The Rench Valley Railway (German: ''Renchtalbahn'') is a 29.1 kilometre long branch line from

Appenweier Appenweier ( gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Appewiir) is a municipality in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany in the district of Ortenau. Geography Appenweier consists of the main municipal Appenweier (4,075 inhabitants), Urloffen (4,301 inhabitan ...

to Bad Griesbach (Schwarzwald), that mainly follows the valley of the River

Rench The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau ( Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of the ...

in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is ...

with maximum inclines of 1:99. The first section between Appenweier and

Oppenau Oppenau () is a town located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It has a population of 4,700 inhabitants. Geography Oppenau is situated in the Rench valley in the Black Forest. The nearest major cities are Offenburg and Freudenstadt. ...

was opened on 1 June 1876 by the Rench Valley Railway Company (''Renchthal-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''). It was taken over by the

Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways The Grand Duchy of Baden was an independent state in what is now southwestern Germany until the creation of the German Empire in 1871. It had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways (''Großherzoglich Badische ...

on 31 May 1909, who had in any case operated the line from the outset. The

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...

extended the line on 28 November 1926 to Bad Peterstal and on 23 May 1933 to Bad Griesbach.

References

Railway lines in Baden-Württemberg Ortenaukreis Railway lines in the Black Forest {{Germany-rail-transport-stub