The –WöSchifferstadt–Wörth railway or Speyer line is a uniformly double track and electrified main line in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Between Schifferstadt and Germersheim it is part of the network of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn. Between Germersheim and Wörth am Rhein it is part of the network of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe.
The first section between Schifferstadt and Speyer was opened on 11 June 1847 and it was extended to Germersheim in 1864. The opening of the last section to Wörth am Rhein was opened in 1876. From 1906 to 1914, it was served by long-distance services, which ended after the First World War and the subsequent reincorporation of Alsace-Lorraine into France. Electrification was begun in 2006 and completed in 2010.
History
Beginnings and emergence of the Schifferstadt–Germersheim section
Originally the administration of the Circle of the Rhine (Rheinkreis), which was part of Bavaria, planned that its first railway line would be first in the north–south direction. Instead, the Palatine Ludwig Railway (Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn) was built between 1847 and 1849 from Rheinschanze (Ludwigshafen from 1853) to Bexbach; this mainly served the transport of coal. A route via Speyer, which was then the capital of the Circle of the Rhine (similar to the modern concept of the Palatinate), was considered instead of a route via Rheinschanz island, on which the city of Mannheim had built a fortification on the opposite bank of the Rhine. This alternative was dropped, since the main traffic flowed towards Mannheim at that time. In 1838, however, it was determined that Speyer should be linked to the main line via a branch line.
The Palatine Ludwig Railway Company (Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn-Gesellschaft) opened a branch line from Schifferstadt to Speyer with the commissioning of the Rheinschanze–Neustadt section of the Ludwig Railway on 11 June 1847.
Plans for a north–south connection were subsequently developed. There were two options for discussion: one would run from Neustadt via Landau to Wissembourg in Alsace and continue from there to Strasbourg. The other would have extended the branch to Speyer via Germersheim and Lauterbourg to Strasbourg. The first option prevailed, because France hesitated and because the former option passed through territory that was more densely settled than a route along the Rhine valley.
The section to Germersheim was opened on 14 March 1864 at a cost of a total of one million gulden, after being delayed by difficulties on agreeing on a route past its fortress.
Closing the gap to Wörth and further development
In the same year, a committee met in Rülzheim, which called for an extension of the line to Wörth. Apart from representatives from Rülzheim, it included representatives of Germersheim, Bellheim, Rheinzabern, Wörth and Maxau. It was at first unclear whether the town of Germersheim should be bypassed to the west or east. The former option would have been longer and more expensive. The Franco-Prussian War delayed the implementation of the project.
The municipality of Kandel, which since 1864 had been served by the line from Winden to Karlsruhe campaigned for a route that passed through its territory. The administration of the Palatinate Railway (Pfälzische Eisenbahnen), to which the Ludwig Railway Company had belonged since 1870, rejected this proposal on 20 November 1871 since such a route would have required a detour which would have reduced traffic on the line. Kandel, however, did not give up immediately, and had its plan rewritten. Nevertheless, the chosen route went through Wörth. This was approved on 15 March 1874. The construction of the line went forward without any major problems and it was opened on 25 July 1876, along with its continuation via Lauterbourg to Strasbourg. Unlike the Schifferstadt–Germersheim section, the newly opened section of the track was owned and operated by the Palatine Maximilian Railway (Pfälzische Maximiliansbahn-Gesellschaft). The line from Schifferstadt to Lauterbourg had two tracks from 1906. The express trains from Berlin to Strasbourg, which had previously run via Neustadt and the Neustadt–Wissembourg railway, now ran via Speyer and Germersheim as this route was shorter and the new track provided sufficient capacity.
The line, along with the other railways within the Palatinate, was absorbed into the Royal Bavarian State Railways (Königlich Bayerische Staatseisenbahnen) on 1 January 1909.