Photo by Frank von Meißner.
Like yesterday 15.07. was noticed during an inspection drive, the masses of water from the heavy rain events of the last few days have severely damaged the embankment of the Ablachtalbahn route near Sauldorf (a so-called basic break of the dam). The track has to be removed over a length of around 20 meters, the dam rehabilitated and then the track re-laid. The Ablachtalbahn between Sauldorf and Schwackenreute will not be passable for that long.
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“The opening of the Ablachtalbahn, which has been prepared with great commitment and even more motivation, literally falls into the water,” railroad operations manager Frank von Meißner regrets: “The Biberbahn passenger trains cannot yet run on the Stockach – Sauldorf section.”
In very intensive coordination and with the exceptional support of SWEG as a railway company, an emergency schedule was drawn up for the first day of operation, Sunday, July 18: According to this, the SWEG-Biberbahn trains will run according to schedule between Sauldorf, Meßkirch, Menningen and Mengen on July 18. A replacement bus runs from Stockach to Sauldorf during the train times. In Sauldorf, the trains and replacement buses allow each other to connect. Unfortunately, it is not possible to take bicycles with you in the replacement buses.
The work on root cause analysis and damage removal has already been organized and will start next week. With a little luck, the trains can run there again in August. For the time from Sunday, July 25th, a bus replacement timetable Stockach – Mengen is being worked on. More to come.
The Ablachtalbahn team of the city of Meßkirch and the friends’ association are sad that our route was hit so hard by the storms. We are all the more looking forward to the later commissioning!
The opening trip with Transport Minister Winfried Hermann on Saturday, July 17, is also affected by the line closure: The opening train cannot run between Stockach and Sauldorf. Instead, the inaugural train will be delivered to Sauldorf at around 9:25 a.m. In Sauldorf the ceremonial opening of the Biberbahn as an excursion route starts as planned at 11 a.m., in Meßkirch around 11:45 a.m.
Press release City of Meßkirch, Eisenbahninfrastrukturunternehmen Ablachtalbahn
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