the high-speed line would be 250 km/h (155 mph), the original line would be developed for a design speed of 160 km/h (100 mph) instead of 120 km/h (75 mph) and earthworks and structures on the largely single-track original route between Staaken and Stendal would make provision for a second track.[3]
Construction
Building began on 11 November 1992 with the beginning of work on the 812-metre-long (2,664 ft)
The 16.7
During the building phase,
Numerous test and acceptance runs were made with ICE S trains at up to 331 km/h (206 mph) between April and August 1998. Services commenced on 24 May 1998 on the Vorsfelde-Stendal section. On 15 September 1998 the whole line was officially opened.
In 2005 long-planned changes began on the eastern side of Lehrte station. On 15 January 2007 two new bridges were opened as a
Great bustard protection area
East of Rathenow, near Buckow, the line runs by the 6,400
There were extensive discussions until 1995 in relation to measures to protect the birds, including consideration of the building of a 6-kilometre-long (3.7 mi) tunnel for approximately
In order to protect the endangered species, for a length of 6 kilometres (3.7 mi), between the 153 and 158 km (95 and 98 mi) marks, 7-metre-high (23 ft) embankments were built to assist the over-flight of the birds, which have quite slow and low take-offs. The cost for this work was DM 35 million. On a 17-kilometre-long (11 mi) section – between the 148.5 and 165.5 km (92.3 and 102.8 mi) marks – the third track of the parallel Lehrterbahn was omitted and trains from it run on the new line. In addition on this section, the overall height of the electrification supply lines is reduced and the maximum speed is reduced to 200 km/h (125 mph). An area of approximately 300 hectares (740 acres) was added to the nature park as compensatory habitat. This work delayed the planned opening from 1997 to 1998.
Commencement of operations
On 24 May 1998 the Wolfsburg-Oebisfelde-Stendal section of the new line entered service. The whole new line was officially opened on 15 September 1998 by the
With the timetable change on 20 September 1998 the travel time between Berlin and Hanover was reduced from four hours and twelve minutes (1990) to one and a half hours; the Berlin-Frankfurt time was reduced to an even four hours. The drastic travel time reduction on the new line led to rising passenger numbers, as a result of the cancellation of the competing air services between Berlin and Hanover.
With the opening of the high-speed line, the two state capitals of Magdeburg and Potsdam lost their ICE connections. As a consequence there were violent protests, which led for some time to the reinstatement of occasional ICEs between Berlin and Wolfsburg on the old line.
Service
Several ICE/IClines run across the line:
- ICE:: ICE 2trains that are divided into two trains at Hamm.
- ICE: Berlin−Hanover-Würzburg high-speed line and uses ICE 1s.
- IC: Berlin− Hannover−Amsterdamevery two hours, branching every four hours in Osnabrück.
Running speeds
The new line is regularly operated between the 178-kilometre-mark (111 mi) of the Lehrterbahn (near Vorsfelde) and the 118-kilometre-mark (73 mi) (near Berlin-Staaken) at 250 km/h (155 mph); in the great bustard protection area (148-to-166 km-marks or 92-to-103 mi) the maximum speed is 200 km/h (125 mph). The upgraded line in the Lehrte–Wolfsburg–Oebisfelde section is designed for 200 km/h (125 mph).
On 13 August 2001 an ICE S ran on the new line at 393 km/h (244 mph). This is the second highest speed that has been achieved so far on German railways.
In 2011 the part from Ribbeck to Wustermark was upgraded for 300 km/h (190 mph) and use of the eddy current brake during regular operation.
See also
Notes
- ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
- ^ Jahresrückblick 1988 − Neu- und Ausbaustrecken. In Die Bundesbahn 1/1989, S. 58 (in German)
- ^ a b Helmut Weber, Gernot Arnhold: Schnellverbindung Hannover–Berlin: Abschnitt Oebisfelde–Staaken ein Jahr nach Planungsstart. In Die Bundesbahn 10/1991, p 977 ff. (in German)
- ^ Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung: Investitionsrahmenplan bis 2010 für die Verkehrsinfrastruktur des Bundes, April 2007 (in German)
References
- Erich Preuß: Die Schnellbahn Hannover–Berlin. Geramond-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-932785-31-2. (in German)
- Jürgen Hörstel: Hannover–Berlin. Geschichte und Bau einer Schnellbahnverbindung. Transpress-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-613-71088-9(in German)
External links
- Deutsche Bahn Information brochure (PDF, 20 pages, 3 MB) (in German)