Cottbus–Frankfurt (Oder) railway

Cottbus–Frankfurt (Oder)
Route number:209.36 (Frankfurt–Grunow)
211 (Willmersdorf–Cottbus)
Line length:73.2
Track gauge:1435
Voltage:Willmersdorf–Cottbus: 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC
State: Brandenburg
Operating points and lines[1]
Legend
 From Eberswalde and Küstrin-Kietz
 From Fürstenwalde
 162.9 Frankfurt (Oder)
 To Eisenhüttenstadt and Poznań
 151.2 Frankfurt (Oder) Afs
 151.0 Frankfurt (Oder)-Neuberesinchen
 From Eisenhüttenstadt
 148.7 Fauler See
 144.5 Markendorf junction
 144.2 Helenesee(seasonal stop)
 Oder–Spree Canal
 139.0 Müllrose
 Schlaube
 133.1 Mixdorf
 129.2 Grunow (Niederlausitz)
 To Beeskow
 123.9 Groß Briesen
 120.9 Weichensdorf
 114.8 Ullersdorf (Schwansee)
 109.8
Jamlitz (formerly Lieberose)
former Spreewald Railway siding
 102.6 Tauer
 97.4 Preilack junctionto Guben
 94.4 Peitz
 88.3 Willmersdorf (Kr Cottbus)
 From Guben (new course)
 Cottbus-Merzdorf
 From Guben (old course)
 Cottbus-Sandow
 Spree
 From Forst and Görlitz
 79.7 Cottbus
 To Berlin and Halle (Saale)
 To Großenhain

The Cottbus–Frankfurt (Oder) railway is a single-track main line in the German state of Brandenburg, which was originally built and operated by the Cottbus-Großenhain Railway Company (German: Cottbus-Großenhainer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CGE) and directly connects the two cities to each other. It runs from Cottbus via Peitz to Frankfurt (Oder). Only the section between Grunow and Frankfurt and a short section near Cottbus are still in operation. Trains running over the line now use the line to Guben and continue on the line of the former Lower Silesian-Mark Railway (Niederschlesisch-Märkische Eisenbahn).

History

Regio-Shuttle of the ODEG near the entrance to Mixdorf station
Level crossing of the road to Großer Müllroser See

Planning for a rail connection from the area around the town of Müllrose had started by 1840. In 1843, August Leopold Crelle presented a design for a railway from Berlin to Breslau (now Wrocław) that would run near Briesen.[2] This connection—the Lower Silesian-Mark Railway—was, however, built via Frankfurt (Oder). Subsequently plans were studied for a line between Frankfurt and Leipzig. The Cottbus-Großenhain Railway Company opened a line between Großenhain and Cottbus in 1870 and planned an extension to Frankfurt. The original plans envisaged a course via Friedland and Beeskow,[2] but it was eventually decided to take a route further east.

The line was opened to traffic on 31 December 1876. Stations were built in between in Peitz, Jamlitz (first called Lieberose after a nearby town), Weichensdorf, Grunow and Müllrose. The railway served at first as a long-distance connection between Dresden, Cottbus and Frankfurt (Oder) and with other towns located to the east of the Oder.

In 1871 and 1872 the Halle-Sorau-Guben Railway Company built lines from Leipzig and Halle to Cottbus with connections to Guben and to Sorau (now Żary). This also connected with the line from Berlin to Wroclaw and Frankfurt (Oder). Semi-fast and express trains ran between Cottbus and Frankfurt on this line until 1945, but they were then diverted on the slightly longer and better maintained route through Guben and Eisenhüttenstadt in order to serve these two important towns. Some passenger services remained on the line via Grunow.

The line remained single-track and non-electrified. Due to the lack of traffic on the line, Deutsche Bahn closed passenger services between Grunow and Peitz on 1 June 1996. For some years railcars still ran hourly between Cottbus and Peitz until this traffic was abandoned on 30 May 2000. Freight traffic ended between Grunow and Jamlitz on 1 July 1996 and between Peitz and Jamlitz on 5 November 2000. In August 2002, the section between Cottbus and Willmersdorf was reactivated since in this area the Cottbus–Guben railway had to be moved for the expansion of the Cottbus-Nord open cast mine. The line was relaid next to the old line towards Peitz as far as Willmersdorf. This also included the construction of several stations.

Services operated by Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH (ODEG) on the Berlin-Lichtenberg–Beeskow-Frankfurt (Oder) route run on the line between Grunow and Frankfurt.

References

  1. ↑ Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/10 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  2. 1 2 Matthias Müller. "Chronik der Eisenbahnstrecke Frankfurt (Oder) – Müllrose – Grunow – Cottbus, Vorgeschichte" (in German). Eisenbahnfreunde. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
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