The Nahe Valley Railway () is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe. It was built by the Rhine-Nahe Railway Company and connects Bingen am Rhein on the Left Rhine line with Saarbrücken. It was opened between 1858 and 1860 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany. The section south of Bad Kreuznach is part of the regionally important transport corridor between the two major cities of Mainz and Saarbrücken.
History
First initiatives and the opening of the Neunkirchen–Saarbrücken section
As early as 1839, there were plans to build a railway connection between the Saar and the Middle Rhine, which could not be realised due to high construction costs.
The first section between Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken was built as continuation of the Palatine Ludwig Railway (Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn, Ludwigshafen–Bexbach), which was completed in 1849 and had already been extended to Neunkirchen in 1850. The main railway was used to transport coal from the Saar district to the Rhine. The Palatine administration originally considered that St. Ingbert, which was in Bavaria, would be at the western end of the line, but this changed under pressure from Prussia. It wanted a connection in the long-term to Saarbrücken that ran only through its own territory and considered the Ludwig Railway should connect with it. For this reason, the line was built to Bexbach, from where it was later extended via Neunkirchen and the Sulzbach valley to Saarbrücken. Prussia also wanted the coal mines in the Holzhauertal and Landsweiler-Reden to be connected to the railway.
The management of the projected line in Prussia was the responsibility of the Royal Saarbrücken Railway (Königlich-Saarbrücker-Eisenbahn), which was also responsible for the Forbach Railway (Forbacher Bahn) from Bexbach via Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken to Forbach in France. The line between Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken was opened in 1852.
Formation of the Bingerbrück–Neunkirchen section
In 1856 construction of the line was undertaken by the private Rhine-Nahe Railway Company (Rhein-Nahe Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RNE) set up for this purpose. It would connect the Nahe Valley and the surrounding area with the Left Rhine line of the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RHE) and the Hessian Ludwig Railway (Hessische Ludwigsbahn) in Bingerbrück and would stimulate economic development and open up the market for Saar coal by connecting the Saarland railways with the Middle Rhine Valley. It was proposed that the line be privately financed with a government guarantee of a return of four percent. The Prussian government took control of the project on 18 June 1856 and issued the concession for the railway’s construction and operation to the company on 4 September 1856. The Prussian government required the line to follow the course of the Nahe.
In two places, however, the territory of two other countries had to be crossed: the Herrschaft of Meisenheim, which still belonged to the landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg, and the Principality of Birkenfeld, which was part of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. Prussia argued about the route of the line, especially with Oldenburg. While Oldenburg would have liked to see the line pass through the city of Birkenfeld, Prussia insisted on a route through the Nahe valley. At the same time, an initiative from the neighbouring region of the Palatinate for another variant, which would have had the planned route leave the Nahe valley at Staudernheim and run to Altenglan through the Glan and then via Kusel either through St. Wendel or alternatively along the Oster valley. For tactical reasons, Prussia remained open-minded about these efforts, which led to Oldenburg giving way and accepting the route along the Nahe within its territory. After a contract was let for the construction of the line, construction of the 120 km-long single-track line began in 1857.
Construction of the line
The first 16 km section from Bingerbrück (now Bingen Hauptbahnhof) to Bad Kreuznach went into operation on 15 July 1858. This was followed by the sections to Oberstein on 15 December 1859 and to Neunkirchen (Saar) via Birkenfeld (now Neubrücke) and St. Wendel on 26 May 1860, with a total length of 52 or 53 km. The 21.2 km section to Saarbrücken was completed on 16 November 1852.