Route S4/re10/re11 Falkenberg (elster) - Leipzig Hbf (and Maybe To Wurzen)

I would like the S4 route Wurzen-Falkenberg (Elster) to be added. My personal main focus would fall to Falkenberg(Elster)-Leipzig HBF which is roughly 66km of railway tracks and a total of 16 stations, which are all connected by the S4 line. Additionally it has the RE10/RE11 from Cottbus/Hoyerswerda-Leipzig HBF which stops at 6-9 of these stations as well. International freight traffic is also not uncommon.

The Stations along the route:
Falkenberg (Elster) marks the start of the journey, an important hub for mainly freight but also partially commuter transport. Many freight trains come and go through here from and to places like Czech Republic, Poland, France and more. But regional lines to Cottbus, Hoyerswerda, Stendal, Rathenow, Dessau and Lutherstadt-Wittenberg are also seen and used around there. Falkenberg is split into 2 sections. Track 1-5 are the lower section where most of the cargo traffic and regional lines go to. Track 6 and 7 form the upper section and from here the RE10/RE11 and S4 go west towards Leipzig.


A few kilometers west across farmlands we come to Rehfeld, a small village with an old, slightly overgrown, but still in service, station with a manually operated railroad crossing. It features a third track which is sometimes utilized to give drivers of freight trains a break.


Further towards the west through forest, a field of solar panels and farmlands we reach the next small stop, Beilrode, another small village with a small station for a quick stop and go action.


Across a little more farmland and we go across a single-tracked bridge across the Elbe river and enter Torgau, a small town which has quite a historic relevance. Back in the second world war, the soviet and American forces met here. An eye catcher while crossing the bridge is Schloss Hartenfels. Following into the station across 2 railroad crossings we enter Torgau, a small passenger hub where majority of S4 services begin and terminate. Torgau features 3 platforms and a total of 9 tracks, including a small connection down to the port, where a freight train shunts through the small town twice a week.


On the way through farmlands and forests towards Mockrehna we come past Klitschen, a station that was taken out of order back in 2003. Now it's overtaken by nature.


Finally arrived at the next smaller village Mockrehna, where there is 4 tracks and an old railroad crossing of the build type SFW, which is still used to this day.



Next along the line is Doberschütz, another small village which is on our journey towards Leipzig.


Soon we reach Eilenburg or rather Eilenburg Ost first. It's a small station with a connection that leads to a facility, powered by a private company that sends trains with nearly 4000 tons of cargo at times. The station also features electric barriers for the passengers to stop them when a train is coming. Sometimes this leads to slight irritation when passengers come too late to catch their train...


Just 2 minutes away is Eilenburg. A larger station with 13 tracks. The S8 to Halle(Saale) connects here, which departs every other hour. When traffic is heavy, Eilenburg is the place where many freight trains will be pulled out of the main tracks to wait for higher priority trains like passenger services to overtake if needed. Sometimes shunting can also be observed here.


Further along the journey to the next stop the rails are accompanied by a continuous line of trees going all the way to just before Jesewitz, another small stop on our journey. It's an older, but still pretty station with 2 platforms. Jesewitz also marks the last station with Hl signals as the last signal box controlled on site on our way to leipzig is located here. From now we move with Ks signals.


Just a little further comes Pönitz, a station further away from it's corresponding village and seeming rather empty at times.

Through some more farmland and entering the garden areas of Taucha, we soon arrive at the station. Here the occasional S4 terminates and begins from and to Leipzig.


The next station Leipzig Heiterblick is the first step into Leipzig on this route, entering from a more industrial area. Further along we meet up with cargo tracks in Leipzig Thekla, which is still in the slum-ish area of Leipzig. The cargo tracks follow us until Leipzig Mockauer-Straße where we turn away to go to Leipzig Nord just a little further. And soon we also arrive at Leipzig HBF on top level or in the City-Tunnel, depending whether we rode with the RE10/RE11 or the S4.

The Services:
The route features the services of S4 going along all stops mentioned above, some terminating and beginning in Taucha, Eilenburg and Torgau. The trains used there are the classic BR 442 "Hamsters" in the silver livery of S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland.


The RE10/RE11 stops at Leipzig HBF, Taucha, Eilenburg, Torgau, Beilrode and Falkenberg. It also stops in Mockrehna, Doberschütz and Eilenburg Ost in it's morning service at 6 in the morning towards Leipzig. The trains used on this route are the newer Siemens BR 463 Mireo trains in DB Verkehrsrot and double traction. The 2 trains split in Falkenberg (Elster) to continue, 1 towards Cottbus and 1 towards Hoyerswerda. In the evening services it comes as single traction as only the RE10 drives at the time.


Freight services along the line are also common like car transports, fluids, containers, truck trailers, gravel, grain and more. Usually powered by modern Siemens Vectron locomotives or Traxx locomotives, sometimes older locomotives tend to make an appearance here like the BR 143 or even old workhorses like the Ludmilla.

All in all, it's a perfect mix between passenger and freight services, offering a good variety of services to choose from and the S4 continues through the city tunnel and to Wurzen, cutting through multiple stations in Leipzig, so that could be added as well if a longer route is desired.

The line between Falkenberg (Elster) and Leipzig HBF is a heavily used commuter line that brings a lot of people from A to B every day, occasionally with too little capacity for all the passengers. Along the calm and beautiful scenery, I also want to suggest this line as I live along this route and work for Deutsche Bahn, so it is a line I am very familiar with both personally and operationally. Along that, this line has yet to be represented in a train simulation game so I would greatly appreciate, if this line was added as a DLC. It would also be great to add the BR 463 Mireo
as a train. Thank you for your time.