Introduction: The Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt–Crailsheim railway line is a main line in Baden-Württemberg. It branches off from the Stuttgart–Ulm railway line at Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt station and runs via Aalen to Crailsheim, where it merges with the railway line. Between Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt and Goldshöfe, the line is part of the long-distance connection between Stuttgart and Nuremberg. From Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt to Goldshöfe, the line is double-tracked, and the rest of the section is single-tracked. The line is also known as the Remsbahn or Remstalbahn because it runs parallel to the Rems river between Waiblingen and Essingen (near Aalen). Today, this only applies to the section to Aalen; the rest of the line to Nördlingen, together with the Donauwörth–Nördlingen section of the Augsburg–Nördlingen railway line, is also known as the Riesbahn. This is named after the Nördlinger Ries and also runs to Donauwörth. Details of the route: Route length: 113 km Track gauge: 1435 mm (standard gauge) Route class: D4 Power system: 15 kV 16.7 Hz ~ Maximum speed: 140 km/h T Train control: PZB Double track: Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt–Goldshöfe Single track: Goldhöfe - Crailsheim --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Description of the route: The zero point of the kilometering is in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, where the four-track route branches off from the Filstalbahn via an overpass. The section to Fellbach is operated in one direction, with S-Bahn trains running on the two outer tracks and all other trains on the two inner tracks. The route overcomes a height difference of 60 meters in an S-curve to Fellbach. At the curve change, where the left curve changes to a right curve, there is the Stuttgart Nürnberger Straße stop. Between Fellbach and Waiblingen there is another long, single-track overpass that was built before the S-Bahn was put into operation. This means that trains to and from Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental can cross the Remsbahn trains without hindering each other. A fifth track was also set up here so that fast trains and S-Bahn trains hinder each other less. At the Waiblingen wedge station, the line branches off to Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental. From Waiblingen, the line descends into the Rems valley. In Endersbach, it crosses the Haldenbach on a round-arch viaduct in front of the Endersbach station. At the Beutelsbach stop, a low point is reached again at 234 meters. In Schorndorf, the Wieslauftalbahn branches off to Welzheim. Before Urbach, the line crosses the Rems. In Schwäbisch Gmünd, the Hohenstaufenbahn branched off to Göppingen from 1911 to 1984. The line follows the course of the Rems until Essingen (near Aalen). While the Rems flows into the main valley from the south, the Remsbahn continues to follow the main valley to the east, which leads over a watershed near Essingen (near Aalen) at an altitude of 465 meters into the Kochertal. A tunnel was originally planned at this watershed, but a slightly longer route was built with a curve and a cut in the terrain. Overall, a predominantly straight line without major engineering structures was realized along the course of this valley. After Aalen main station, the line continues north along the Kocher to Goldshöfe station. Here, the line branches off to the north towards Crailsheim; it originally had no function of connecting a town. A slightly more winding route was needed up to the end of the line in Nördlingen and a tunnel[5] through the foothills of the Swabian Alb near Lauchheim was necessary. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- History (prehistory): A rail connection from Stuttgart to Ulm was one of the first railway lines to be built in Württemberg in the middle of the 19th century. Alternative routes were discussed, including a detour via Aalen and a direct route via Göppingen. At first, the first option seemed to have a better chance of being realized, despite the significant detour, because unlike the second option, it would not have required any major gradients. After several years of discussion, it was decided to take on the challenge of building an Alb ascent along the Geislinger Steige and the Filstalbahn was opened in 1850. After the first construction phase of the Württemberg railway network was completed, the construction of a railway line to the east of the country was soon back on the agenda. The main goals of the project, initially called the "Northeast Railway", were: to develop the industrial sites of Gmünd (today Schwäbisch Gmünd), Aalen, its current district Wasseralfingen and Heidenheim an der Brenz, to create a second connection to the Royal Bavarian State Railways in Nördlingen. The building officer responsible for the planning, Georg von Morlok, examined four main variants for the route, which differed in the location of the transition from the Neckar and Fils valleys to the Rems valley. These were from west to east[6]: via Cannstatt and Waiblingen via Plochingen and Schorndorf via Uhingen and Lorch via Eislingen and Gmünd Although the costs of crossing the ridge were lowest with the westernmost variant, the total costs were lowest with the easternmost variant, because the length of the new line to be built in the Rems valley was significantly shorter because the Stuttgart-Ulm line could also be used. In the discussion, the cities of Waiblingen and Schorndorf were able to assert their demand for a rail connection; the simpler operation made possible by the smaller height difference and the shorter rail distance between Stuttgart and Aalen also contributed to the decision in favour of the first variant, as did the desire not to endanger the connection to the Bavarian railway with a competing line from Aalen to Lake Constance. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the Second World War: The Remsbahn was electrified in 1949 to Waiblingen and in 1962 to Schorndorf, which meant that the Stuttgart suburban traffic could be expanded in two steps. In 1971 the section to Aalen followed and in 1972 the further route to Nördlingen and beyond to Donauwörth. This created an electrified alternative route for the Stuttgart-Munich traffic connection in addition to the route via Ulm. One reason for this was the Munich Olympic Games. On September 27, 1981, S-Bahn traffic to Schorndorf began. Various infrastructure adjustments were planned for this purpose in the second implementation contract of the S-Bahn Stuttgart, which was concluded in 1975. From 1978 to 1981, a third and fourth track was built on the Bad Cannstatt-Waiblingen section and a flyover was built between Fellbach and Waiblingen to branch off the line to Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental, which enabled the S-Bahn to start operating to Backnang and Schorndorf from 1981. With the electrification of the line from Goldshöfe via Crailsheim to Nuremberg in 1985, the trains running on the Remsbahn, which had previously been pulled by diesel locomotives, could also run with electric traction. The section between Stuttgart and Waiblingen was part of the upgraded line to Nuremberg planned in the 1985 Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan. The project was not included in the subsequent Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan in 1992. At the beginning of the 1980s, the German Federal Railway began to offer express trains almost every hour. For the 1988 summer timetable, this was extended to the entire day and modernized vehicles were used. From the 1989 summer timetable, these trains ran under the generic name "Regionalschnellbahn". In 1996, the Stuttgart S-Bahn's timetable was shortened from a 20-minute cycle to a 15-minute cycle during rush hour. In order to enable the 15-minute cycle in the Remstal as well, the German Federal Railway suggested a multi-track expansion between Waiblingen and Schorndorf, which was on the verge of being able to accommodate the mixed operation of S-Bahn and other trains. However, a report by RWTH Aachen in 1993 came to the conclusion that shortening the block sections and rebuilding the Waiblingen station would be sufficient to implement the operating concept. These measures were contractually agreed with the German Federal Railway in 1993. The measures were implemented on time, and Ks signals were installed in the Waiblingen-Schorndorf section. Despite these measures, operations proved to be prone to disruption. To remedy this, a fifth track was installed between Fellbach and Waiblingen around the year 2000, so that long-distance trains and the S-Bahn from Fellbach to Waiblingen in the direction of Schorndorf could travel simultaneously. At the same time as these expansion measures for passenger transport, freight transport facilities were dismantled - as was the case everywhere in Germany during this period - and in particular the service of small and medium-sized sidings and stations was discontinued. But the formerly large freight station in Schwäbisch Gmünd is also now closed. I would be very happy if this railway line could come to Train Simulator Classic 2024/2025. Best regards BR430
