Munich–Herrsching railway

The Munich–Herrsching railway is a branch line from Munich-Pasing to Herrsching in the German state of Bavaria. It is operated by DB Netz AG and integrated into the Munich S-Bahn as part of line S 8. The railway line is duplicated from Munich-Pasing to Weßling and electrified over its entire length.

Munich-Pasing–Herrsching
Overview
Locale	Bavaria, Germany
Line number	5541
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead
Operating speed	120 km/h (75 mph) (maximum)
Route number	999.8
Route map S-Bahn trunk line from Munich East 0.0 München-Pasing 527 m to Mammendorf, to Geltendorf 1.4 München-Westkreuz 530 m to Tutzing 3.4 Munich-Neuaubing to DB rolling stock maintenance 4.3 München-Freiham 5.3 München-Freiham (passenger station until 1975) Siding to Kraillinger Innovations-Meile 6.1 Harthaus 8.0 Germering-Unterpfaffenhofen 540 m 12.0 Geisenbrunn 572 m 13.9 Gilching-Argelsried 561 m 15.1 Neugilching Siding from German Aerospace Center 16.4 Weichselbaum siding 18.9 Weßling (Oberbay) 591 m 22.8 Steinebach 582 m 25.5 Seefeld-Hechendorf 559 m 30.9 Herrsching 540 m Source: German railway atlas[1]

History

There was a long disagreement about the route between Wessling and Herrsching. There were variations running via Walchstadt, Schluifeld and Steinebach. Eventually a route was chosen that ran between the Wörthsee villages of Steinebach and Auing with a station in Steinebach. The line from Munich to Herrsching opened on 1 July 1903. At that time three pairs of passenger trains operated on the line daily. Although an additional holiday train ran in the summer, the line was often overloaded at that time of year. In 1903, it was the busiest branch line in the region with 126,275 passengers. Therefore, in 1913, the section from Pasing to Freiham was duplicated.[2] In 1925 the line was electrified, allowing more and faster trains to run on the line.[3]

S-Bahn

Herrsching station

Already in 1959, initial planning began on rebuilding the line for S-Bahn operations. But these plans were not realised until the 1970s.[3] Finally, on 28 May 1972, the Munich S-Bahn opened and the line was integrated in the S-Bahn network. From 1972, it was operated as line S 5. In 1975, the passenger operations at Freiham station were abandoned due to low patronage. It remains active as an operations station for the siding to the Kraillinger Innovations-Meile industrial estate in Krailling.

In order to allow operations at 10-minute intervals over the whole line, Deutsche Bundesbahn decided to duplicate the line in the second stage of the Munich S-Bahn. Construction began in 1981 and the second track was opened between Freiham and Unterpfaffenhofen-Germering in 1984, after three years of work. The track was duplicated to Weßling in 1985. The last section from Wessling to Herrsching is still only a single track.[4]

Germering-Unterpfaffenhofen station building

In 1992, Unterpfaffenhofen-Germering station was renamed Germering-Unterpfaffenhofen. At the timetable of 2009, the line S 5 designation was abolished and the line has since been served by line S 8.[5]

Construction began on 12 June 2012 on the construction of a new station in the centre of Freiham. This station is located about a kilometre east of the old Freiham station, which is no longer served by passenger trains. It was opened on 14 September 2013.[6]

Operations

München-Neuaubing station

The Munich–Herrsching line today operates as part of S-Bahn line from Munich Airport to Herrsching with class 423 electric multiple units. In the winter there is a 20-minute-interval service to Wessling, where one service an hour turns back, leaving two services an hour that continue to Herrsching. In the summer there are services on the entire route at 20-minute intervals. In the peak additional services run from Munich East to Germering-Unterpfaffenhofen and Wessling at 20-minute intervals, producing 10-minute interval services on this section.

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. pp. 93, 160. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
2. Klaus-Dieter Korhammer; Armin Franzke; Ernst Rudolph (1991), Drehscheibe des Südens – Verkehrsknoten München (in German), Darmstadt: Hestra-Verlag, p. 152, ISBN 3-7771-0236-9
3. "History of the Pasing-Herrsching branch line" (in German). Wörthsee-Online. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
4. Reinhard Pospischil; Ernst Rudolph (1997), S-Bahn München (in German), Düsseldorf: Alba, pp. 151–153, ISBN 3-87094-358-0
5. "Munich S-Bahn/U-Bahn line map" (PDF). MVV. Archived from the original (PDF-file; 221 kB) on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
6. "Nächster Halt: Freiham". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 13 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2017.

• Peter Lisson, ed. (1991). Drehscheibe des Südens. Eisenbahnknoten München (in German). Darmstadt: Hestra-Verlag. ISBN 3-7771-0236-9.