The Rendsburg Loop () is an elevated spiral railway in

Rendsburg Rendsburg (, also ''Rensborg'', , also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the Eider (river), River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Eckernfoerde, Rends ...

in the

German state The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. A 4.5-kilometre elliptical loop, it connects the

Rendsburg High Bridge The Rendsburg High Bridge (, officially ''Eisenbahnhochbrücke Rendsburg'') is a viaduct, railway viaduct on the Neumünster–Flensburg railway, Neumünster–Flensburg line that also serves as a transporter bridge. The bridge crosses the Kiel C ...

over the

Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (, until 1948 called in German the ) is a fresh water canal that links the North Sea () to the Baltic Sea (). It runs through the Germany, German states of Germany, state of Schleswig-Holstein, from Brunsbüttel to the Holtenau di ...

on the Neumünster–Flensburg line to

Rendsburg station Rendsburg station is located in the city of Rendsburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein and is at the junction of the Neumünster–Flensburg and Rendsburg Kiel lines. It is currently operated by Deutsche Bahn, which classifies it as a ...

Construction

The first bridge built over the original

in the 1890s was a

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

. In 1913, with the widening of the canal, this was replaced by the Rendsburg High Bridge with a clearance height of . This met the requirements for bridges across the canal. At the same time, however, it was desirable for trains to be able to use the existing Rendsburg station. This was difficult, because the station was too close to the canal to be connected directly from a bridge over the canal at the minimum height for the bridge. Therefore, at the northern end of the bridge, an elevated railway was built in the form of a loop. Trains from the south to Rendsburg need to make a 360-degree turn before entering the station. Similarly, trains coming from the north after leaving Rendsburg station run over the loop on to the High Bridge to cross the Kiel Canal.

Schleife district

The district of Rendsburg that developed inside and around the loop is named Schleife after the loop.

Notable people

* , blues band leader and former resident directly within the loop

References

Railway lines in Schleswig-Holstein Buildings and structures in Rendsburg-Eckernförde Railway lines opened in 1913 1913 establishments in Germany {{Germany-transport-stub