The Main Valley Railway (German: ''Maintalbahn'') is a single-tracked, main line running alongside the river

Main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name *Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

and

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

in southern Germany. In

Miltenberg Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the Miltenberg (district), like-named district and has a population of over 9,000. Geography Location The old ...

it connects to the Miltenberg–

Walldürn Walldürn is a town in the Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and t ...

railway. It also has a junction with the

Tauber Valley Railway The Tauber Valley Railway (German: ''Taubertalbahn'') is a single-tracked, unelectrified, standard gauge railway between Wertheim and Crailsheim in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It runs alongside the Tauber to Weikersheim, ...

at the Baden town of Wertheim, that runs to

Crailsheim Crailsheim () is a town in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. Incorporated in 1338, it lies east of Schwäbisch Hall and southwest of Ansbach in the Schwäbisch Hall (district), Schwäbisch Hall district. The city's mai ...

History

The

Bavarian State Railways The Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.Bay.Sts.B.'') was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the Germa ...

(''Königlich Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'') first connected the town of

to the railway network with a main line railway from

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

, which was opened on 12 November 1876. A rail terminus was built south of the

river on the edge of the

old town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

, which would later be called '' Miltenberg Hauptbahnhof'' (main station). The line to

Seckach Seckach is a village and a municipality in the district of Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The river Seckach passes through it. Twin towns * Gazzada Schianno Gazzada Schianno is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Prov ...

via

Amorbach Amorbach () is a town in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany, with some 4,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the small river Mud, in the northeastern part of the Odenwald. ...

( Seckach–Miltenberg railway, also called the ''Madonnenlandbahn'') begins here. The extension of the line to Wertheim was opened as a branch line on 21 May 1906 to

Stadtprozelten Stadtprozelten () is a town and municipality in the Miltenberg (district), Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the ''Municipal association (Germany), Verwaltung ...

and extended to Wertheim on 1 October 1912. The last 3.85 kilometre-long section was owned by the

Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway Grand Duchy of Baden had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways (''Großherzoglich Badische Staatseisenbahnen or G.Bad.St.E.''), which was founded in 1840. At the time when it was integrated into the Deutsche ...

(''Großherzoglich Badische Staatseisenbahnen''). Wertheim had been connected by the

with Lauda since 1868 and by the Wertheim–Lohr railway to

Lohr am Main Lohr am Main (, ; officially: ''Lohr a.Main'') or Loa () is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat (but not a member) of the ''Verwaltungsgemeins ...

since 1881. A line was built to a bridge over the Main, which branched off near the entrance to Miltenberg station, and ran along the right (northern) bank to the through station of ''Miltenberg Nord''. All through passenger trains had to push back from the main station to the junction and then reverse to continue their journey. Between the 1950 and 1970s, ''Heckeneilzugen'' ("hedgerow expresses") on the

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

–

–Aschaffenburg–

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

route ran on this line. The Hauptbahnhof was closed for passenger traffic in the summer of 1977 and has since served only as a freight yard. Passenger services have stopped since then at the purpose built northern station. This was renamed as ''Miltenberg'' and the old terminus as ''Miltenberg Gbf'' (freight yard). Since that time, the trains to

via

have also begun and ended at the former North station. The freight yard was closed in 2005. In its position paper. ''Weichenstellung 2017'' ("setting the course for 2017"), the council of the

Miltenberg (district) Miltenberg () is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the city of Aschaffenburg, the districts of Aschaffenburg and Main-Spessart, and the states of Baden-Württemberg (districts of Main- ...

supported electrification of the railway line from Miltenberg to Aschaffenburg. This would allow trains to run through to/from

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and an hourly service on the weekend.

Current situation

Passenger traffic on the Main and Tauber Valley Railways is operated by ''Westfrankenbahn'', a subsidiary of

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

. There were plans to close both lines, but they were never implemented. Due to the cycle tourism in the Main and Tauber Valley, the line is enjoying greater popularity. From March to October, for example, Deutsche Bahn offers bicycle transport from Aschaffenburg to Crailsheim and either operates bicycle wagons or offers the carriage of bicycles in multipurpose compartments. The line has been renewed extensively in recent years.

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

services run every two hours as the ''Main-Tauber-Express'' from Aschaffenburg to Crailsheim and thus do not require a change at Wertheim. The through Regional-Express services are predominantly operated with class 628

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

Siemens Desiro The Siemens Desiro (, , ) is a family of Diesel multiple unit, diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains developed by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German Siemens, Siemens AG conglomerate. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, ...

Classic (class 642; ''Desiro'') railcars are mainly used on the

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

trains from Aschaffenburg to Miltenberg. Since the timetable change in 2017, a train composed of double-deck cars and two class 218 locomotives is also operated on this route. The Regionalbahn services run hourly from Monday to Friday between Aschaffenburg and Miltenberg; on the weekend they run every two hours between Aschaffenburg and Seckach.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* *{{cite book, first=Hans-Wolfgang , last=Scharf , title=Eisenbahnen zwischen Neckar, Tauber und Main, volume=2: Ausgestaltung, Betrieb und Maschinendienst, publisher=EK-Verlag , location=Freiburg (Breisgau), date=2001, isbn=3-88255-768-0, language=de Railway lines in Bavaria Railway lines in Baden-Württemberg Buildings and structures in Aschaffenburg Miltenberg (district) Main-Spessart Buildings and structures in Main-Tauber-Kreis Railway lines opened in 1876 1876 establishments in Germany Buildings and structures in Aschaffenburg (district)